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Healing Lemon Turmeric Chicken and Rice Soup

Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 8 minutes
Cook Time: 22 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 349kcal
Classic comforting chicken & rice soup with fresh lemon juice, lots of garlic, vegetables and turmeric
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Equipment

  • 1 dutch oven or cooking pot at least four quarts in size
  • 1 kitchen spoon

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 ½ pound chicken breast or thighs boneless
  • sea salt to taste
  • black pepper to taste
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup matchstick carrots
  • ½ onion
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup rice
  • 8 cups chicken broth or stock
  • ¾ teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • ½ lemon
  • 2 handfuls fresh baby spinach

Instructions

  • Add olive oil to a heated dutch oven or large sauce pan over medium high heat. Cut up chicken breast into bite-sized pieces and add to pot.
  • Season chicken with sea salt, black pepper, and turmeric. Cook through (about 6 minutes). Meanwhile, dice onion, mince or press garlic, and rough chop carrots.
  • Remove chicken from pan and add butter to pan to melt. Add in carrots, onion, garlic, and rice and cook until slightly softened and fragrant (about 4 minutes).
  • Pour in chicken broth or stock, stir, and bring to a boil.
  • Reduce heat to low, add cooked chicken, crushed red pepper, and lemon juice. Stir and cover then allow to simmer for about seven minutes.
  • Remove soup from heat and stir in spinach until wilted. Serve warm with lemon wedges so everyone can add more, if desired, and enjoy carefully.

Video

Notes

Preparation
To get the most garlicky flavor, you want to cut it as small as possible so that more of the surface of it is exposed to the food and increase the chances of having garlic in every bite. I recommend a garlic press for this step.
Briefly frying the rice then allowing it to boil with the other soup ingredients in broth cooks it through the a nice fluffy texture, however, after repeated reheating for leftovers, the rice can become very soft, which I don't mind.
If you want the rice to be more firm, I recommend cooking it separately and adding to individual portions of soup as you serve it. Note that the rice will not be as flavorful this way.
Storage
To store, allow the soup to cool to room temperature then transfer in an airtight container and refrigerate. Keeps for up to four days.
Chicken soup freezes and reheats quite well. I like using souper cubes for freezing chicken soup and really recommend them because they work for so many other things as well. If you don't have access to souper cubes, freeze portions of soup in small (1-2 cups) airtight containers. Keeps for up to three months.

Nutrition

Calories: 349kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 89mg | Sodium: 1356mg | Potassium: 680mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 4115IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 2mg