RICH CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL AND BODY

Some chicken soups arrive in your life wrapped in a book cover, promising stories that make you feel less alone. Others arrive steaming in a bowl on a cold Sunday afternoon, promising nothing except warmth and the strange certainty that everything might just be okay after all. I have always preferred the second kind, though I admit both have saved me at different moments.

Growing up in Slovakia, I learned that Sunday had its own smell. You didn’t need a calendar to know what day it was. You just opened the door around midday, and the answer floated toward you on invisible wings. Chicken soup. Always chicken soup. Every single Sunday without fail, as predictable as the sunrise and somehow just as necessary.

We called it a special meal, even though it never changed, clear chicken soup with noodles to start. Then, fried meat, either chicken or pork, is served alongside potatoes and compote. Nearly every family I knew followed the same ritual. No discussion needed. No variation considered. That was simply what Sunday meant.

Chicken Soup As A Remedy

When I was small and caught a cold, or when I didn’t feel well, my mum made the chicken soup, even if it wasn’t Sunday, saying that, for sick people, especially kids, this soup is like a magic potion.

She served it with pasta, which we called grated pasta. Homemade dough created from flour, eggs, and a bit of water, grated and cooked like regular pasta. I absolutely loved it. Sometimes she added chicken liver dumplings, which I loved even more.

I couldn’t explain why, but it worked its magic. I just understood, with the unquestioning certainty that small children possess, that after finishing a bowl of this particular soup, I felt measurably better. Almost instantly. The heaviness lifted. The fog cleared. And things felt right again.

Fast Forward Through Time (As Time Insists On Doing)

Years passed, then decades. Eventually, I found myself with children of my own, standing in my own kitchen, facing the eternal question that parents have always faced: What do you feed someone who feels awful?

I cooked them the same soup my mother had made for me. Not because it was trendy or because some influencer recommended it. Because it worked. Because I remembered how it felt to be small and sick and then to taste that first spoonful of warmth and know, somehow, that recovery had begun.

I still cook it now, especially when the weather turns cold, and the world feels heavy. But like most things in life, my version has evolved. It has grown more complex while remaining fundamentally simple, if that makes any sense at all.

My Chicken Soup with Beef Bones

These days, my chicken soup still centres on chicken and vegetables, the same foundation my mother used. But I have added something she never did: beef bones, proper beef ribs, or sometimes a substantial marrow bone, wrapped carefully in white paper by the butcher.

Picture this: chicken provides easy-to-digest protein, exactly what your body craves when it needs to repair and rebuild, particularly when you feel tired, sick, or run down.

Slow-cooked beef bones release collagen and gelatin, supporting joints, skin, and the gut lining in ways that feel almost medicinal, along with minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus, and amino acids that support recovery and immune function.

The marrow contributes healthy fats that help your body absorb those nutrients. It also adds richness, making the soup feel properly nourishing.

Then come the vegetables. They contribute vitamins, antioxidants, and flavour.

When you combine all these elements and simmer them for hours, something remarkable happens. You create a soup that warms you from the inside, hydrates you properly, feeds you real nutrition, calms whatever rebellion your stomach has been staging, and supports genuine recovery. And somehow, mysteriously, it also calms your head. Your shoulders drop. Your breathing deepens. The world stops feeling quite so overwhelming.

Ingredients:

• Chicken carcasses, chicken wings, thigh bones, or even the whole chicken
• Beef bones (ribs, marrow bones or other beef soup bones fromthe butcher)
• Carrots
• Celeriac (Celery root)
• Parsnip or Parsley root
• Kholrabi, turnip or swede
• Brussels sprouts or 1/4 of the Savoy cabbage – optional
• Ginger
• Whole onion, peels on
• Garden lovage – optional
• Salt
• Whole pepper
• Water

Let the Smell Fill the House

This soup doesn’t reward speed. It needs time, patience, and a willingness to let the pot do most of the work. Once everything is on the stove, there’s very little to manage beyond keeping the heat low and letting the smell slowly fill the house. This is how I make it, step by step, without rushing anything.

How I Make This Soup

1. Start with the beef bones.
   Wash the beef ribs and or marrow bone, place them in a large pot, cover with cold water, add salt, and set on the hob.
2. Bring it up gently.
   You can keep the heat high for the first 10 minutes to bring the water up to temperature. Then reduce the heat to about half. Once the soup starts to simmer, turn the heat down low (around 1–2, depending on your hob).
3. Peel and wash the vegetables.
   Cut off the onion’s roots and peel away the outer skin if needed, then wash it well. Peel the remaining vegetables, wash them, and keep them in a bowl covered with water to prevent them from drying out.
4. Remove the foam.
   As the bones cook, a greyish froth (foam) will rise to the surface (* see note). Skim it off carefully and discard it. Removing scum keeps the soup clean and clear.
5. Add the rest of the ingredients.
   After about 1 hour, add the chicken, vegetables (* see note), onion, ginger (don’t omit it), salt, and pepper.
6. Let it simmer slowly.
   Let the soup simmer gently for around 3 hours. Do not let it boil vigorously, as this will affect both the clarity and the flavour.
7. Strain the soup.
   Once done, strain the soup through a fine colander, removing the vegetables, meat, and bones.
8. Serve.
   Serve the soup with some of the vegetables and good-quality egg noodles or tagliatelle.
9. Store properly.
   The clear chicken soup (without vegetables, meat, or bones) keeps well in the fridge for up to 3 days, and you can freeze it for up to 3 months.

The Funny Truth About Two Different Soups

Here is where the comparison becomes genuinely amusing, at least to me. Chicken Soup for the Soul, that famous book series, helps you feel understood. It reminds you that other people have struggled with similar challenges, that you are not uniquely broken or alone in your confusion.

Chicken soup for the tummy, the actual steaming bowl, that helps you feel better in a completely different way. It offers warmth, nutrition, and the physical sensation of being cared for.

One reminds you that life is hard sometimes, that struggle is universal. The other helps you move through that struggle with more strength and less discomfort. One is constructed from carefully selected stories and printed words. The other is built from bones, vegetables, time, and attention.

Both absolutely have their place in a well-lived life. I would never suggest otherwise. But only one of them steams in a bowl and makes your shoulders drop involuntarily when you lift that first spoonful to your lips. Only one fills your kitchen with the smell that means someone cares enough to spend hours creating something that will help.

Why I Still Believe In This Simple Magic

My continued faith in homemade chicken soup has nothing to do with nostalgia, though I admit that it plays a minor supporting role. It has nothing to do with tradition for tradition’s sake, though I respect the wisdom embedded in practices that have endured for generations.

I believe in chicken soup because, after all these years and with all the nutritional information we now have access to, it still works. Consistently. Predictably. Without fanfare or empty promises.

When you feel tired beyond what sleep seems to fix. When something feels vaguely wrong, but you cannot quite identify what. When the weather shifts and your body struggles to adapt. When life feels heavier than usual, and you need something tangible to hold onto.

Sometimes the answer is not another supplement bottle to add to your collection. Not another detailed plan or protocol. Not more motivation, inspiration, or determination.

Sometimes the answer is genuinely just a bowl of clear chicken soup. Warm enough to feel comforting but not scalding. Simple enough that your grandmother would recognise every ingredient. Real enough that you can pronounce everything in it without consulting a chemistry textbook.

That is what chicken soup offers, whether you grew up eating it every Sunday in Slovakia or you discovered it later as an adult seeking comfort. It offers the radical simplicity of real food prepared with care and time. It offers permission to slow down and receive care instead of constantly pushing forward. It offers warmth that reaches deeper than your stomach.

So here is my invitation: next time life feels heavy, or your body feels off, consider making a pot of real chicken soup. Use good chicken, add some beef, throw in vegetables you recognise, and let it simmer slowly while you do something else entirely. Let time do the work that rushing can never accomplish.

Then sit down with a bowl of it, and notice what happens. Notice how your breathing changes. Notice how your shoulders relax. Notice how something fundamental shifts, even if you cannot quite explain what or why. Some things work without requiring explanation, and chicken soup has always been one of them.

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RICH CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL AND BODY

AUTHOR Helena – GrandmaZeal

A slow simmered chicken soup with chicken, bones, and vegetables, rich in flavour and deeply comforting.

5 from 8 votes

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Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time4 hours hrs

Total Time4 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine European

Servings 8 portions

Calories 235 kcal

Cooking Tools

• 1 Soup pot about 5 liters

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 kg Chicken carcasses, chicken wings, thigh bones, or even the whole chicken
• ▢ 2 pieces Short beef ribs
• ▢ 1 Beef marrow bone - optional
• ▢ 3 Carrots
• ▢ 1/4 Celeriac
• ▢ 1 small Kholrabi - or turnip or swede
• ▢ 1 Parsnip - or Parsley root
• ▢ 2 cm Fresh ginger
• ▢ 1 medium Brown onion - peel on, just cut the roots
• ▢ 1 tsp Whole black pepper
• ▢ 1 tsp Salt - add more to taste
• ▢ 10 pieces Brussels sprouts - or Savoy cabbage – optional
• ▢ 3-4 litre Water - approx

Instructions

• Wash the beef ribs and or marrow bone, place them in a large pot, cover with cold water, add salt, and set on the hob.
  2 pieces Short beef ribs, 1 Beef marrow bone, 3-4 litre Water, 1 tsp Salt
• Keep the heat high for the first 10 minutes to bring the water up to temperature. Then reduce the heat to about half. Once the soup starts to simmer, turn the heat down low (around 1–2, depending on your hob).
• As the bones cook, a greyish froth (foam) will rise to the surface. Skim it off carefully and discard it. This keeps the soup clean and clear.
• Cut off the onion roots and remove the outer skin if needed, then wash well.

  Peel and wash the remaining vegetables and keep them in a bowl of water so they don’t dry out.
  3 Carrots, 1/4 Celeriac, 1 small Kholrabi, 1 Parsnip, 2 cm Fresh ginger, 1 medium Brown onion, 10 pieces Brussels sprouts
• After about 1 hour, add the chicken, vegetables, onion, ginger (don’t omit it), salt, and pepper.

  If using Brussels sprouts or Savoy cabbage, add them only during the last hour of cooking.
  1 kg Chicken carcasses, chicken wings, thigh bones, or even the whole chicken, 1 tsp Whole black pepper
• Let the soup simmer gently for around 3 hours. Do not let it boil vigorously, as this will affect both the clarity and the flavour.
• Once done, strain the soup through a fine colander, removing the vegetables, meat, and bones.
• Serve the soup with some of the vegetables and good-quality egg noodles or tagliatelle.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bowlCalories: 235kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 13gFat: 16gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gNet carb: 7g

Nutritional facts in this recipe are only informative. The calculation might slightly vary, depending on the exact ingredients you use. For accuracy, enter your specific ingredients into a nutrition calculator like MyFitnessPal or Calorieking.

To calculate net carb use this method:

Carbohydrates – Fiber – Sugar alcohols = Net carb

Keyword chicken soup, clear chicken soup, homemeade chicken shoup

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