Lemony Chicken Soup With Fennel and Dill
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- 2 to 3pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken legs, thighs, drumsticks or a mix
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 6tablespoons olive oil
- 1large fennel bulb (preferably with the top on)
- 4garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
- 1pound small potatoes, sliced about ¼-inch thick
- 1lemon, coarsely chopped (discard the seeds), plus 1 additional lemon for zesting and juicing
- 4dried chiles de árbol or ½ teaspoon red-pepper flakes (optional)
- 6cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1tablespoon fennel seed
- 1cup dill, coarsely chopped
- 2scallions, thinly sliced
- Sour cream, full-fat Greek yogurt or feta (optional)
- Sumac (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
531 calories; 32 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 17 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 25 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 38 grams protein; 1437 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat.
- Step 2
Working in batches, add chicken, skin-side down, and cook until skin is well browned and fat has started to render, 5 to 8 minutes. Using tongs, flip chicken and continue to cook until well browned, another 3 to 5 minutes. Leaving all the fat and drippings behind, transfer chicken to a rimmed baking sheet, a large plate or a cutting board and let rest.
- Step 3
Meanwhile, if you’ve got the top of the fennel bulb, thinly slice it, fronds and all; set aside.
- Step 4
Coarsely chop the white part of the fennel bulb and add to the pot along with the garlic and onion. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened but not yet browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Add potatoes, chopped lemon and chiles, and stir to coat.
- Step 5
Return chicken to the pot and add broth, seasoning with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and place the lid on the pot. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook at a strong simmer until chicken is cooked through and nearly falling off the bone, 20 to 25 minutes. Using tongs, remove chicken and let rest until it’s cool enough to handle. Pick the meat from the chicken, removing any cartilage, skin and bones. (Alternatively, leave the chicken pieces intact and serve that way.)
- Step 6
Return meat to the pot along with the thinly sliced fennel top, if using. Season the soup with salt and pepper, turn the heat to medium-low and continue to gently simmer while you make the toasted fennel seed topping.
- Step 7
Heat remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil in a small pot or skillet over medium. Add fennel seed and half of the fresh dill, and swirl until fennel seed is toasted and dill is sizzling and crispy, about 2 minutes.
- Step 8
Divide soup among bowls, and spoon fennel seed topping over it, followed by scallions and remaining fresh dill. Add a dollop of yogurt or sour cream (or crumbles of feta) and sprinkle with sumac, if you like. Zest the remaining lemon over the bowls, then cut lemon in half to squeeze juice over them too.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Martha
Sumac is also available from Penzey’s online and phone mail order and brick and mortar stores if they’re near you. You can also get zatar as well. Warning: be prepared to fall in love with Bill Penzey, my nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sam Penrose
One more trick for chicken soup: after the bird or large pieces are browned, pull off the skin, focusing on fatty / less rendered patches. Dice them. At the "fry aromatics" stage (step 4 in this recipe), add them to create more maillard compounds for the flavor base.
Anne V
Substituted leeks and shallots for the onion (bc we prefer) and 2 well rinsed preserved lemons for the fresh one that gets chopped and added, which avoids any bitterness and the rind and lemon pulp pretty much dissolve.
Pelham
The chopped lemon made the soup overwhelmingly bitter. If I try this recipe again, I would juice and zest both of them.
JennyO
I made this tonight and it was delicious. There is a slight bitter taste from the chopped lemon (which I like) and the dill flavor was not overpowering as someone suggested - it's primarily in the garnish that is sizzled in olive oil. I found this through the Five Dishes email and I would caution that as written it is definitely not a weeknight dish! It says an hour - I was prepping cooking and garnishing for 2-1/2 (and I'm a pretty fast cook). I will definitely make again on a weekend!
David
The lemon taste was better balanced without the zest and juice at the end: omitting it allowed the other flavors to come out (and it was really good!). Also, my dinner companions weren't wild about the chunks of lemon peel in the finished soup.
Cindi
Wow! Amazing soup. Cooked it this morning for dinner tonight and I have already snuck 2 bowls out! I made a couple of substitutions. 1. Quartered the lemon instead of diced it so I could sneak it out before my very Midwestern meat and potatoes hubby wouldn't see it. 2. Used broken spaghetti instead of potatoes (my potatoes had gone bad) 3. Added about a cup of diced celery. Next time I might add ginger and or fresh tumeric to increase the health benefits. The soup is terrific.
Virginia
The lemon made the broth so bitter, it was inedible and I had to throw it away (which was a drag because I used my homemade chicken broth).
Hilary
If the chicken is cooking only for 20-25 minutes, you'd definitely want to start with a broth -- that's not enough time for water to become chicken soup.
Molly Gordy
Dill is the only herb I know of that tastes almost the same dried as fresh. You may substitute without sacrificing quality
David Rubien
I think any recipe that uses chicken should call for an organic, free range, or air-dried chicken, as the mainstream brands are factory farmed with zero flavor.
Susan Fish
I made this tonight and it was swoon-worthy. When I read that some found the broth lacking, I decided to throw in a parsnip for extra flavour. This will become part of our regular menu!
Kat
Great recipe if you like the flavor of fennel. Only change I would make is do 1/2 whole lemon chopped + a squeeze of lemon juice. The whole lemon made the soup just a touch too bitter for me, and I also didn't like biting down on bits of lemon. 1/2 a lemon would probably have been the perfect amount of bitter.
Tess
I love this recipe! Just made it tonight and it’s one of my favorite soups I’ve made (and I make soup about once a week in the winter). I used boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of skin-on dark meat and it was still delicious. The fennel-dill topping is a must, and a dollop of Greek yogurt added the perfect amount of creaminess. Alison Roman does it again!
jas
Fantastic. —skipped cut-up lemon; but added lemon juice & zest at end. —Instead of homemade stock, used Better than Bouillon organic chicken stock.
Jim in SF
This is one of the best things I have ever made. Made as directed, and I didn’t have a problem with the added lemon.
NJ
This is delicious- I didn't go through the fried garnish step and ate with only chopped fresh dill as garnish. Highly recommend!
Maria
I thought this was so good, and so did all my guests. Lapped it up!
Be wary of this weird soup
This soup is very strange and over seasoned. I would amend the recipe if I ever cook it again. The fennel seed and dill topping is legit weird combination. Take the skin off the lemon before adding to the soup if you want to avoid some bitterness.
for next time
Less potatoes Lots of dill Lemon zest and juice at end instead of chopping it up and adding in earlier Included carrots and celery in the veg mix
Sarah
Really good! Made as is except that I replaced the potatoes with orzo and did not do the whole fennel topping thing, just added some fresh dill. Used a thin-skinned lemon and had no trouble with bitterness, but next time I would cut it in rounds to make it easier to pick out after cooking.
Josh Gibson
I made this with a thick skinned lemon and it was literally inedible. I love my NYT recipes and this is the only one I’ve ever commented on. Maybe a thin skinned Meyer lemon would work, but if you have a thick skinned lemon, it is way, way, way too bitter. I’d just section the meat of the lemon and save the zest to garnish to taste at the end. It’s really good without the rind.
alyssa
You really have to like the flavors of lemon, dill, and fennel to enjoy this soup. The dill & scallions rounded out the dish beautifully. Load up on those! I took a hint from other commenters and quartered the lemon and removed it with the meat. Next time I’ll only do a half, then add juice and zest to taste (we found it wasn’t needed when served, even though the lemon was removed from the soup). I’ll also try a combination of dark & white meat next time.
Jim S.
I added some chopped carrots and celery. Excellent soup!
RL
This is incredible. I love fennel, so I doubled the toasted topping and added red pepper flakes. I also sprinkled za’atar and sumac on top with the lemon zest and juice. Like others, I followed the note about using less of a lemon. I used half of a small one and scraped the pulp/juice out of the other half. Delicious and different tasting than lots of other soups! Fresh, woody, and healthy tasting. 10 out of 10.
RudisHuman
I didn't add chilis, can't handle them. Instead, used my freezer stash of sauteed sweet red peppers from summer. Added some much needed color and a nice piquant accent.
Natalie
This was fun - I loved the bitter lemon and dill together. I wasn’t convinced by the potatoes - I think that pasta or a grain would have been better. Like any Alison Roman recipe, don’t forgo the topping - the sour cream and dill/fennel seed really made this dish.
So bitter!
This soup was horrible! The broth was so bitter! I've never had an nytimes recipe turn out so bad. Had to throw the extra away.
Es
This made for a delicious dinner, a little complicated in flavor and method but a very good result. For 2 of us, I used 2 thighs and 2 legs, 1 32-oz container of low-salt chicken broth, 1 fennel bulb, 1/2 lb potatoes, 1/2 of a lemon, and the rest pretty much as written. Added hawaiij to the soup. The flavors didn't come together until I had composed the bowl using the fennel seed-dill mix, scallions, feta, and sumac as toppings. Enough left over for my lunch.
Marilyn
Use 2 lb chicken, not 3. Use 2 preserved lemons, rinsed & chopped. Don’t fine chop pieces of undercooked skin and fry with aromatics. Add 1 c of diced parsley.
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