Martha Stewart Bok Choy And Chicken Soup Recipe

This is the soup I make when I am tired of heavy food and just want something warm and clean. Martha Stewart’s Bok Choy And Chicken Soup is a ginger-chile broth with poached chicken breast, baby bok choy, and a squeeze of lime that takes 40 minutes and tastes like it could fix whatever is wrong with you.

I found this Martha Stewart chicken soup recipe one winter when I had a cold and did not want another bowl of regular chicken noodle. The ginger and serrano chile clear your head and the fish sauce adds a savory depth that is hard to explain until you taste it.

Try More Soup Recipes:

• Classic Chicken Soup
• Chicken Noodle Soup
• Chicken Soup With Rice

A Lighter Kind Of Chicken Soup

This is not the thick, creamy, fill-you-up chicken soup you are used to. It is a clear ginger broth with torn chicken and wilted bok choy that feels more like something you would get at a noodle shop than from a pot on the stove.

The broth is where everything happens. Celery, scallion whites, garlic, ginger, and chile all simmer together and by the time you poach the chicken in it, it tastes like you spent hours building flavor when you really spent 15 minutes.

Bok Choy And Chicken Soup Ingredients

• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced, white and light-green parts separated
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and julienned
• 1 small serrano or jalapeno chile, stemmed and thinly sliced (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken-breast halves
• 2 heads baby bok choy (about 12 ounces), stalks sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces, leaves left whole
• 3/4 teaspoon fish sauce
• Coarse salt
• Lime wedges, for serving

How To Make Martha Stewart Bok Choy And Chicken Soup

1. Build the broth: Put the broth, water, celery, scallion whites, garlic, ginger, and chile in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.
2. Poach the chicken: Turn the heat to medium, add the chicken breasts, and cook at a bare simmer until a thermometer reads 160 degrees in the thickest part, about 13 minutes.
3. Tear the chicken: Take the chicken out of the broth. When it is cool enough to handle, tear it into 1-inch pieces and split between 4 bowls.
4. Cook the bok choy: Add the bok choy to the broth and simmer until just tender, about 5 minutes.
5. Season and serve: Stir in the fish sauce and season with salt. Ladle the soup over the chicken in the bowls and sprinkle with scallion greens. Serve with lime wedges.

Why You Take The Chicken Out First

Martha’s trick here is smart and I almost missed it the first time. You poach the chicken in the broth, pull it out the second it hits 160, and tear it into bowls.

Then you ladle the hot soup over the torn chicken right before serving.

If you leave the chicken in the broth the whole time it overcooks and turns rubbery. Taking it out and adding it back at the end means the meat stays tender and the hot broth reheats it without cooking it further.

How Spicy Is This Soup

With the seeds in the serrano it has a real kick that opens everything up when I am congested. Martha says to seed the chile first if you want it milder, and that brings it down to a gentle warmth.

If you do not want any heat at all, skip the chile entirely. The ginger on its own still gives the broth a warm peppery quality that makes it feel different from plain chicken soup.

What I Eat With This

A bowl of white rice on the side is what I do most nights. I drop spoonfuls of rice into the soup as I eat and it turns into something closer to congee by the end of the bowl.

Sometimes I toast a piece of sourdough bread to dip, which sounds wrong for an Asian soup but it works. The broth soaks into the bread and that is honestly one of my favorite bites.

How It Keeps In The Fridge

Store the broth and chicken separately. The bok choy gets soft and loses its color if it sits in hot liquid overnight, so I keep it in the broth but eat leftovers within 2 days before it turns to mush.

Reheat gently on the stove over low heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Do not boil it again or the chicken toughens up.

FAQs

• What is fish sauce doing in chicken soup? It adds a salty savory depth that you cannot get from salt alone. Three quarters of a teaspoon is not enough to taste fishy but it is enough to make the broth taste richer and more complex. I was skeptical the first time and now I do not skip it.
• Can I add noodles to this? Yes. Rice noodles or thin egg noodles work well. Cook them separately and add them to the bowls before ladling in the soup so they do not get mushy sitting in the broth.

More Soup Recipes:

• White Chicken Chili
• Almond Chicken Soup
• Butternut Squash Soup

Nutrition Facts

(1 serving, serves 4)

• Calories: 180
• Total Fat: 3g
• Saturated Fat: 1g
• Cholesterol: 65mg
• Sodium: 580mg
• Total Carbohydrates: 6g
• Protein: 30g