Chicken and lentil soup

Chicken soup recipe

Nothing is more comforting than a bowl of chicken soup. Although chicken and vegetable recipes and their roots vary around the world, the warming, flavourful and soothing dish is universally loved. And it’s easy to see why. It’s perfect for family meals, and it’s a brilliant way of using up veggies and herbs, as well as pantry staples. You can add veggies such as carrot, celery, leek, spring onions and mushroom, and herbs such as thyme, rosemary, bay leaves and ginger. Pantry staples include chickpeas, lentils or beans. There’s really no limit to what you can add to nourishing chicken soup. This recipe is a hearty dish that’s packed with veggies and legumes, which provide plenty of fibre and protein, and is a quick and easy midweek meal.

Ingredients for chicken veg soup recipe

For this recipe, you’ll need 500g of good-quality chicken breasts that have been chopped to bite-sized pieces. You’ll need the pale section of 1 medium leek, thinly sliced, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 2 large carrots, chopped and 300g of cup mushrooms, thinly sliced. The pantry staples used include ½ cup (100g) dried lentils, rinsed and drained, two 400g cans of cherry tomatoes and a 400g can of chickpeas, also rinsed and drained. The soup’s herbal addition comes from ⅓ cup of basil leaves which will be used to serve.

How to make chicken and vegetable soup

First, cook the veggies so their flavours are released. Heat 1 tbs of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, then add the leek, garlic, carrot and mushroom. Cook these veggies, stirring, for 5 minutes or until tender. Then in the same pan, add the lentils, tomatoes, chicken and 6 cups (1.5L) of water and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

To give the chickpeas a next-level touch, grill them before adding them to the soup. Preheat the grill to medium-high and place the chickpeas on a baking tray. Drizzle with 1 tbs olive oil and toss to coat. Place the tray under the grill and cook, tossing the chickpeas around occasionally, for 4 minutes or until they have a lovely golden colour.

When you’re ready to serve up, season the soup with pepper and top with the golden chickpeas. Scatter some basil leaves over the top for a fragrant and flavourful finish to your tasty chicken soup.

Now get cooking

Warm up with more chicken soup recipes, including this quick chicken noodle soup, which features a few clever hacks to get the tasty bowls on the table in no time. Spice up your weeknight with this Mexican chicken soup, and this speedy chicken and egg noodle soup is guaranteed to become a regular in your kitchen. And if you’re craving curry and soup, have both with this hearty spiced chicken lentil and cauliflower soup.