Spicy Green Garlic Chicken Soup
- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 4large chicken legs (thigh and drumstick), about 3 pounds
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- 1large yellow onion, diced, about 3 cups
- 4medium carrots, peeled, cut in 2-inch chunks
- 1celery stalk, diced
- 1bay leaf
- 1clove
- 2bunches green garlic shoots, about 12 shoots (may substitute wild ramps)
- 1small white onion, finely diced, soaked in cold water for 1 hour, about ½ cup
- 3 or 4large tomatillos, husked and finely diced, about ½ cup
- 1 or 2jalapeño peppers, seeds removed, finely chopped
- 3tablespoons lime juice
- Lime wedges, for serving
For the Soup
For the Salsa
Preparation
- Step 1
Season chicken legs generously with salt and pepper. Pour olive oil into a Dutch oven or similar pot over medium-high heat. Add chicken legs and brown well, about 3 minutes per side. Remove and set aside. Add diced yellow onion and cook, stirring frequently, until browned and softened, about 5 minutes. Add carrots, celery, bay leaf and clove and return chicken to pot.
- Step 2
Add 10 cups water and 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until chicken is tender, but not falling off the bone, about 1 hour. Turn off heat and skim fat from surface of broth. (May be prepared up to this point several hours ahead, or up to a day in advance, and refrigerated.)
- Step 3
While chicken is cooking, prepare the green garlic shoots: peel tough outer layers and roots, then rinse well. Split shoots lengthwise and chop both white and tender green parts. Set aside.
- Step 4
Make the tomatillo salsa: drain diced white onion and transfer to a small bowl. Add tomatillo, jalapeño, lime juice and a little salt and stir together.
- Step 5
Just before serving, reheat soup, add chopped green garlic to pot and simmer 5 minutes. To serve, put one chicken leg in each bowl (alternatively, remove meat from bone and shred) and ladle soup over it. Pass tomatillo salsa and lime wedges at the table.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Highly recommended.
Has become a staple of my diet.
Very tasty and flexible even without recommended salsa.
I use 6 chopped scallions (green onions) and 5 minced garlic cloves when seasonal green garlic is not available.
I make is about once a month and its due again.
Delicious. I made it for two so cut the recipe mostly in half. Though I made the salsa, I tasted the soup without it and it was great so either way. Garlic shoots were not in season when I made it so I improvised and put 5 cloves of garlic. Ummm just fine. Also, didn't do chicken legs, just thighs and got them boneless. Perfect.
very good! I added diced avocado as a garnish (along with the salsa) and it was a great addition.
Can you substitute garlic chives for the green garlic?
Cooked the chicken until it was falling off the bone. A potato might have been nice. Tasty, green garlic is not too noticeable. Used some chicken broth because I had it and yes, slightly too salty. Overall good. Green garlic from farm box and bread from Seed
"Wild ramps" make a good substitute. What in the world are "wild ramps" and does my grocery store have them? I doubt it... ;^)
Made this when I was home with bronchitis. I used pre packaged fresh tomatillo salsa, sliced several cloves of garlic, as no green garlic in Dec and I've never seen it anywhere, anyway. Plus ground clove - thought I put too much in but turns out when you add the salsa it balances nicely and had a very warming effect which was great for being home sick. Oh yes, I also used chicken breast. After trying a few thigh recipes I personally prefer breast.
And everyone goes along tho I can't be the only one who can't handle spicy hot food...
I made this when my wife had a bad cold. Had to substitute plain garlic for the green garlic. But the spice alongside the richness of the chicken was really nice. Excellent sick food. And excellent food for the non-sick.
I used garlic to substitute for the currently unavailable green garlic shoots. The soup made a comforting, bland, in-bed-with-the-flu sort of broth, but it wasn’t spicy (despite using two BIG, though seeded, jalapeños) or interesting enough to try again. Technique suggestion: if you skim off the layer of scum that forms soon after the soup comes to a boil, and discard the skins as soon as they’ve softened up enough to remove easily, there’s no need to skim any fat at the end.
This was very good. I couldn't find green garlic, so I substituted regular garlic cloves and added some green onion. The salsa was great, but it made way too much. We were skeptical about the salsa before making it, but it really added some great acidity to the soup. One thing I will add is I made the soup and the salsa the day before we ate it. I refrigerated both overnight. I removed the fat layer from the soup before reheating it the next day. That worked very well.
Highly recommended. Very tasty and flexible even without recommended salsa. I use 6 chopped scallions (green onions) and 5 minced garlic cloves when seasonal green garlic is not available. I made it for two so cut the recipe mostly in half. Though I made the salsa, I tasted the soup without it and it was great so either way. Garlic shoots were nI improvised and put 5 cloves of garlic. Also, didn't do chicken legs, just thighs and got them boneless.
Green garlic season is fleeting. Perhaps that it arrives this year in the time of covid19 makes one all the more mindful of how uncertain things can be and wanting to cook while ingredients exist. So using this spring's green garlic, I made this soup twice. Once per recipe - used pastured chicken from farmers market. Once in vegan mode using Royal Corona beans (no joke intended - from Rancho Gordo) as the base so one has bean pot liquor not chicken broth. Both times very good. Keeper.
Cooked the chicken until it was falling off the bone. A potato might have been nice. Tasty, green garlic is not too noticeable. Used some chicken broth because I had it and yes, slightly too salty. Overall good. Green garlic from farm box and bread from Seed
made italian soup: 4 thighs browned in 2 tbs OO 3min/ side and removed then diced medium onion, 2 carrots 1inch chunks, I diced celery sautéed together after chicken removed @ 15 mim, then chopped 3 garlic, chili flakes 1 thyme sprig, bay leaf for 1 min, then chicken back and 5 cups water and simmered 30 min. Chicken removed and greens added and 2 oz cooked pasta (troffe) for @ 5 min for greens to cook and cut up chicken about 2 min before all done, then parsley and cheese
Delicious! I used skin-on bone-in chicken legs. There was a lot of fat to skim off; might cut olive oil a bit or remove some of the skin next time. I used a combo of garlic cloves, garlic scapes, and scallions in lieu of green garlic. Agree with other reviewer about too much salsa; my small onion and 3-4 tomatillos must have been much larger than David’s (they made more than 1/2 cup diced). I added cilantro to it! Great flavors, easy — could see adding rice or a green to round it out.
Do I use chicken legs with skin or without skin?
Can you substitute garlic chives for the green garlic?
I would think so. I regularly have to substitute veg for something that is expensive or difficult yo find. In the case of soup, since it's more the flavor and aroma you're going for, I think your substitution is a good one. See also Mark Bittman's list of substitutes. He also writes for the NYT. https://www.markbittman.com/
Family fave. Use b/s thighs
To me, this seemed like a stripped-down pozole without the hominy. Without corn, chilis, or an herb like cilantro, I thought the flavor was somewhat basic, which I'm assuming is to highlight the subtle flavor of the green garlic. My family, however, loved it, and felt like there was nothing lacking.
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