Chicken Soup

The Vietnamese chicken-and-noodle soup called pho is all about the layers of flavor in the rich-tasting broth. The technique here also produces meat that’s supremely tender and tasty.

There may not be any clinical proof that ginger helps fight colds or the flu, but this supereasy, gingery chicken soup will undeniably make you feel better.

This Mexican-inspired chicken soup by F&W’s Justin Chapple is extremely easy to make. Justin likes serving it with diced avocado and hot sauce to stir in at the table.

Spaghettini is a good stand-in for Asian noodles, but if you can find rice noodles, by all means use them here. Serve the soup in deep bowls with chopsticks or forks as well as spoons. Eat the noodles first then drink the soup in the Asian manner. Or, to use a spoon only and eat everything together, break the pasta into small pieces before cooking.

We’ve deviated slightly from the classic version of a popular Thai soup by adding rice to make it more substantial. Serve it with lime wedges—a squirt at the table does wonders.

This classic chicken noodle soup gets its deeply flavorful broth from a whole chicken.

The beauty of this recipe is that it takes advantage of an array of terrific prefab ingredients, from prepeeled garlic and precut butternut squash to rotisserie chicken and frozen sofrito (the Spanish green-pepper-and-onion seasoning paste). Poaching the prepeeled garlic cloves in milk helps bring out an extraordinary depth of flavor.

Here’s a silky soup that doesn’t rely on cream for its creamy texture; pureed avocados do the job nicely. It doesn’t rely on long cooking for its full flavor, either—the soup’s in the pot for less than ten minutes.

By using chicken thighs instead of breasts, F&W’s Melissa Rubel gives this hearty, jalapeño-spiked soup ultrarich flavor.

Chicken breasts poached in a broth flavored with star anise, cinnamon, ginger, scallions, and soy sauce is a Chinese classic. Traditionally you would save, not serve, the broth—it improves each time you use it—but we can never resist serving it with the chicken as a light sauce. If you like, boil noodles separately and add them to the broth for a meal in a dish.

The traditional Greek avgolemono soup is just chicken broth (thickened with egg and flavored with lemon) and rice. We add juicy bites of chicken breast and green peas to make the soup a meal.

Chef Dan Barber prepares this soup with seasonal chicken (raised in late spring, summer and fall), using wings, backs, necks and feet. His recipe yields almost eight quarts of broth, so there's plenty to freeze. He likes serving the soup with fluffy matzo balls laced with rosemary.

A mainstay in Morocco, steamed couscous topped with a very liquid stew is undeniably delectable, but not exactly quick. We’ve found, though, that combining all the ingredients in a soup yields similarly sumptuous results in a much shorter time. The dish is decidedly spicy; if you prefer less heat, just reduce the amount of cayenne.

For this spicy, soothing and restorative chicken-and-rice soup, Ratha Chau prepares his own delectable chicken stock and roasts a chicken, which is then cut into large pieces and added to it. For an easier version, use prepared stock and preroasted chicken.

With its seductive flavors of coconut, lime, ginger, and cilantro, this Thai soup is quickly becoming a favorite. Our version includes enough chicken and noodles to make it a main course. If you like, turn up the heat with more cayenne.

There are many variations on pozole, a traditional hominy-based Mexican stew closely associated with the Pacific-coast state of Guerrero. Anya von Bremzen’s version, a green pozole, derives much of its flavor from tangy ingredients like tomatillos, cilantro and green chiles.

Alternative healers use star anise to fight cold and flu symptoms. Melissa Rubel Jacobson combines the licorice-scented spice with cinnamon and ginger—both stomach soothers—to flavor a restorative chicken-noodle soup.

Melissa Rubel Jacobson cleverly uses chicken sausage here: removing the casings, shaping the meat into balls, browning them and simmering them in chicken broth. If you have leftover cooked rice on hand, feel free to substitute it for the orzo.

This isn’t authentic gumbo, but it's a delicious example of how Creole flavors have crept up to Kentucky.

The Chinese have considered the shiitake a symbol of longevity for thousands of years; recent research shows that it’s a great source of iron and antioxidants.

Cooks in Asia serve hot pots communally, setting a big pot of bubbling broth on the table alongside a platter of raw ingredients (like vegetables and thinly sliced chicken) for dipping. It's a fun way for guests to feel like they have a hand in making their own meal. In his version, Ethan Stowell gives each person at the table an individual bowl of sliced mushrooms, tofu and scallions, then adds piping hot chicken broth loaded with chunks of tender cooked chicken.

This West African chicken soup gets its extraordinary richness from coconut milk.

Jacques Pépin’s chicken stew is fast and easy to assemble, and it cooks in about 30 minutes.

The chicken in this saffron-and-ginger-scented chorba (the North African name for soup) is an excellent source of protein, while the walnuts are packed with antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, superheroes for the heart.

This comforting Italian chicken soup is loaded with spinach and ribbons of beaten egg.

This easy Italian riff on Japanese ramen uses an herb-infused chicken broth and angel hair pasta.

This one-pot dinner from F&W’s Gail Simmons is an enriched take on classic chicken soup with rice; at once flavorful, hearty and comforting.

The secret to this speedy soup is buying ingredients with lots of built-in flavor, like hummus, jarred piquillo peppers and rotisserie chicken.

In many South American countries, thick soups or stews are called chupes. This comforting chupe is made with barley, potatoes and lima beans in a savory chicken broth.

Frédérick Hermé’s chicken soup is thickened with fresh bread crumbs and enriched with cheese and egg yolks.

Lots of carrots and parsnips give old-favorite chicken noodle soup a sweet savor. To balance this effect, use the optional parsley, which is just slightly bitter.