Anti-Inflammatory, Gluten-Free and Heart-Healthy: This Chicken Soup Can Do It All
It's a bowl of classic chicken soup, but amped up with extra-healthy additions.
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Chicken soup is a classic that’s hard to top. I mean, it’s everything you could want in one heart-warming bowl: Moist chicken, nutrient-rich vegetables and a whole lot of slow-simmered flavor. And with the right recipe – like our Hearty Chicken Quinoa Soup with Kale – it can even be super healthy.
We’ve taken the classic and added our Clean Eating twist, mixing extra veggies and a hearty helping of quinoa into our spin on chicken soup. All of the staples, like diced carrots and crunchy celery ribs, are still present. But we’ve added in a few cups of kale for even more good-for-you greens, plus white quinoa for a fiber-rich, super satisfying final dish.
And with the addition of these clean ingredients, we’ve also made your bowl of soup even better for you. Kale is loaded with vitamins and minerals; it’s rich in vitamins A and C, plus folate, omega-3 fatty acids, phosphorous and calcium. Quinoa, in addition to being very filling, is also nutrient-dense. This gluten-free additions replaces rice and offers 18 percent of your daily fiber total. Plus, it provides you with quercetin and kaempferol, two plant compounds that have potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. And of course, the other veg paired with the protein-rich chicken come together to provide you with one impressively good-for-you meal.
Oh, and did we mention that this uber-healthy chicken quinoa soup is also super easy to make? It’s a one-pot meal that’ll save you time on busy weeknights and it reduces the number of pots, pans and dishes you’ll have to wash. The entire recipe comes together in one hour, but you can cut down on your prep time by chopping the veggies over the weekend so it’s even speedier. Or, you can whip up a big batch while you’re prepping one of our gluten-free meal plans so you have leftovers to enjoy all week long.
Hearty Chicken Quinoa Soup with Kale
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 2 celery ribs, chopped
- 2 tsp thyme, chopped
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup white quinoa, rinsed
- ½ cup white quinoa, rinsed 3 cups kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
Preparation
- In a Dutch oven on medium-high, heat oil. Add onion and sauté for 3 minutes until soft. Add ginger, garlic, carrot, celery, thyme, turmeric, salt and pepper. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken, broth and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Remove chicken from the pot and place on a cutting board. Shred the chicken using two forks and add it back into the pot along with the quinoa. Simmer for 5 additional minutes. Stir in the kale and simmer for another 3 minutes.