Green chicken soup with ginger, lemon and lots of greens
50 min · 30 g protein · 241 cals / serving
Tender poached chicken in a gingery, garlicky broth crowded with everything green: leek, zucchini, broccoli, peas, kale and spinach, finished with a big handful of parsley and dill and plenty of lemon. Clean-tasting and warming, and you get a whole bowl of vegetables without noticing.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 large leek, white and pale green, sliced and washed
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp ginger, grated
- 6 3/4 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/3 lb chicken breast, 2 large breasts, whole
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 large zucchini, diced
- 1 small head broccoli, small florets
- 5 oz kale, stems removed, chopped
- 1 cup cooked frozen green peas
- 3 1/2 oz baby spinach
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped, flat-leaf
- 1 small bunch fresh dill, chopped
- 2 tbsp lemon juice, about 1 lemon
Steps
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the leek and celery for 6 minutes until soft, then add the garlic and ginger and stir for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add the broth, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Slip in the whole chicken breasts, cover, and poach at a bare simmer for 15 minutes, until the thickest part reads 165°F. Lift the chicken onto a board.
- Add the zucchini, broccoli and kale to the pot and simmer 5 minutes. Meanwhile, shred the chicken with two forks.
- Return the chicken, add the peas and spinach and simmer 2 minutes, just until the peas are hot and the spinach wilts.
- Off the heat, stir in the parsley, dill and lemon juice. Taste for salt and lemon; it should taste bright, not just salty.
Good to know
Why poach the chicken whole?
Whole breasts poached gently in the broth stay juicy and shred into soft strands, and they flavour the broth while they cook. Cubed chicken boiled in soup turns dry and stringy.
Can I add noodles or rice?
A handful of cooked rice or small pasta in each bowl makes it more of a winter dinner. Add it per bowl, so the leftovers do not turn to mush.
Which greens can I swap?
Almost any: green beans, asparagus, chard, Brussels sprouts sliced thin or frozen broccoli all work. Keep the herbs and lemon; they are what makes it taste green.
Per
- Calories
- 44
- Protein
- (51%)
- 5 g
- Fat
- (23%)
- 1 g
- Carbohydrates
- (27%)
- 3 g
- of which sugar
- 1 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 269 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, 1445 kcal goes into the pot and 3576 g of ingredients comes out as about 3250 g of food: 44 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.