This Lemony Spring Vegetable Chicken Soup is a light, flavorful bowl of comfort food, with tender chicken, asparagus, new potatoes, carrots and peas.
This recipe is adapted from one in delicious. magazine from 2023. The original recipe was supposed to be accompanied by a gremolata made from the hard stems one trims from the asparagus because they aren’t typically edible.
This is a fabulous idea except that right when I get home from the store with asparagus, I cut off those ends and discard them. Then I put my asparagus in a jar or glass with water in the fridge door, much like cut flowers. A trim assures that the asparagus can suck up some water, which keeps them lovely and fresh for much longer than normal. If only I had seen this recipe first!
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| Cut the ends at angle for better uptake of water. |
So, two days later, when I did trim more to make the gremolata, I had to use tender ends instead. (I also substituted green onions for parsley). No idea how the woody ends would have tasted but my gremolata was lovely. I’m leaving the original instruction in case you have woody ends you’d like to use. Let me know how it turns out!
Lemony Spring Vegetable Chicken Soup
Use the vegetable amounts as a suggestion. If you have a few more potatoes and asparagus or a few less carrots and green peas, it doesn’t matter. Go with what you’ve got. This is a protein rich soup with one chicken breast per serving.
Ingredients to serve 4
For the soup:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 lb 9 oz or 600g total)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to finish dish
11 1/2 oz or 325g new potatoes, preferably Jersey Royals, scrubbed and sliced into thick coins
10 1/2 oz or 300g spring carrots, scrubbed and sliced into thick coins
1/2 cup of 120ml dry white wine
4 cups or 946ml chicken stock
10 1/2 oz or 300g asparagus, before trimming
7 oz or 200g petit pois or small sweet peas, defrosted if frozen
Juice 1/2 lemon
For the asparagus gremolata:
Trimmed ends asparagus in soup ingredient list
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 spring onions, green part only, sliced finely, plus extra for garnish, if desired
2 small cloves garlic
Zest 1 1/2 lemons
Juice 1 lemon
To serve:
Asparagus gremolata
4 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt or sour cream (one for each bowl)
Lemon zest
Finely sliced green onions, if desired
Method
First thing, we’ll start the gremolata. Snap or trim the woody ends from the asparagus. Cut the spears in halves and set aside, then finely slice the woody ends into discs. Put the discs in a small sieve over a bowl and sprinkle with salt to soften them a little.
Put the green onions in another small bowl, then use a microplane or fine grater to grate the garlic and the zest of 1 1/2 lemons into it. The zest of the other half of the lemon can be used as garnish on the finished dish so definitely zest them both and set one quarter aside for serving.
Season the chicken with the sea salt and black pepper.
Heat half the oil in a shallow sauté pan or casserole with a lid then add the seasoned chicken breast to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until all the breasts are a lovely golden brown.
They will still be raw inside but don’t let that worry you. We will finish cooking them in the soup later. Transfer the breasts to a plate and set aside.
Add the remaining oil to the pan, followed by the sliced potatoes and carrots.
Fry for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the wine.
Cover for a few minutes to allow the carrots and potatoes to just about cook through, then take of the lid and leave the wine to bubble until it is reduced by half (about 4 minutes.)
Pour in the chicken stock and bring up to a simmer. Nestle the chicken in the pan (it should be fully submerged in stock), then cover and simmer gently for 6 minutes.
While the chicken simmers, finish the gremolata by mixing the salty sliced asparagus with the green onion/lemon zest mix. Set aside.
When your six minutes of simmering are up, stir the peas and asparagus into the soup.
Cover and gently simmer for 2-4 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.
Add the lemon juice and a good few grinds of black pepper.
Divide the soup into four bowls, one breast each, and top with lemon zest and some green onions, if desired.
Serve the gremolata and yogurt or sour cream on the side so everyone can add a dollop of each to their bowls.
Enjoy!
It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are serving up comfort foods! Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. Check out all the links below.
- Sneha's Recipe: Baked Vegetables Pasta Less Lasagna
- Karen's Kitchen Stories:BBQ Glazed Meatloaf with Sweet Potatoes and Pearl Onions
- Amy's Cooking Adventures: Broccoli Cheese Pierogi Soup
- Culinary Cam:Comforting Beef Stroganoff
- Food Lust People Love:Lemony Spring Vegetable Chicken Soup
- A Day in the Life on the Farm: Roast Pork Loin with Cherry Sauce
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.
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