Simple Chicken Vegetable Soup

Why you’ll enjoy it

Heading into cooler weather, is there anything more satisfying than a piping hot bowl of chicken soup? This cozy chicken and vegetable soup with potatoes is quite hearty and filling, so it makes a great wholesome meal that won’t leave you hungry right after. This rustic soup is such an easy way to get a big serving of vegetables as well, and the perfectly seasoned tomato broth is really tasty.

It’s ideal for using up leftover or rotisserie chicken if you happen to have some and is an awesome clean-out-the-fridge kind of soup recipe, where you can toss in whatever vegetables need using up and customize it to your liking. Busy weeknights just got easier, and the leftovers of this soup taste even better!

What goes into it

• Onion, carrots, celery – a traditional aromatic trio to start the soup off right. I like using sweet (Vidalia) onions best. Yellow works too.
• Olive oil – for sautéing
• Garlic – to add more savory flavor. I use this garlic press so that you don’t even need to peel the cloves when mincing them.
• Italian seasoning – I always have a jar of this on the go. It’s a tasty mix of dried herbs that comes in a single jar.
• Tomato sauce – for that delicious concentrated tomato flavor. Use diced tomatoes instead if you prefer tomato pieces vs. the pureed kind. If you’re in the U.K., use tomato passata. It’s close to the North American canned tomato sauce.
• Chicken broth – for another layer of flavor. A 32 oz container equals the 4 cups this recipe calls for.
• Potato – Russets are my usual choice for soups
• Corn, peas, green beans – my veggie picks, but it’s totally flexible
• Chicken – we’re using rotisserie for this low effort soup

Substitutions and variations

• This soup is very forgiving, so feel free to add more or less of a suggested vegetable or simply use whatever you’ve got in your fridge. Try adding turnips, sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, kale, or a couple of handfuls of spinach right at the end. Even canned beans will work if you want a bit more protein in the soup.
• If you are using different vegetables, I suggest timing-wise you add them in depending on how long it takes them to cook (like add in something that takes longer to cook in step 5), and it’s also a good idea to chop them to a similar size so they cook at a similar rate.
• If you prefer the soup not to have a tomato-based broth, simply swap the tomato sauce for another cup of chicken broth.