How do I make a soup from the juice from a cooked chicken in the slow cooker - seems a shame to throw it

[hulahoopsilove]

Never made soup before and have just cooked a chicken in the slow cooker and there is lots of juice - can I make soup from this thinking chicken and vegetables?

Hello, I would strain the juice and leave it overnight in a covered jug in the fridge. This allows the fat to rise to the top. It will harden, so spoon over, wrap in kitchen towel and throw away. Do not put it down the sink as it will block it.

Fry some onions and garlic together in a pan and then add add chopped veg you may have, leeks, cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, potatoes, peppers etc, plus the stock and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Allow to come to the boil and turn down to simmer until the veg are soft. Then put a stick blender in the saucepan or put in a liqudiser to blend together. You can also add any bits of cooked chicken you may have.

sounds yummy - We had the chicken for lunch and Ive saved some back so now I need to use the bones to make a stock - Im assuming I just boiled the carcass and bones for an hour or so???

Ok, in that case, both the bones and carcass and any skin and bits and pieces in a large saucepan, put in a sliced onion and enough water to cover the bones. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 1 1/2 hours. Leave to cool, strain and then put in the fridge and follow my earlier post above.

It's a really good way to stretch a chicken to make another meal. Enjoy :)

Add a couple of sticks of celery when you boil the carcass. It's a great flavour.
Also when you strain the stock off, pick over the bones for any meat which you can add to the soup.
A splash of wine as the soup is cooking gives a nice flavour and if you chuck in some lentils along with all the other veg it will do as a main meal esp if served with cheese on toast.

My chicken stock method is to break up what's left of the carcass after stripping off all the usable meat and placing it in a roasting tin with a couple of broken up celery sticks, some broken carrots, a whole garlic clove and a peeled, quartered onion. Roast all of this until the bones take on some colour... about 20 mins... then add it to a pot with your saved chicken juice, a star anise, a couple of bayleaves, some peppercorns, salt and enough water to cover everything. Simmer for about an hour or, if you have a pressure cooker, about 15 mins.

put in the fridge overnight and the fat HAS risen to the top! am going to make a chicken and veg soup and use some as stock for a chicken gravy pie - Im being very frugal with food atm - at one time would of binned the lot just cant afford to nowadays

I always stick the broken up carcass of the roast chicken in the slow cooker with a halved onion (skin left on), cover it with water and cook it on low overnight. Lovely stock.