Sicilian Chicken Soup

No matter the weather, soup always makes an appearance in my meal plan. Not every member of my family feels so strongly about soup so I usually have lunch for days. Sundays are my meal prep days. I make a big pot of soup and portion it out into the soup bowls that a student gifted me for Christmas many years ago. The set of four soup bowls turned out to be one of my favorite gifts of all time and I still use them to this day. So if you’re looking for a neat gift idea for a teacher or a meal prepper consider a set of soup bowls.

From week to week I change up the flavor of the soup that I make so that I don’t grow tired of eating soup. Variety is the spice of life. This Sicilian Chicken Soup is based on a few recipes that I found online. I have developed my own recipe by adding in zucchini and a few extra dried herbs.

I know that many of my readers do not eat meat, therefore, I have included a suggestion in the Notes Section of the instructions for making this a vegetarian soup.

I recommend leaving the noodles out of the Sicilian Chicken Soup and allowing each member of the family to add them to his/her individual bowl because noodles tend to take on liquid and expand and change texture. I store my leftover noodles and soup in separate bowls and add the noodles in when I warm the Sicilian Chicken Soup in the microwave or on the stove.

From what I understand, this recipe is very similar to Carrabba’s Sicilian Chicken Soup, but I can’t verify that since I’ve never tasted Carrabba’s soup. Either way copycat or not, I love it!

I hope that you’ll try this recipe out and leave a comment below. Also, for daily updates follow @lifeabovethecafe on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest using the social media icons found on this page.

Ingredients:

• 8 cups of chicken broth
• 3 cups of diced chicken breast
• 1 large chicken bouillon cube
• 1 can of stewed tomatoes
• 2 & 1/2 cups of diced potatoes
• 1 & 1/2 cups of diced red bell pepper
• 1 & 1/2 cups of sliced carrots
• 1 & 1/2 cups of diced celery
• 1 & 1/2 cups of sliced zucchini
• 3/4 of a cup of diced white or yellow onion
• 1 Tbsp. of dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 – 1 tsp. of dried oregano
• 1/2 – 1 tsp. of dried basil
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1/4 tsp. of black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. of minced garlic
• 2 cups of uncooked noodles (Ditalini or Orecchiette or another small variety)

Directions:

Note –  If you don’t feel like measuring the chicken and vegetables then use 2 – 3 chicken breasts, 1/2 of a large onion, 3 medium carrots, 3 stalks of celery, 2 medium potatoes, 1 large red bell pepper, and 1 medium zucchini.  The garlic will be about 3 medium cloves before minced.

Wash and prep all of the vegetables.  I cut the zucchini in half and then cut slices a little larger than 1/4 inch.  If your zucchini is large cut it in half and in half again then slice the pieces.  Cut the carrots into 1/4 inch rounds.  If they’re large you may want to cut the rounds in half.  The rest of the vegetables are diced in 1/4 – 1/2 inch dice.  I don’t peel my potatoes and I use golden or white potatoes.

Dice the chicken so that you have 3 to 4 cups for the soup.

In a large soup pot combine the chicken broth, bouillon cube, can of stewed tomatoes (do not drain but you can chop them up into bite sized pieces) all of the vegetables except the zucchini, the salt and pepper, the dried parsley, oregano, basil and the minced garlic.

Bring the ingredients up to a boil and then reduce the heat to a rolling simmer. After 10 minutes add the zucchini to the soup mixture (I wait so that it doesn’t get mushy) and cook the noodles in a separate pot of salted water.  Follow the instructions on the package for al dente noodles.  I serve the noodles separately so when I drain them I lightly coat them with oil so they won’t stick together.

Cook the soup for a total time of 25 – 30 minutes, or until the carrots and potatoes are tender.  Taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary towards the end of the cook time.  Serve the soup with a portion of pasta mixed into the individual bowls.  I prefer the pasta served and stored separately from the soup so that it doesn’t absorb all of the soup broth and change texture/size from the extra liquid.

Note – to make this a vegetarian soup, substitute the chicken broth for vegetable broth, the bouillon cube for a vegetable bouillon cube, and substitute the chicken for a can of white beans that have been drained and rinsed.

Store the leftover soup in the refrigerator or freezer.  Once again I store the noodles separately.  If this is to be taken as a lunch item away from home, I portion out the noodles in small servings.  Reheat in the microwave or on the stove.

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