Chicken and Kale Soup

The smell of soup cooking in the house. Nothing beats it. Waking up this weekend to the sight of snow covered mountain tops in Canmore with crisp mountain air; perfection.

My weekend was busy attending a beautiful wedding in Canmore, a quick trip to and from Lethbridge to visit family and preparation for a busy week ahead. When I arrived back in the city yesterday I spent a few hours in the kitchen preparing meals for the week. After taking stock of what was in my fridge I decided that I had most of what I need to make soup and after a long weekend, comfort food was necessary. While I was making butternut squash soup I started chicken kale soup and was roasting another chicken for lunches and meals for the week. I left the chicken roasting while I drove Ava to horse riding then came home to finish making a batch of cookies and pumpkin muffins. Ava helped me by washing the dishes as she snuck a few scoops of cookie dough. Work nights are busy for me this week and the kids have activities so a little preparation saves my life.

I make my own chicken and turkey stock because bone broth is extremely nourishing for the digestive system and homemade stock tastes so much better. Freezing stock in glass jars makes it easy to pull out of the freezer and let defrost in the fridge for a a few days or place them in a sink of hot water to unthaw. If you don’t have the time or inclination to make your own, store bought is fine but look for a really good quality one. Preferably a broth with no MSG or added yeast. I have pre cooked frozen chicken in the freezer from roasting a chicken for this exact purpose. This soup is a staple during the fall and winter in my kitchen.

This soup is resilient so you may add whatever vegetables you have on hand. If you have Swiss chard you can use that instead of kale. I had yellow peppers that needed to be used so I threw them in but can easily be left out. Fresh thyme is incredible in this soup but you can use dried herbs as well but use less than is called for. This soup is protein packed making it very filling and a complete meal. If you don’t have cooked chicken on hand, oven roasting a few chicken breasts then pulling them apart works great and it doesn’t take a lot of time.

Serves 6 with leftovers

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 celery stalks, with leaves, diced
3 carrots, peeled, diced
1 small sweet potato, peeled, diced
1 yellow or red pepper, diced
3 – 4 kale leaves, stems removed, torn into bite sized pieces
2 cups or more of cooked chicken, diced
2 liters of chicken broth
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a large stockpot add the olive oil, onion, garlic, carrots, celery and sweet potato. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes until the vegetables become soft but not brown. Add in the diced pepper, sea salt, bay leaves, thyme and black pepper. Cook for another few minutes. Add in the chicken broth and allow to cook over low heat for 15 minutes or until all the vegetables are soft. Add in the kale leaves and cook for another 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add more sea salt or pepper if needed.

Click to receive delicious and healthy new recipes and foodie updates!