30 Mins Quick n Easy Med Chicken Soup Recipe
30-Minute Mediterranean Chicken Soup – An EASY soup that’s both HEALTHY and HEARTY!! Loaded with tender chicken, vegetables, garbanzo beans, and more! Ready so fast and it’s perfect for busy chilly winter weeknights!!
An EASY soup that’s both HEALTHY and HEARTY!! Loaded with tender chicken, vegetables, garbanzo beans, and more! Ready so fast and it’s perfect for busy chilly winter weeknights!!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 extra-large sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, peeled and diced small
- 2-3 large stalks celery, diced small
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced or pressed
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast (raw), diced into small pieces
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- one 15-ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes, do not drain
- 12 ounces artichoke hearts (I use frozen)
- 64 ounces (8 cups) low-sodium chicken stock
- 1 small zucchini, diced small, optional
- one 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (I used no-salt added)
- leaves from 4 large stalks of kale, torn into bite-sized pieces (discard the center thick rib)
- kosher salt, to taste (I used almost 2 tablespoons because I used low/no sodium products)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice, optional but recommended (brightens up the flavor)
- pinch of cayenne pepper, optional and to taste
INSTRUCTIONS:
- To a large Dutch oven or stockpot, add the oil, onion, celery, and sauté over medium-high heat for about 7-8 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften. Stir intermittently.
- Add the garlic, chicken, evenly sprinkle with Italian seasoning, pepper, and sauté for about 3 minutes, or until chicken is about two-thirds of the way cooked through; stir nearly constantly to ensure even cooking.
- Add the tomatoes and juice, artichokes, chicken broth, optional zucchini, and boil about 5 minutes, or chicken is cooked through.
- Add the beans, kale, turn off the heat, and allow kale to wilt, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Taste the soup and add salt to taste. Depending on your preference for salt, and how salty your ingredients were (the stock, tomatoes, beans), the amount of salt will vary.
- Optionally add the lemon juice, cayenne pepper (read the blog post while I highly recommend both), and serve immediately.
NOTES:
Artichokes: I used one bag of Trader Joe’s frozen artichoke hearts and add them straight from the freezer; if using canned or jarred I recommend water-packed and drained
Storage: Soup will keep airtight in the fridge for 5 to 7 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Tips for Making Mediterranean Vegetable Soup
First, make sure you season sufficiently with salt. use kosher salt and in this recipe used nearly two tablespoons. That sounds like a lot but when you need to flavor a pound of chicken, a gallon of chicken broth that was the low-sodium variety, and add flavor to all the various vegetables and greens, you need salt.
Part of what makes soup so tasty and comforting is salt. Restaurants and prepared soup that comes in cans and cardboard containers tend to go overboard, but you do need a decent amount of salt to make soup taste like soup.
It is truly amazing with just a tiny bit of lemon/lime juice or vinegar can do to your soup. If you taste your soup and it seems a little flat, boring, or is lacking pizazz, it’s begging for a dash of an acidic liquid.
NUTRITIONAL INFO:
YIELD: 12 SERVING SIZE: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 640Total Fat: 22 g Saturated Fat: 5 g Trans Fat: 0 g Unsaturated Fat: 15 g Cholesterol: 71 mg Sodium: 2109mgCarbohydrates: 59 g Fiber: 4 g Sugar: 24 g Protein: 48 g