While I was a kid growing up in the Czech Republic, my grandparents had a farm with chickens, pigs, and even geese. I've written about some of these memories before in my other blogs, especially about how it influenced my attitudes toward food, but in this blog, I wanted to share one of my favorite recipes from my childhood. My Grandmother used to make a savory wholesome soup from a chicken they would pick out of the coop and with the vegetables they had grown in their back garden.

The recipe that I've always known uses chicken feet. I know that a lot of people are grossed out by chicken feet, but if you can find them in your local co-op, they are well worth it! They are packed with collagen, which is an incredible benefit to your skin. They're also high in calcium, as well as glucosamine and chondroitin - so your bones and your joints can benefit. The apple cider vinegar in this recipe helps to pull the nutrients from the chicken bones, and has always felt great in my stomach. All around, this is a warm, wholesome soup that's good for your entire body.

These days, I make my Grandma's Chicken Soup using my Instant Pot instead of a big stock pot on the stove. It still tastes just like I remember, though!

Grandma’s Healing Chicken Soup:

Ingredients for the broth:

• 4 chicken backs
• 10-15 chicken feet
• 3 carrots
• 1 parsnip root
• 1 celery root
• 1 large onion
• 3 bay leaves
• 8-10 whole peppercorns
• 8–10 whole allspice berries 
• 1-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp of sea salt
• 1 tbsp of ghee or butter

Making the broth:

1. Clean off the chicken backs and chicken feet and place them into the Instant Pot.
2. Peel carrots, celery root, and parsnip root.
3. Cut 1 1/2 carrots, 1/2 onion, 1/2 celery root and 1/2 parsnip root into large chunks and place them into the Instant Pot.
4. Keep the remaining veggies for the final steps.
5. Put bay leaves, allspice, peppercorns and apple cider vinegar into the instant pot.
6. Fill the Instant Pot with cold water.
7. Set on High Pressure for 1.5 - 2 hours.

When the broth is done, strain it carefully. Discard the carrots, onion, celery, parsnip, and bones from the broth, then add the sea salt.
At this point, you can either keep it as is to have a savory bone broth perfect for sipping on cold days, or you can finish the soup with the following steps:

Soup Finishing: 

1. Chop the remaining onions and carrots into small cubes and put in a dish.
2. Coarsely shred the remaining parsnip and celery root, put them into another dish, and place them in the refrigerator.
3. After straining the soup, turn on the Instant Pot to the sauté function.
4. Add 1 tbsp of ghee or butter.
5. Sauté the chopped onions and carrots for 5-7 minutes.
6. Add the broth and boil for another 5 minutes.
7. Add the shredded celery and parsnip and boil until all veggies are soft. (Another 7-10minutes)
8. Enjoy!

I love to have this soup with potatoes (check out my Family Potato Salad recipe HERE) as well as some grilled seasonal vegetables.

If you decide to make this Chicken Soup, please leave me any comments below or email me your creations to zora@wildzora.com. I’d love to see what you make!