Cock-a-leekie
95 min · 32 g protein · 344 cals / serving
Scotland's Burns Night soup: a clear, golden chicken broth crowded with silky leeks, tender shredded chicken and a little pearl barley, with a few prunes melting in for a dark, sweet note against the pepper and parsley. Simple, deeply savoury and better the next day.
Ingredients
- 500 g chicken thigh, boneless and skinless
- 2 small chicken breasts
- 1.5 litres chicken broth, low-salt chicken stock
- 300 ml water
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 carrots, diced
- 2 sticks celery, diced
- 2 leaves bay leaf
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 50 g barley, pearl barley, rinsed
- 4 medium leek, halved lengthways, washed and sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 8 prunes, pitted and quartered
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
To serve
- a small bunch fresh parsley, chopped
Steps
- Put the chicken thighs in a large pot with the stock, water, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves and thyme. Bring slowly to the boil, skim off any froth, then simmer gently, partly covered, for 25 minutes.
- Stir in the pearl barley, add the chicken breasts and simmer for 20 minutes more.
- Lift out the chicken onto a board. Add the leeks and garlic to the pot and simmer for 15 minutes, until the leeks are soft and the barley is tender. Meanwhile, shred the chicken with two forks; it should be 165°F in the thickest piece.
- Return the chicken to the pot with the prunes, salt and pepper and simmer for 5 minutes, until the prunes have softened into the broth. Remove the bay leaves, taste for salt and serve in deep bowls scattered with parsley.
Good to know
Prunes in a chicken soup?
They are traditional and they are the point: a few quartered prunes give the clear broth a rich, faintly sweet depth that sets it apart from an ordinary chicken soup. Use fewer if you are unsure, but try them.
Can I use a whole chicken?
Yes, that is the old way. Simmer a small whole chicken for about an hour, lift it out, strip the meat and skim the fat off the broth before adding the leeks. Thighs and breasts get you there faster with a leaner broth.
Does it keep?
It keeps for 3 days in the fridge and freezes well. The barley keeps drinking the broth, so add a splash of water or stock when you reheat it.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 62
- Protein
- (38%)
- 6 g
- Fat
- (21%)
- 1 g
- Carbohydrates
- (42%)
- 7 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 254 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 2062 kcal goes into the pot and 3891 g of ingredients comes out as about 3350 g of food: 62 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.