A couple of weeks ago I caught a nasty cold so I decided to make myself the Romanian chicken soup. This is a warming soup full of nutrients that we usually eat in winter, or when we are feeling poorly. I think it’s an international belief that chicken soup will make you feel better when you are sick.
This Romanian chicken soup is a simple recipe that doesn’t require many ingredients. Even if you have a cold, like me you don’t need to spend too much time next to the cooker, watching over the soup. It practically makes itself.
Jump to RecipeThe Ingredients for the Romanian Chicken Soup Recipe
This is such a simple soup to make, that requires minimum ingredients and costs very little. If you buy an entire chicken, you can use the less desirable parts to make this soup: back bone, neck, and wings. Because we will boil these parts of the chicken to make the stock, if you use the breast or the legs, the meat will overcook and become mushy.
For this recipe I used a bag of chicken wings. I wasn’t feeling well enough to portion a chicken, and the closest I could find in my local supermarket that would work for this soup were the wings.
This is a sweet, soothing soup. I used root vegetables to achieve this taste, such as onions, carrots, celery, and parsnip. You can add the ones you like, but stay away from any vegetable that is acidic as it will change the taste of the soup.
The extra ingredient I used for this Romanian chicken soup was the short noodles. You can find these at the Polish section of your supermarket. In the pasta section, look for packs labelled “fideo”. These are very short thin noodles, that will expand when you add them to the soup, so you will only need a handful for the pot.
How to Make the Romanian Chicken Soup
The first step in making the Romanian chicken soup is boiling the chicken and making the stock. Put the chicken pieces in cold water, and wait until it starts boiling. To achieve a clear soup, make sure to skim off all the foam that starts forming on the surface of the soup, once it starts boiling. When there is no more foam, reduce the heat, and add the chopped vegetables.
When the vegetables are cooked, after 15-20 minutes or so, add the short noodles and turn off the heat. Serve the soup hot, top it with chopped parsley, and have crusty bread alongside it.
Recipe Notes and Tips
The chicken soup is at the base of other Romanian soup recipes, such as “supa de perisoare” or “supa de pui a la Grec”. This is the basic recipe, and the only seasoning that you need for it is salt and pepper.
To keep the soup clear, boil the noodles separately, following the instructions on the pack. You can add them directly to the soup at the end, but, depending on the brand, they might make the soup cloudy.
If you make a large quantity of soup, consider putting the noodles in the dish first, then pouring the soup over them. If you add them to the soup directly, every time you reheat it they will become mushier and mushier. And that is not pleasant.
Variations to Try
I appreciate that we all like to vary recipes from time to time, and you might often want to know of any substitute ingredients, or any additions, or changes that you can make which will work well.
The only variation I can think of, when it comes to the Romanian chicken soup, is when it comes to vegetables. You can use whichever root vegetables you want. In Romania we would use celery root, parsnips, parsley root, even turnips. But I am not a fan of root vegetables, so I chose to make my soup with celery, sweet onion, carrots, and one parsnip.
You can also modify the quantity of the vegetables, based on your taste. If you like carrots, you can always add more of them, and less of parsnips for example. The goal is to achieve a soothing, warming, sweet soup
Romanian Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken bones (back, neck, wings)
- 1 large onion
- 3 carrots
- 1 parsnip
- 2 celery sticks
- 1 handful thin noodles "fideo"
Instructions
- Put the chicken in a pot with water, and bring to boil. When it starts boiling, skim the foam that starts to appear at the top.
- Once the foam stops forming, add the chopped vegetables. Reduce the heat and simmer for another 15-20 minutes, until they are cooked.
- Meanwhile, cook a handful of noodles, in a different pot, following the instructions on the packet.
- Season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat off and add the noodles if you are eating it straight away.
- Serve hot, with chopped parsley on top, and alongside crusty bread.
FAQ
There will always be questions about recipes so I hope to answer some of them below. However, please get in touch if you have a question that isn’t covered here and is not in the recipe notes section.
Can you make this ahead of time?
Yes, you can make it ahead of time. At home, my mother would cook the main meals on a Sunday, and we would have them during the week.
How do I store the Chicken Soup?
Make sure that the soup is cooled completely before you put it in the fridge. You can store it in the original pot you’ve made it in with a lid, or you can transfer it to an airtight container. The soup can last in the fridge up to 4 days, if you don’t add the noodles.
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