Homemade Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 4 hours

Total Time: 5 hours

Yield: 1 gallon

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 can corn
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 4 carrots, grated
• 1 can peas
• pepper
• salt or seasoning salt
• water
• noodles or rice

Steps:

1. Boil chicken in water until well done. You can cook on the stove or in the crockpot, whichever suits your time schedule.

 

 
2. When chicken is done, skin and debone chicken. Save the water it was cooked in, which is now your chicken broth. Set bones and skin aside to freeze for soup stock for future soup. Cut or shred chicken into small pieces.

 
3. Skim any skin and fat off the top of the remain broth. You can set the broth in the refrigerator to allow fat to harden and remove the fat, or you can skim it off with ice cubes.

 
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4. Dice and add your choice of vegetable ingredients. Suggestions are carrots, corn, onion, celery, and peas.

 

 

 
5. Add your pepper and other chosen seasonings here. I wait to add salt if I am using any commercially canned foods, as often salt has already been added to those. After it cooks a bit, I find I often don't need it.
6. At this stage, you can either continue to cook your soup for at least 4 hours in the crockpot, or until done on the stove top; or you can put into the crockpot and set it in the fridge overnight. The next day you can start the crockpot and have it ready when you come home from work.
7. If you want to add noodles precook them for the crockpot and add last. If cooking on the stove top, add them into the pot towards the end without precooking.
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8. If you want to add rice, precook and add last.
9. This soup also freezes and heats up well. If you chose to make ahead to freeze, do not add noodles or rice before freezing. Wait and add them at the time you reheat it.