Best-Ever Chicken Soup (With Dumplings)

Featuring a bone broth made from slowly simmering a whole chicken, my best-ever chicken soup (with dumplings) not only tastes great but boosts immunity & soothes the soul.

A comforting and nourishing dish, this is the traditional Italian-style chicken soup I was taught to make by my grandmother when I was 11 (if you have a similar family recipe, this might not quite be the same). Using just a handful of simple, wholesome ingredients, this bowl of classic comfort food is easy to make & perfect for chilly days, minor illness recovery & repairing gut microbiome. Offering the soothing warmth and nourishment that only a homemade dish can provide, this soup is made the old-school way; low & slow. An economical meal for family and visitors alike, it’s perfect for both weeknight dinners *and* filling the freezer.

There are a couple of slightly different ways you can start off this soup, depending on how much time and energy you want to put into it. Essentially, you can begin by frying the veggies in oil first (shown below), or not. If you’re time-poor, no stress! You can literally throw all the initial ingredients into the pot together. As for quantities, they are all quite variable. I like to use a really large chicken, so I can make the maximum possible amount of soup, but you can use any size you like. This soup freezes and re-heats beautifully, so none need go to waste as you can freeze leftovers or make a huge batch specifically for freezing meals. Adjust the amount of vegetables accordingly. For example, I use 2 onions for a large chicken, one onion for a small bird, 2-3 carrots for a large soup, one carrot for a smaller soup, etc.

Chop the veggies into the size you prefer; they’ll be soft by the time you eat them so it’s not a big deal.

Here’s How to Make It

Start by heating a little oil in your pot over medium heat. Meanwhile, chop the vegetables (chop them into the size you prefer; they’ll be soft by the time you eat them so it’s not a big deal). Fry the veggies gently, until the onion becomes translucent.

Add the water and a heaped teaspoon (or 2) of salt. I have a huge chicken this time (2.2kg/5 pounds), so I’ve filled the pot 3/4 full with water.

Add the whole chicken- there’s no need to cut it up, it will be perfectly easy to bone after cooking. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer. Put the lid on and cook for at least 3 hours. Remove the pot from the heat and leave to cool (this may take quite some time). Refrigerate overnight.

Next day, take the pot out of the fridge then skim some fat off the top (this isn’t strictly necessary if you prefer not to). Bring the soup up to a lukewarm temperature then remove from the heat. This is to make boning the chicken easier (& a more pleasant temperature for your hands).

Next, bone the chicken and separate the meat out (not gonna lie, this takes a while). Do this slowly and carefully, making sure to remove all the sinew, cartilege & skin as well as the bones. I recommend pulling off one limb or section at a time, using a bowl for the bones and a bowl for the meat. Stir the soup slowly, making sure you’ve removed everything. Next, return the chicken to the pot. Bring the soup to the boil.

Meanwhile, make the dumplings. In a bowl, mix the eggs, milk, baking powder, salt & pepper together. Then mix in the cheese and breadcrumbs. The mixture should be easy to form into balls but as moist as possible. This way they’ll become light and fluffy within the soup. Quantities for the dumplings are fairly loose; you can always add more milk and more breadcrumbs if they are too firm or too wet.

Once the soup is boiling, form the dumplings into small balls and drop them into the soup. At first they will sink, but they’ll rise to the surface within a few minutes. Next, drop in the pasta. I put about 6 handfuls into this large soup. Note the size difference between the dumplings in pic 2 & 3 above; by the time the pasta is cooked (3-5 minutes), the dumplings will have ‘fluffed out’ and increased in diameter.