Healthy Green Vegetable and Chicken Soup

Oh em gee, you guys. I had this whole amazing weekend planned out for the blog. I was going to make a paleo-friendly, gluten-free pumpkin pie (with coconut milk, coconut sugar, and tons of cinnamon), banana “ice cream”, and all sorts of yummy recipes for this upcoming week.  My plans were put on hold however, when the flu tore through our house. We have literally been sick since Little C started preschool in late October, and Friday night the flu finally caught up with me. So, needless to say my cooking plans were put on hold (anything other than ice chips had me turning green).   

My sweet friend Deena is an amazing cook. Seriously, she is basically Martha Stewart times ten.  She is also a workout fiend and healthy eater extraordinaire like me, and was gushing about this green veggie and chicken soup; when she raves about a recipe I have to try it.  I knew that I had to start getting some sort of nourishment back into our bodies and the green veggie and chicken soup was exactly what we needed.  This recipe is paleo-friendly, super healthy, and delicious. 

Ingredients:

  • 3 large boneless/skinless chicken breasts with fat trimmed 
  • 2 large cans (49.5 oz. each) of fat free low sodium chicken broth (or make your own!)
  • 3 baby bok choy 
  • 4 large stalks celery
  • 3 large carrots 
  • 1 bunch kale 
  • 4 small zucchini
  • 5 cloves of garlic 
  • 1/2 bunch of green onions 
  • 2 TBS chopped fresh (or dried) dill weed
  • 3 large carrots 
  • 1/2 bunch fresh parsley
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Feel free to change up the veggies-this would be great with broccolini, spinach, pretty much any veggies you want!  Once I’m feeling better I plan to play around with the recipe a little more, I feel like it needs a little something more to spice it up. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions!

How to do it: 

  1. Chop all of your veggies 
  2. In large pot, pour in chicken broth 
  3. Add chicken breasts (keep whole you will shred them later)
  4. Add all veggies, dill, and parsley 
  5. Cook on medium-high at a simmer for about 30 minutes 
  6. Remove chicken breasts and set them aside to cool 
  7. Blend veggies and broth in a food processor. If you do not have a large blender, a smaller one like the Ninja (only $25!!) works great as well, just takes a little longer. Just be careful, hot liquids have a tendency to expand so make sure that you cover your blender with a hand towel to ensure you don’t get burned.
  8. Transfer blended soup back into pot
  9. Pull cooled chicken breasts apart by hand and shred them with a fork 
  10. Add shredded chicken back into pot
  11. Add salt and pepper to taste
  12. Cook for around ten more minutes and serve! 

This soup also freezes well-great for those working mommies who want to save a big batch for later! I’ll be eating this for lunch all week; it’s got tons of great flu-fighting veggies, protein-rich chicken, and low sodium. A definite essential addition to any healthy chef’s repertoire.  

Chopped veggies and TONS of dill-I’m obsessed with dill…OBSESSED.
Baby bok choy added to the mix
Blended veggies and broth back in the pot with shredded chicken
Shredded chicken and a healthy dose of fresh cracked pepper
The finished product!
Hope you love this as much as we did!  And don’t worry-that amazing gluten-free pumpkin pie will be on it’s way soon, I want to make sure you have delicious options for Thanksgiving! Be on the lookout for fab holiday sides too like cumin roasted butternut squash, and some fun fall fashion posts. Thanks for reading! Muah <3