Andy Makes Chicken Soup with Sweet Potatoes _ From the Test Kitchen & Healthyish _ Bon Appétit
The Feel Good Food Plan: A Delicious and Satisfying Chicken Soup Recipe
"I want it all natural, all natural," says the chef, "and really is, but I will get Botox one day." This quote sets the tone for a recipe that's not just about food, but also about well-being and self-care. The Feel Good Food Plan is a program that aims to promote healthy eating and living, and this chicken soup recipe is a key part of it.
The chef begins by preparing the ingredients, starting with three-quarters pound of boneless skinless chicken thighs. "I don't do really anything to this not so sexy," they admit, but that's okay because this dish is all about simplicity and natural flavors. The chicken is then added to a large saucepan along with three cups of jasmine rice, rinsed to remove excess starch. Jasmine rice is used in place of other types of rice, such as sushi or short-grain varieties.
Next, the chef adds two inches of peeled ginger, thinly sliced to release its oils and flavors. "I want to have pieces of ginger I want to taste it and like bite into it," they say. The ginger is then added to the pot along with four cloves of garlic, also thinly sliced for maximum flavor release. Originally, the chef had planned to leave the garlic whole, but decided against it in favor of a more intense flavor.
With the aromatics in place, six cups of water are added to the pot, and the saucepan is placed over medium-high heat. Once the mixture starts to bubble, the heat is reduced to medium-low and allowed to simmer for 12 minutes, long enough to cook the chicken through. The chef then pulls out the cooked chicken and allows it to cool before shredding it with two forks into fine shreds.
As the soup continues to cook, the chef adds two sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced, to the pot along with a sprinkle of salt. The sweet potatoes will add natural sweetness and body to the dish. After 15-20 minutes, the sweet potatoes are tender and the soup is flavorful and aromatic. Finally, the shredded chicken is added back into the pot, along with two tablespoons of soy sauce or tamari for depth and umami flavor.
To finish the dish, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice is added to brighten up the flavors and bring everything together. A sprinkle of salt and a pinch of black pepper complete the seasoning, adding a touch of warmth and depth to the soup. The final result is a delicious and satisfying chicken soup that's perfect for a feel-good meal.
This recipe makes one large serving or two smaller servings, but it can easily be scaled up or down as needed. One of the best things about this dish is its versatility; it's not just for comfort food fans - anyone looking for a healthy and delicious meal will love it. The Feel Good Food Plan emphasizes natural ingredients and whole foods, and this recipe embodies that philosophy perfectly.
The chef takes pride in their work, ensuring every detail is considered from the preparation of the ingredients to the final presentation of the dish. They want you to feel good while eating - and with this soup, you will!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entake the saran wrap up i want it all natural all natural it was all natural no it really is but i will get botox one day this dish is part of the feel good food plan we did this last year myself chris morocco there's the healthiest team and it was a huge success you guys loved it so we're coming back round two and this is one of the new recipes and it's a soup that i've been making for a while now and it's just one of those like stick to your bones really satisfying chicken soups stick to your bones stick to your bone just like it's just like it sits in your stomach i don't know 60 so you're gonna take a large saucepan and you're gonna start with three quarters pound uh boneless skinless chicken thighs i don't do really anything to this not so sexy but that's okay um we're gonna add third cup of jasmine rice rinse rinse to just get kind of the excess starch out when you're rinsing it you should rinse it until the water runs clear and if you don't have jasmine rice you could use a short grain varietal um so a sushi rice or whatever you can find i'm using two inches of ginger it's just peeled i'm just gonna trim it up a bit thinly slice this now i thinly slice it because i want to have pieces of ginger i want to taste it and like bite into it why are you smiling ben what is it no what is it dressed because you slice that whole ginger while looking at the ginger i'm shocked you didn't look up the camera while you were slicing are you challenging me yeah kind of okay well i'm gonna add this ginger to the pot and then i'm going to slice the remaining half of this ginger while looking at you all right and thinking about what i would do with this knife accidentally slipped into ben's body sorry that's a little gruesome we're going to cut that out okay add the rest of ginger this is gonna be really gingery it's gonna add this kind of zingy ginger heat to it we're gonna take four cloves of garlic we're just gonna slice these up as well you know just really thin um originally i left these garlic whole when i was developing the soup and then i decided uh i was gonna leave them whole and then take them out and then smash them and i thought you know what i'm just gonna slice them up and then add it to the soup it just makes it even more of more garlicky so this soup has doesn't have a lot of ingredients but it has a lot of flavor and then with this i'm gonna add six cups of water we're going to place this over medium-high you don't necessarily need this to come to a boil you just as soon as it starts to kind of bubble you're just going to reduce it to medium-low let it go for about 12 minutes and this is just to just cook the chicken the chicken thighs through we're going to pull them out once they're just cooked through let them cool and then we'll shred them up if you see any foam that rises the top skim that off i'm gonna add a pinch of salt we'll adjust the salt at the end but i just want to add some salt in the beginning so this has been going for about 10 to 12 minutes uh we're just going to skim this a bit it's not too much foam it's already super fragrant the rice is starting to break or has broken um and we're gonna let this keep going while i slice up some sweet potatoes uh two sweet potatoes i'm gonna leave them unpeeled uh one flavor nutrients but also that's just going to allow the sweet potato to stay intact cut into kind of half inch rounds don't use them okay so we have our sweet potatoes we're gonna add this to the pot okay we're gonna see that magic wow okay we're gonna add these sweet potatoes to the pot and let them go for about 15 minutes until they soften we're gonna give this a stir you want the rice to break like it has but you're not going for a kind of congee consistency where it's thick and creamy this is really just a soup that happens to have uh broken rice in it that's really soft but hasn't thickened the soup that much so we're gonna let that cook until the sweet potatoes are nice and soft and then we'll pull out the chicken let it cool slightly shred that up add it back to the pot the chicken is done i'm going to pull that out it hasn't been going at a rapid boil and you can see that the rice is broken it has slightly it hasn't fully dissolved the sweet potato is nice and tender garlic ginger it's really fragrant right now i'm gonna leave this you can leave it over really low heat these aren't really hot ideally you would let the chicken cool slightly but i'm just gonna shred it with two forks i mean this you could do it with two forks too it's cleaner i like doing like really fine shreds if you want it to be more chunky you could leave it into bigger pieces but i don't know i like the chicken to kind of be really incorporated into the soup this is supposed to be for two people but you're most likely to have leftovers um which is a good thing like this this soup lasts you could definitely make it ahead of time so the rice is broken cooked through the sweet potatoes are cooked through it's super fragrant i'm gonna add that shredded chicken back in i'm gonna add two tablespoons soy sauce or tamari if you don't want to add any soy sauce or tamari you can just season it with salt gonna taste it's really tasty i'm gonna add a little bit more salt and then what i love to do is add a lot of lemon juice you could add lime juice but i just like the kind of tart brightness that lemon juice can give and i'm gonna add both halves and just kind of brings the soup back to life so you end up getting this kind of lemony ginger garlicky soup i'm gonna do a bowl of this and then i have some cilantro i love the stems it adds texture it has a lot of flavor so i'm gonna give that just a rough chop we're gonna just put that on top i like some heat so there's no red pepper flakes there's no fresh chili or anything like that you could add that i just love black pepper with this soup so i'm gonna add a good amount and there you have it this dish comes together in about 45 minutes with only a handful of ingredients it's something that is super satisfying it's one of my favorite recipes for the feel good food plan and i hope you guys make it chris chris you want to try this soup yeah looking really sad about it oh i'm just like loud i'm just starved i know seriously oh this soup yeah yeah we'll get yeah all right cool from feel good food plan yep cool fired up yeah absolutely i held up a picture of andy and was like make me look like him and he held up a picture of me and was like make me look like him that's sort of just like the plan from now on i love this i love that it's not congee it's like chicken and rice soup yeah but with a little little something yeah it's like it does help thicken the soup a bit but it doesn't take it to that point where the rice is fully dissolved and creamy and very thick place and so good i think like yeah the rice adding body and then like you have like a rich flavor but it gives you a feeling of like satisfaction you know that belies like how like clean everything in here is beautiful thank you thanks guys\n"