Where has Rotisserie Chicken Soup been all my life? Use the bones to make the broth, add the chicken at the end and warm it through. Reheats perfectly.
Rotisserie Chicken Soup
Course: Soups8
¾-cup servingsIngredients
1 rotisserie chicken
2 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
2-3 celery ribs, diced
1-2 baking potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup flour
1 bay leaf
1 Tbs dried tarragon
1/4 cup chicken stock reduction paste, or more to taste
Salt and pepper
Bacon, for garnish (optional)
Directions
- Strip the meat off the chicken, slice it into bite-size pieces, package it up, and refrigerate it. Place everything else – skin, scraps, bones, etc. – into a stock pot. Cover with water, bring to a boil over high heat, cover with a lid, and simmer on medium-low heat for an hour. Strain the stock into a bowl and discard the solids. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight.
- Skim and discard the fat off the stock. Measure the stock; add water as neccessary to bring the amount to 4 cups. Return it to the fridge if not using immediately.
- In a soup pot over a medium flame, heat the oil, and then add the onion, carrot, celery, and potato. Cook until softened, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Sprinkle in flour and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Add the stock, bay, and tarragon, raise the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Cover, and over low heat, gently simmer until the veg is perfect, about 9 minutes.
- Add stock reduction, salt (perhaps 1 tsp … but taste your way there), and pepper. Add the chicken and warm though on lowest heat, covered, 2 minutes. (Garnish with bacon.)
Intro
This is such a homey homemade soup. So easy breezy to make! It does not at all taste like a soup that you took any shortcuts with. It tastes like you slaved over it. If you don’t want it to take two days, you could pour the stock through a fat separator right after you’ve made it.
Social Learning
This soup is completely versatile. You could pack it with whatever veg if you like. Or mushrooms. I love adding rice or egg noodles to most chicken soups, but the potato in this one seems to preclude them. A really nice addition would be to serve the soup with warm rolls.
Two celery ribs are fine – all the flavor is there. But if you want more of a celery presence, use the third rib. I think it’s great both ways. Two potatoes give you a lavish potato presence, which I think complements the texture of the dish. If you’re not as much a fan of potatoes as I am, one will do just fine.
This isn’t a classic or refined chicken soup, and may therefore not be the kind of thing you’d serve to someone who has a cold. No, its charm is that it tastes like a well-loved quilt wrapped around you near a woodburning stove. Reminds you of Grandma’s cooking. Although, if I had to play devil’s advocate, I might say that it tastes something like the chicken and potato soup you get at a nice grocery store’s hot bar … but in that case, you’d be telling everyone how great Store-Such-and-Such’s soup is.
Three-quarters of a cup is an excellent serving size. Although if you’re decidedly hungry and don’t plan to have anything but the soup, you might want to double the serving size.
It’s such a perfect use for a rotisserie chicken:
Chow down both drumsticks as soon as you get it home, because that’s living. Then rip all the other meat off the bone and store it while you boil down the bones to make the stock.
You can strip all the skin off the chicken and use it in the stock, but I prefer to commit to the stock any skin that separates during the strip-off-the-bone process and leave any skin that stays attached to the meat, attached to the meat.
I usually don’t bother trying to strip the wing meat off the bone. The wings just go into the stock … but not necessarily whole. If I have a bit of aggression that I’d like to work out, I’ll take a few whacks at all the bones with a cleaver before putting them into the stock pot. I have an awesome, Sweeny-Todd-worthy, Wüsthof cleaver that my equally awesome brother gave me as a gift. It is incredibly therapeutic to use it.
You might not feel like you need to add all the meat to the soup. Start with half of it and see what you think. Any extra could be turned into chicken salad, or who knows what.
The Backstory
I realize that it’s late April, and I should be presenting salads on picnic tables and whatnot, but it’s still sweater weather where I live. We had spring in February. I don’t think I wore a coat to work the entire month, and in fact, we had two consecutive days of mid-seventies weather – in February! Following that, we had an absolutely proper spring in March … I wore light spring jackets to run around town in, all month. Green grass everywhere, and spring flowers. Now it’s April, and everything is in bloom and the leaves are on the trees, but the temperatures have fallen to lows in the 30s. It’s what we Chicagoans call “second winter.”
So, with today’s high in the 50s and all-day rain, a soup like this really hit the spot.
All of this weather, by the way, it outrageous for Chicago. The February mid-70s temps broke records going as far back as weather has been recorded here. A month of spring in March, that’s a double WTF. We never have a month of spring. Spring usually lasts a week. Sometimes only one day. And it’s never in March. March here is usually one of the hardest months. It usually sees winter temperatures, but there’s not usually any snow on the ground. Because of the usually sub-zero temperatures in February, in March the grass is usually brown; it usually hasn’t been warm or sunny enough to turn it green. The skies are often grey. It’s everything you hate about winter with nothing you love. And April is not a whole lot better. It usually promises everything and delivers nothing. Many a Mother’s Day has seen snow flurries, so don’t get your hopes up for May. And then, usually, miraculously, in the week immediately following Memorial Day (but of course, never on the holiday weekend itself), it turns utterly, permanently, and completely to full-on summer.
Rotisserie Chicken Soup
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Thanks 😊, I will try 😋
Hum c’est un plat très appétissant
Merci
Thank you, Delphine!
This soup sounds delicious. I’ve made chicken soup with white beans or noodles but never with potatoes. I will have to give that a try because I’m sure it is amazing.
The weather has been crazy even for us south of you. I have had to wear layers for the last few months because I never know if it’s going to be cold or warm.
Mmm! I love white beans in chicken soup!
The soup looks very flavourful and comforting, Jeff. Bacon is not optional 🙂
Yes, regarding the bacon!
Does chicken soup ever go out of favor? No. This recipe looks delicious, and I always appreciate using a rotisserie chicken.
Thanks, Judy!
Looks great.. so comforting.
Thank you.
It’s a marginal time in lots of places. It’s been over 80 here, and then 40 for a high. They always say, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait.” I just posted a warm pasta dish. I love salads but I don’t expect to only see salads on blogs, even though it’s almost May. This rotisserie chicken soup is a great idea. God bless rotisserie chicken!
Haha! Agreed!
Yum! I am going to bookmark this and save it for the fall. We have passed the point TheHub will eat soup as a meal, until the weather it cool again.
I can’t wait to be passing that point!
A supermarket rotisserie chicken has so many uses. Nothing needs to be wasted. Thanks, Jeff.
Agreed!
Ya, I noticed winter came back just about the time we returned from Europe, bad timing! Soup has been a staple on our menu since our return. I keep a bag of frozen rotisserie chicken or roast chicken in the freezer along with wilted vegetables for quick chicken soup, the roasting imparts incredible flavour. Particularly the rotisserie chicken which I normally find over salted. Hoping things warm up soon, sick of sweater weather.
I hope you had a great trip!It’s never fun to come home to lingering winter!
I love a chicken soup and i love buying a roast chicken from the supermarket when needing a quick meal or two or three… We had the hottest, longest, most humid summer on record ever! and they are saying winter will be a very warm one too. Eek! What is happening?!
What’s happening indeed!
I’m just wondering why it never occurred to me to use Rotisserie Chicken for making soup before, either? That’s such a genius idea and the flavour must be fantastic, with a hint of smokiness. Well done!
Right? Thanks! I guess it’s because it’s just tempting to eat the whole chicken when you get it home. They’re small, and they’re so delicious when they’re still warm.
Looks really delicious, I absolutely love it! Chicken soup always a good option
Thank you, Javier!
Rice and egg noodles are great additions to this kind of soup, but I’ve become a recent fan of adding orzo into homemade chicken soup, too. As the seasons change here, my allergies act up and I like to comfort myself with homemade chicken soup. Yours looks homey, if there ever was a homey chicken soup. Perfect!
Oh yeah, why didn’t I think of orzo. That’d be a great addition. Sometimes, I find these tiny, tiny, tinky little stars – evben smaller than orzo, and they work great, too.
Delicious soup! I don´t say anything more… Besitos.
Thank you Mari!
Haha – your description of Chicago winters is one of the main reasons why we left New York! It was mid-80’s yesterday here. Too hot for this time of the year? Perhaps. But way better than May in NY! We do love chicken soup, and the potatoes in this one sound like a fun twist. Stay warm, my friend – or come to Asheville!
I’ve heard great things about Asheville. So, it sounds like you like it!
Grazie, mi piacciono molto le zuppe, proverò questa con il pollo che è molto invitante!!!
Thank you! I hope you like it.
There is nothing like a bowl of homemade chicken soup and yours sounds terrific. I have a saying, a rotisserie chicken is your friend. When we buy one, my husband debones it. The bones get turned into delicious stock and some used for chicken soup and the rest frozen in small containers for sauces.
Great idea, and a great saying!
Your soup recipe sounds like the ultimate comfort food! I love how you’ve made it so versatile, allowing for personal touches like extra veggies or mushrooms. And your storytelling about the weather in Chicago made me feel like I was right there with you, experiencing “second winter.” Thanks for sharing such a cozy recipe and a glimpse into life in your city!
My pleasure!
Looks absolutely wonderful, comforting, and simple. A rotisserie chicken is a great tool in the kitchen. I loved being in France, where rotisserie chickens are everywhere, and so simple and good. I wish they were as good here in the states!
Ugh! I wish all the food in France were available here!
Late April, or any month for that matter, is a good time for this comforting bowl of deliciousness. I crave this sort of thing all year, and I’m guessing the rest of the world might too. YUM! 🙂 ~Valentina
Thanks!
That bacon is a nice touch, and rotisserie chickens are great bargains. This soup would be a hit in our house during “May gray/June gloom” here.
We just had the most beautiful weekend weather. I mean, some rain … but also loads of sunshine. Very unusual, but very welcome!
I can eat soup anytime of the year. It’s 68º in our house all the time so soup is always enjoyed. I use rotisserie chicken all the time but never thought about using it for soup and boiling the bones for broth. Thank you for a great idea Jeff!
Oh, thank you so much! Once you start making broth from rotisserie chicken, you’ll be so glad you did.