Turmeric Chicken Soup

What is your go to meal of choice whenever you or your family comes down with a cold?  For my family, it is Chicken Noodle Soup, a meal many enjoy when illness strikes.  

When creating the recipe for Chicken Turmeric Soup, I thought of a few key ingredients I wanted to include for their healing benefits including bone broth, lime juice, onion, ginger, and turmeric. When family is sick, it is important to make every bite count, especially kid’s since their appetites are low.  As you will notice, I swapped out the noodles for white sweet potatoes to elevate this soup and take it to the next level, making every bite power packed with nutrients. You can easily substitute the white sweet potato for a gluten free pasta (I love Jovial) or rice (I like Lundberg).  

How to make this soup kid-friendly

If you are making this soup for your kids, and you’re not sure how they will like the turmeric, ginger, and onions, I recommend starting low and going slow.  When I first started making this soup, I was nervous the onions and spices would be too much for my girls, so I started with a quarter of an onion, very finely chopped, and half a teaspoon of turmeric with a small amount of ginger.  I have made this recipe several times now, continuing to add a little more each time, as they have happily enjoyed the soup each time.

The goal is to have your family enjoy some of the healing benefits of chicken soup.  If you think the added spice maybe a deterrent then I’d leave it out all together and focus on all the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants the soup contains.  Remember it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.  Whatever nutrients you can get into your sick kid’s belly is a win!

5 key ingredients I included in the soup and why

1. Ginger is an anti-inflammatory food and helps fight the flu and common cold. Gingerol, the main compound in ginger, also has powerful antioxidant effects, helping to reduce oxidative stress in the body, a result of having too many free radicals. (1)

2. Turmeric is also an anti-inflammatory spice.  It is an active ingredient in curcumin which has been linked to helping reduce swelling and irritation. When adding it to your food make sure to add black pepper as well. Black pepper increases the absorption of curcumin into the body by up to 2,000 percent. (2)

3. Onions are a great source of vitamin C (an important nutrient for immune health), B vitamins, and potassium. Onions are also an amazing source of quercetin, shown to help fight bacteria. Along with the above benefits they are also anti-inflammatory and contain antioxidants to help reduce oxidative stress. (3)

4. Limes are rich in vitamin C, an important vitamin to consume often when sick. Additionally, citrus fruits in general, are high in B vitamins, potassium, magnesium,   (4)

5. Bone broth is rich in minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and essential fatty acids. An amino acid called glutamine helps to prevent and heal intestinal permeability, otherwise known as leaky gut. Leaky gut occurs when the barrier between your gut and the bloodstream is damaged. When the lining is damaged, food particles that don’t normal enter the blood stream are able to enter through small holes in the gut lining, leading to inflammation. (5)

I love adding bone broth into my families diet anywhere I can, for that reason alone. When I’m cooking rice, I always use bone broth instead of water and of course add it to our soups and chilis. Some enjoy sipping on bone broth as a warming drink.

I hope this soup brings you health and healing as we enter cold and flu season in New England.

Turmeric Chicken Soup 

Ingredients: 

4 chicken thighs, ideally organic pasture raised

2 cups white sweet potato, peeled and chopped

1 cup organic carrots, chopped

1 cup organic celery, chopped 

1 small organic white onion, peeled and chopped

1 inch piece of ginger root, peeled and grated

1 lime, juiced

1 teaspoon turmeric 

4 cups organic bone broth (I like Kettle and Fire)

Black pepper, to taste

Fresh parsley for garnish, optional 

Directions: 

1. Add all the ingredients, except for the fresh parsley in a crockpot. 

2. Cook on high for 4 hours. 

3. Once the chicken is fully cooked, take out the chicken and shred with a fork and then put the shredded chicken back in. 

4. Serve with parsley. 

Please note you can also make this recipe in an Instant Pot. I just purchased this one, and am excited to start experimenting with it.

Looking for more nutrient dense, simple meals loaded with veggies? Check out Veggie Packed Meat Sauce, Chocolate Avocado Smoothie, and Sweet Potato Quiche.