Chicken soup made from leftover roasted chicken carcasses is a great way to stretch your grocery dollars and create a delicious meal. The soup simmers on the stove for hours, filling your kitchen with an enticing aroma. The long simmering process releases healthy elements from the bones and enhances flavor as the stock reduces. Lemon and herbs adds a savory flavor to this delicious soup recipe. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
Roasted chicken bones
1 onion
3 carrots
This recipe used two 4-pound carcasses from lemon and rosemary roasted chickens. They were stored in the freezer including the skin, lemon wedges, and rosemary springs until soup making day. No need to thaw them out before starting the soup.
Place them in your largest stockpot. This one is 8 quarts.
Add about 4 quarts of water, enough to cover the bones.
Chop your vegetables and add to the pot.
Bring to a boil and then reduce to low simmer. Place a lid on top, tilting it to allow steam to escape. Stir occasionally.
Simmer the broth until the liquid is reduced by half and the meat has fallen off the bones. This takes about three hours. The longer the broth simmers the better tasting it is. There is no need to season the broth as the roasted chickens were rubbed with olive oil, Italian herbs, and stuffed with the lemon wedges and rosemary stalks.
Turn off the heat, remove the lid, and allow the bones to cool off a bit. When you can handle them, place a couple of scoops of meat and bones into a strainer.
Using your hands, pick through a little at a time to sort out the edibles. Keep the meat, rosemary leaves, and vegetables. Continue to scoop and sort through the entire batch of soup.
If you don’t recognize it as meat or vegetable, throw it out! Cartilage, bones, chicken skin, lemon wedges, and rosemary stalks were discarded. Some of the chicken bones are very tiny so take your time with this step.
The soup can be served immediately or reserved for later use. You can store the soup in the fridge up to 5 days or place in your freezer for up to 3 months. If you wish, add noodles or rice to the broth when served. Store the noodles or rice separately to prevent them from becoming soggy. Enjoy!
Tips:
Any recipe of roasted chicken, rotisserie chicken or turkey can be used. Simply add lemon and herbs when cooking to add flavor.
Freeze poultry parts after roasting to make soup. Any parts can be used: breasts, legs, thigh bones. Make soup when you have collected enough bones and you have the time.
If your chickens were fatty, place the cooked soup in the fridge for a few hours. The congealed fat will rise to the top.
Watch for tiny chicken bones when enjoying your soup.
