Grandma's Comfort Chicken Soup with Drumsticks Recipe
The warmth of Grandma's Comfort Chicken Soup with Drumsticks Recipe is a soul-soothing experience. Tender drumsticks mingle with aromatic veggies creating a nostalgic embrace of savory goodness.
Ingredients
- 8 chicken drumsticks
- 3-4 medium carrots, sliced
- 1 medium parsley roots
- 2 medium parsnip roots
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 medium onions, whole (just slightly cut once at the bottom to release the flavor)
- 1 cup green peas, frozen
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ inch (1.5 cm) piece of ginger
- 3 tbsp granulated Vegeta bouillon
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 2 cups any type of noodles
- 10 cups cold water
- freshly ground black pepper
- fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Rinse the chicken drumsticks under cold water and pat them dry with a paper towel. Wash and chop the carrots and celery. Mince the garlic and grate the ginger. (I like to leave my parsley and parsnips whole, just quartered lengthwise as my daughter does not like the white veggies, just the carrots. This way I can easily scoop them out when serving the soup.)
- In a large pot, place all the chicken drumsticks and vegetables, as well as the bay leaf.
- Pour the water on top of the ingredients in the pot (at this point you could also use whatever you have on hand: store-bought chicken stock, your own homemade chicken broth, or bone broth. In this case, adjust the granulated Vegeta bouillon at the end, or skip it altogether, depending on the seasoning of your broth) and add one teaspoon of salt (the salt will collect all the scum at the surface of the soup). Turn the stove on medium-low heat.
- Once the soup is boiling, reduce the heat and let the soup cook on a low simmer for about 25-30 minutes or until the chicken meat is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. During the cooking, occasionally remove the foam, scum, and fat that gather at the top of the soup, with a skimmer spoon. This way your soup will remain nice and clear at the end.
- When cooking the egg noodles you can either add them straight to the pot in the last 5-10 minutes (cook 2 minutes less than the package instructions as they will continue to cook in the soup) or you can cook them separately in some soup or salted water (see Carmen's tips below).
- Once the soup is cooked, take out the drumsticks, take the bone out, and shred the meat. Place the shredded chicken back into the soup.
- Add the Vegeta bouillon, the thyme, the basil, the oregano, and the pepper, and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Remove the bay leaf and the whole onions.
- Ladle the hot soup into bowls, making sure each portion gets a generous serving of drumsticks, veggies, and noodles. Garnish with fresh parsley. Bon appetite!