Name: Herby chicken & butter bean soup
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 1 leftover chicken carcass, plus 225g meat (thigh or leg meat is best), or 4 skinless chicken thighs, plus 1.5 litres chicken stock; 2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil; 2 onions chopped; 6 carrots chopped; 3-4 sprigs rosemary leaves picked and chopped; 3-4 sprigs sage leaves picked and chopped; 3-4 sprigs thyme leaves picked and chopped; 2 tsp ground cumin; 2 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp turmeric; 1 tbsp plain flour; 400g can butter bean drained; crusty bread to serve

Home
Recipes
Herby chicken & butter bean soup

Herby chicken & butter bean soup

Cassie Best

Save recipe

Serves 6

Easy

Prep: 20 mins

Cook: 1 hr

A star rating of 4.4 out of 5.15 ratingsRate

loading...

This rustic, chunky soup uses up leftover roast chicken and is packed with flavour from fresh rosemary, sage and thyme

Freezable

Healthy

Skip to ingredients

Alternatives

Complete the dish

Showing items 1 to 3 of 3

Courgette & mushroom bread

A star rating of 4.4 out of 5.52 ratings

Herb-roast chicken

A star rating of 4.8 out of 5.4 ratings

Ingredients

Nutrition

Units:

MetricUS

1 leftover chicken

carcass, plus 225g meat (thigh or leg meat is best), or 4 skinless chicken thighs, plus 1.5 litres chicken stock
2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
2 onions

chopped
6 carrots

chopped
3-4 sprigs rosemary

leaves picked and chopped
3-4 sprigs sage

leaves picked and chopped
3-4 sprigs thyme

leaves picked and chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp plain flour
400g can butter bean

drained
crusty bread

to serve

Keep the screen awake with cook mode on the Good Food app.

Nutrition: per serving

kcal363

low
fat19g
saturates4g
carbs19g
sugars11g
fibre7g
protein32g
salt0.8g

Method

step 1

If using a leftover chicken carcass, place in a large saucepan and cover with 2 litres of water. Bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and gently simmer for 20 mins. Meanwhile, heat the oil in another large saucepan. If using chicken thighs, add these and brown on all sides, then remove and set aside.
step 2

Add the onions to the oil and cook for 10 mins until starting to caramelise. Add the carrots, herbs, spices and flour, and stir for 1-2 mins to toast the spices. If using a chicken carcass, strain the cooking liquid into the pan with the vegetables, otherwise add the browned chicken thighs and stock. Stir well, cover and simmer for 30 mins.
step 3

If using chicken thighs, remove them from the pan, shred the meat and discard the bones. Add the meat (or the meat from the carcass) back into the soup, along with the butter beans, season and heat through for 1-2 mins.
step 4

Use a hand-held blender to blitz the soup until smooth, or leave it chunky. Or blend about half, so it’s creamy but still has chunks of chicken, carrot and butter bean. Serve with extra pepper, and good crusty bread.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, February 2014

Comments, questions and tips

Rate this recipe

What is your star rating out of 5?1 star out of 52 stars out of 53 stars out of 54 stars out of 55 stars out of 5

Choose the type of message you'd like to post

CommentQuestionTip

Overall rating

A star rating of 4.4 out of 5.15 ratings

Get 3 months of Good Food All Access

Get 3 months of Good Food All Access for just £6. Find triple-tested recipes that take the stress out of deciding what to cook, spend less time planning, and more time enjoying the season.

Subscribe now