Okay, we are having WAY too much fun over on my Instagram stories tonight laughing at Nick’s antics (while also being fully in awe of his cooking talent). At this point I should really just hand my Instagram over to him. We all know who the real star is here! 😉
It honestly brings us both so much joy to share these moments in the kitchen with you guys, and I loooove connecting over how many of Nick’s “grandma tricks” have also been passed down in your families.
I have been promising you Nick’s chicken soup recipe for ages now, and after many failed attempts at begging him to write it down, I decided to corral him in the kitchen and watch him like a hawk so that I could (hopefully) translate it into words. He is truly the grandma we’ve always needed — while also being the grandma who will never measure anything so you’re forced to learn by watching.
I PRESENT TO YOU… Nick’s Intuitive Chicken Soup. I tried to include as many pictures as possible, but he moves so fast. I hope you love it, and if this doesn’t work out for you guys, maybe I’ll just have to follow him with a camera and get an IGTV going. xx
Ingredients:
10-15 medium carrots
1 bunch of celery
2 white onions
1 knob of ginger
2.5 lbs organic boneless chicken thighs
48 oz chicken stock or bone broth
organic adobo seasoning
olive oil
salt
pepper
Equipment:
1 stock pot
1 large frying pan
Wooden spoon (for scraping and de-glazing the pan)
Directions:
1. Prep your veggies by peeling your carrots. Prep your ginger by peeling it too, but don’t chop or slice— this goes in whole.
2. Chop up the carrots, celery, and onions. Set aside.
3. Prep your chicken by washing it with water under the sink faucet as you look for and remove any noticeable chunks of connective tissue or bone. Also remove any blood vessels you can find.*
*Nick’s grandmother taught him that if the chicken was freshly killed like back on the farm, it would be fine to eat with blood vessels and all. But since the chicken is from the grocery store and has been sitting, this is old blood that you want to avoid.
4. Once the chicken is clean, place it in a large bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper only (for now).
5. In your stock pot, sauté all of your veggies (besides the ginger) in 2 tsp. olive oil on medium-high heat until the vegetables start to sweat.
6. In a separate pan, brown the chicken thighs in 2 tsp olive oil on medium-high heat starting with the skin side down. Make sure your pan is nice and hot before putting the thighs in. While laying each thigh down, make sure to jostle the pan a bit to ensure they don’t stick.
7. While the chicken is cooking, stir the vegetables and check to see how much they are sweating; we want to see a good amount of bubbling liquid at the bottom which is where all the flavor gets concentrated.
8. After about 5 minutes, flip the chicken over. This is when you add 1 tbsp adobo and any other seasonings you’d like. Let cook for a few more minutes, then flip one last time so that they’re back on the skin side. Continue to cook until golden brown.
9. By this time your veggies should be slightly softened and the “sweat” will have concentrated so there’s not as much liquid on the bottom. Turn the heat on the stock pot to low and throw in the knob of peeled ginger.
10. Once the chicken is browned, remove from pan and set aside. While the pan is still nice and hot, add just enough water to cover the bottom in order to de-glaze all the flavor and crispy bits. Take a wooden spoon, stir/scrape up any bits that are stuck and mix them with the liquid. This liquid holds a ton of flavor.
11. Once the bottom of the pan is fully de-glazed and you’ve scraped it clean, pour the liquid and bits into your stock pot.
***NOTE: IF YOUR PAN WASN’T BIG ENOUGH TO COOK ALL THE CHICKEN AT ONCE – Take that same deglazed pan and add another 2 tsp olive oil. Repeat the chicken cooking process with the remainder of the thighs and set aside with the first round. If your pan was big enough, skip this step.
12. Place all of the cooked chicken on a cutting board and chop it into chunks. Season the now-chunks of chopped chicken once again with ~2 tsp adobo and throw them back into the pan on medium heat to seal in the flavor. Jostle as you stir and let cook for 5 final minutes.
13. Add 48oz chicken broth (or bone broth) to your stock pot of veggies. Add the chunks of cooked chicken from the other pan into the stock pot, then fill the rest of the pot with water to the top if the broth isn’t enough.
14. Stir everything together and leave on low heat for 20 minutes to let the flavors mesh together, then serve in a bowl over white rice.
I can’t wait for you to try this. Please keep me posted on your results (and whether or not this was easy to follow so that I can get better at writing his recipes in the future!) 🙂
