A ginger-forward chicken tonic soup that will provide some much-needed relief when you’re not feeling too hot.
Recipe information
Yield
4 servings
Ingredients
½
2
1
3
4
1½
1
2
Preparation
Step 1
Gather half of cilantro into a bundle and tie together with kitchen twine. Coarsely chop remaining cilantro (stems and all); set aside for serving.
Step 2
Heat sugar and 3 Tbsp. water in a large saucepan over medium. Cook, stirring often, until sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Continue to cook, swirling pan occasionally, until syrup is golden amber, 4–6 minutes.
Add ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until ginger is softened slightly, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and pale-green and white scallion parts and cook, stirring often, until garlic is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in cilantro bundle, chicken, chile, and a big pinch of salt. Pour in 8 cups cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, bring to a bare simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, 10–12 minutes. Discard chile and scallions. Keep soup warm over medium-low heat.
Step 3
Transfer chicken to a plate and let cool slightly. Shred chicken and stir back into soup. Add soy sauce and stir to combine. Remove pot from heat; taste and season with salt, if needed.
Step 4
Serve soup topped with dark-green scallion parts, reserved chopped cilantro, and a few turns of pepper.
Step 5
Do Ahead: Soup (without scallion greens or cilantro) can be made 3 days ahead. Let cool, then cover and chill.
How would you rate Chicken Soup with Caramelized Ginger?
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Reviews (22)
Back to TopThis recipe was not ready to be published. The Vietnamese caramel technique might have worked correclty if you deglazed it with the water and set it aside (probably twice as much caramel needed). Garlic would have been better off toasted in oil with scallion and added at the end. Better off charring the ginger over a flame like making pho, but here it just becomes super bitter from the 'caramel'. Really would benefit from sweating your alliums, and where is the fat? Some Fish sauce wouldn't hurt considering the chicken spends all of 10 minutes in the stock.... not long enough to develop flavor. (whole chicken, or at least bone in chicken, makes much more sense) All the techniques here are so counter intuitive and not yielding good results! CURESTI in the comments below sounds like he hacked it, but its a new recipe all together (and a better one!).
Saman
Washington, D.C.
5/31/2022
I think this recipe is a little trickier to get right then the instructions imply, but if you spend some time tweaking MAN it is delicious. I agree with whoever recommended skin-on thighs. And absolutely use broth, homemade made a huge difference. The caramelization part is still fuzzy to me..don’t think I did that right and I think the amount of sugar is too much. I am going to try less sugar next time around. But I balanced it out with plenty of lime juice and sriracha - a hotter pepper would do the trick too. Would recommend adding vermicelli noodles, shiitake mushrooms, bok choy. Nothing else is really needed as I think this is meant to be a simple soup. Want to try adding miso next time too! Really delicious flavors!
EEM
Seattle
8/27/2021
I messed up the recipe, but it still turned out great! I undercooked the ginger, and despite trying to salvage it, the ginger was inedible. I strained the entire soup before adding shredded chicken back and it worked out just fine! As is, I think this recipe is perfect for sick days or a light meal.
Anonymous
10/18/2020
This was delicious, with a few tweaks. Great ginger flavour. I used chicken broth instead of water, and also added celery, carrot, peas, and noodles. A squeeze of lime juice before serving. I liked this recipe because it used ingredients that I normally have on hand, and it's a good base for various combinations of veggies.
canada
4/27/2020
This soup just got me through Covid-19. I doubled the ginger because I was trying to kill a virus, but damn I can’t thank you enough. Super tasty!
Anonymous
Playa del Carmen, Mexico
3/30/2020
I wish I could personally thank Curesti for the advice, caramelizing the ginger in chicken fat was ridiculously good. Kept the serrano peppers and added some fresh mystery mushrooms I picked up at my local Asian market. I’m sick and needed some brothy comfort food and this did the trick. I can’t taste all too well but my husband loves it. Stay healthy folks!
Athens, GA
3/14/2020
Okay so here's the tea on this soup. I've made it about three times now and found a perfect process for this whole thing. So, get bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs for sure, it's necessary for a nice bodied soup. Now, instead of starting with caramel in your pot, start with a cold pot (dutch oven preferably) and place the thighs skin down. Turn the heat up medium high and leave the thighs alone to get a nice crisp outside and render a bit of fat. Take them out once you've got both sides browned and use the fat that's left over to help with caramel. I always thought caramel needed a fat to make it not just melted sugar but something rich. This way you'll also get a larger amount of caramel base and the soup won't just taste like chicken water and will have some depth to it. Once you get the caramel going, continue on with the recipe as instructed. I also added to pieces of lemongrass and subbed serrano pepper for the fresno chile cause I wasn't a fan. Also serve it with some fresh slices of pepper for extra heat to taste. Going to try and make this again tonight but with some added fresh turmeric for extra healing benefits!
curesti
Austin. TX
12/8/2019