Soothing Chicken and (Cauliflower) Rice Soup
THE WHY BEHIND THE RECIPE
The why behind this starts off with a brief overview of bone broth. Nourishing broth dates back to the stone age, and if you want to read the full history and better understand the science behind broth, I recommend the book Nourishing Broth by Sally Morell.
“The body’s ability to repair connective tissue such as bone, tendon, ligament, cartilage, skin, hair and nails diminishes with age and ill health. Bone broth, with it’s rich dissolves of collagen, cartilage, bone and marrow gives the body “the right stuff” to rebuild and rejuvenate.” - Sally Morell
In the meantime, I’ll summarize for you some of my key takeaways and the reasons why I love bone broth:
Collegan: Collegan is the glue that holds the body together (the word legit comes from kolla, Greek word for glue) and cooking breaks down collagenous protein into gelatin which provides the amino acids the body needs to make the “glue” we call connective tissue.
Cartilage regeneration: Without cartilage we wouldn’t be able to move our joints and wiggle our ears! Cartilage rich bone broth has glycine, proline, glutamine, proteoglycans which can actually help you regenerate your cartilage.
Protein absorption: I love swapping veggie broth or chicken broth with a bone broth because of not only the added nutrients, but added protein power. Bone broth is NOT a complete protein, but when broth is consumed as part of a colorful and diverse diet, it actually improves overall protein digestion.
Four Key Amino Acids: In my Stanford Nutrition Course, I learned that proline, glycine, glutamine and alanine (the 4 main amino acids in broth) are nonessential amino acids, meaning the body can theoretically manufacture them. However, that’s realistically only true for people who have really really great health and eat very nutrient-dense diets (which is hard in our modern environment). It certainly does not hurt to get these amino acids in via a broth, and by adding meat, vegetables, and herbs to the broth, we can easily get all of those essential amino acids as well.
Minerals to support bone density: Broth made from bones provides a ton of bioavailable mineral like calcium, magnesium, and other trace minerals essential for bone health. Now, the exact amount will depend on the health, age, diet and environment of the animal. This is why to get the most bang for your buck, it’s best to use organic and regeneratively farmed animal bones in your broth if possible. I know it’s more expensive, but I always think about one of my favorite Rob Lustig quotes “You’ll either pay the Doctor of the Farmer, but either way you’ll pay.”
Tips to make your bone broth as nourishing as possible:
Use best quality ingredients you can find - like free range, organic chickens and organic, regeneratively raised meats
If you do have access to chicken or pig feet, add those in as they are the highest in gelatin and will help your broth gel! If someone brought me some pig feet as a gift I’d genuinely be thrilled 🤣
Ideally, you’d use raw bones, but I also use bones that have been cooked because….well life.
Water to bone ratio: When you make broth, the water should just cover the bones otherwise it will be too water-y. If you want to make a double batch, you do re-use the bones and add more water for a take 2.
Add aromatics: Save your carrots, celery, garlic and onion scraps (or other veggie scraps) throughout the week and add those in.
Don’t forget vinegar: Adding a small amount of vinegar helps extract minerals from the bones and vegetables, and it won’t change the flavor of the broth. I usually do 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar.
Keep it low and slow: If the stock goes to a boil, the heat will break down the collagen fibers and then you might get a less gel-y result. To make this easy for myself, I just do it in my slow cooker or instant pot on the slow cook setting.
My weekly bone broth recipe:
Rotisserie chicken bones (and any other bones we have around from the week)
6 cups filtered water
1/4 cup vinegar of choice (I usually do apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar)
Leftover veggie compost like carrots, celery, onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
Heavy pinch of salt
I do this in the instant pot on slow cook for 22 hours, and then I strain it into a large wide mouth mason jar and keep in the fridge to use for the week. If I don’t think we will use it all, I’ll freeze some in a silcone souper cube.
Notes on the Chicken and Cauliflower Rice Soup Recipe
Now that we’ve talked about the broth part of this recipe, let’s chit-chat about some of the other ingredients:
Cauliflower rice swap: Chicken and rice soup’s are very popular, but since I aim to avoid refined grains, keep my blood sugar stable and make my meals as nutrient dense as possible, I love swapping cauliflower rice for white rice in this soup. The cauliflower addition also sneaks in some more veggies, and since I always keep a large bag of frozen cauliflower rice in the freezer it makes it super easy to just throw into the soup. Cauliflower rice also makes a great swap in a chicken noodle soup, or you can use my favorite Chef Kiss Lupin bean pasta if you are craving more of a chicken noodle variation (code SONJA gives you 10% off).
Rotisserie Chicken: Of course you could make chicken to throw into this soup, but when I’m sick I want making this to be as EASY as possible so I buy an organic rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods to add in.
Okay now let’s get into the recipe!!
Yields: 6-8 servings
Total time: 30-40 minutes
Prep time =10 minutes
Cook time = 20-30 minutes
WHAT YOU NEED
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp white miso paste
I find the small addition of miso gives the soup a little richer taste without making it taste like a miso soup. Plus, I love to sneak in a little fermented probiotic!
3 sticks celery, finely chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and finely chopped
8 cups bone broth
If you want to buy it at the store vs make it, I recommend the brand Bonafide.
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp salt (more to taste)
dash of pepper
3 cups frozen cauliflower rice
zest and juice from 2 lemons
1 full shredded rotisserie chicken
1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped (feel free to always add more!)
HOW TO DO IT
Add 2 tbsp olive oil to the stock pot and saute garlic and onion for 2-3 minutes.
Then add miso paste, celery, and carrots and saute until carrots and celery start to soften (about 4-5 minutes more).
Then add in your bone broth, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and cauliflower rice. Bring soup to a boil and then turn down to a simmer and cover for 20 minutes.
Finally, add zest and juice from 2 lemons, shredded rotisserie chicken, and parsley and stir.
Taste test and adjust seasoning or herbs as you wish.
Enjoy!
SWAPS, TIPS & TRICKS
Storage: I use wide mouth glass mason jars for storage for the bone broth as well as for the soup - both for the fridge or freezer. If I just want to save an individual portion of soup, I’ll freeze it in a silcone souper cube.
Swaps: This soup recipe is like a template, you can add in other veggies (I think zucchini would be great here for example) or other proteins.
Make it vegan or vegetarian: If you want to make this vegan, use vegetable broth and add in some white beans or tofu.
Nutritional Info
Per serving, makes about 6-8 servings
Calories: 359
Carbohydrates: 7g
Fiber: 2g
Net carbs: 5g
Protein: 41g
Fat: 17g
Sodium: 2150mg
Sugar: 4g
