How Long To Boil Whole Chicken For Soup?

Everyone gets excited about chicken soups. And that’s undeniable. Chicken soups are classic hearty dishes that can be prepared in any other way. There are several ways to prepare chicken soups in different chicken dressings, seasonings, tenderizing or boiling. Chicken has this easy-to-soften meat that produces flavorful tastes and aromas, and is definitely versatile and flexible. Chicken, when boiled and tenderized easily absorbs the infusions of different herbs and spices which its tastes enhances and alters giving you the best chicken soup experience. Hence, there are several duration and periods on how long to boil a whole chicken for soup depending on the type of dishes that you want to prepare.

You get tender juicy chicken meat and an incomparably flavorful chicken broth, you only need to add vegetables when boiling a whole bone-in chicken, or in pieces. Whether you boil the chicken for the broth, you can also season and tenderize the chicken through this easy and fast method. Not that you should only be after the chicken, but you should also be concerned about the taste of the broth. Some nutrients of the chicken when boiled come out and spreads through the broth, and you would still want this in your soup so you get to enjoy the chicken’s overall composition.

How long does it take to boil a whole chicken?

This depends on the type of dish you are going to make. If you are boiling the whole chicken with water, this can take about 1.5 to 2.5 hours to boil the whole chicken. For sauteed chicken soup, it will take a bit faster in about 1.25 hours. More details  on these two methods are discussed below.

Method 1 : Direct water boiling whole chicken

In boiling the chicken, you need to clean it thoroughly. Remove the unnecessary hairs and feathers, internal organs. You may not remove the parts that you want to stay but take note that this will give a strong and different taste to your broth and even the chicken meat after boiling. Make sure to rinse the cleansed chicken thoroughly and place it in a stock pot.

Together with the cleansed and rinsed chicken, stuff it with chopped red onions and spring onions or chives in the cavity before adding the water. Depending on which soup you would like to have, you can add the vegetables like carrots, potatoes, beetroot, zucchini, celery, parsley, etc. To add flavor to taste. After tossing the vegetables, you can add some herbs and spices like anise seeds, peppers, capsicums, whole black peppers, garlic, and ginger. Remember to add these vegetables and spices only after pouring the water on the chicken. In adding water to the chicken for its soup, make sure that the water level is at least 3 to 4 inches above the chicken’s topmost part.

How long to boil whole chicken for soup?

Depending on the size of your chicken and whether it is fresh or frozen, fresh whole chicken usually takes not less than 1.5 hours to boil. Since you directly put the chicken in water in this recipe, this takes at least 1.5 hours to 2 hours for 3 to 4 pounds or 2 to 3 kilograms of chicken.

If you are using frozen chicken for this recipe, you need at least 15 minutes more of time to defrost the chicken. So, expect that this recipe will take at least 2 to 2.5 hours long for frozen chicken.

Method 2:  Sautéed whole chicken soup

Another method of boiling chicken for soup is sautéing. To do this, first, you put at least 3 tablespoons of healthy oil(olive oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, canola oil) of your choice in the selected casserole or stock pot the same as where you will exactly boil your whole chicken. After the oil is heated, toss the sliced garlic, red onions, pepper(optional), and ginger(optional) together and sauté until the slices become golden brown in color. Next, put in your whole chicken and other seasonings like the ground or whole peppers and salt if needed. Make sure that the chicken is thoroughly cleansed and rinsed too!

Simmer or stir gently the chicken together with the sautéed spices and make sure the part that touches the surface of the pan is fully covered with oil. Put the fire low and cover it for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes and you see that the aroma of the sautéed spices is absorbed into the whole chicken meat, slowly flip the chicken. It is natural that it doesn’t stand or sit equally because of the chicken’s natural composition and shape. Cover for another 3 to 4 minutes in low fire.

After some of the parts of the chicken are browned, you can add the water and all other vegetables to it. The water level should still be at least 3 inches above the topmost part of the chicken.

How long to boil whole chicken for sautéed soup?

For this recipe, you have to take around 10 minutes of time in sautéing and gently simmer the chicken before adding the water. For frozen chicken, you should defrost it first before adding in the casserole or stock pot. Since your chicken has been tenderized during the simmer, you likely have softer meat before adding the water to it. To completely boil this whole chicken in this recipe, you may need 1 hour and 15 minutes to get it done, both fresh or frozen chicken.

How exciting these recipes could be…

This recipe creates unbounded opportunities for you to use the boiled chicken for whichever dish you want. But since we are up for chicken soups here, the broth that you get out of this chicken soup recipe can be used for all other dishes like Turkey noodle soup, chicken noodle soup, egg noodle soup, bird’s nest noodle soup, or just a simple chicken vegetable soup. You just need to add some other ingredients to alter and enhance that taste.

These soup recipes are surely powered by an amazing savory taste. Thus, the chicken is also unbelievably surprising too!

Through the infusions of the heartiest vegetables, herbs, and spices, your chicken is also ready for use with other dishes too! You can definitely creatively make your own personalized recipe through this boiled chicken. You can slice the boiled whole chicken and grill or fry it before adding again to your broth, and there you can make your own Boiled and Grilled Whole Chicken Vegetable Soup recipe!