This Creamy Chicken Soup (Ciorba Radauteana) is a traditional Romanian soup that is hearty, full of flavor and super easy to make! Requiring only a handful of simple ingredients - this is one soup you'll want to make over and over.
If you don't like 'tripe soup' but you enjoy its taste, then this is the perfect alternative. It is very easy to make, though I don't consider normal tripe soup harder either, requiring only your basic Romanian soup ingredients. Heck, if the taste wasn't so different, I would say all Romanian soups taste pretty much the same. They don't!
What is tripe soup
Let's talk about the tripe soup. This soup is verrry popular in Romania, they serve it in every restaurant around the country, though not everybody is as successful in making it as I am. The main ingredient is obviously... tripe. Specifically, beef tripe that you can find in every grocery store in Canada where it's only purchased by connoisseurs. The 'natives' are grossed out... lucky me!
Fortunately, Romanians thought of making a 'toned down version' as well, because even there, noobs are plenty. The country is full of people that are too 'chicken' to be adventurous when it comes to food and everything else for that matter.
How to make the perfect soup
Back to my Chicken Creamy Soup, which in Romania, is called Ciorba Radauteana from the zone in which it was first born (so they say). There are many similarities between this one and my other favorite, Chicken à la Grecque. Basically, à la Grecque has lemon juice and Chicken Creamy Soup gets its sour taste from vinegar. There are few other differences but not worth mentioning now, you have to check the recipe (coming soon!).
Traditionally, you would remove all the vegetables other than the carrots as serve it just like the tripe soup but with chicken obviously - but that's up to you! Personally, whenever I have chicken, I need to have some veggies as well or I remain unfulfilled... gastronomically!
Ingredients
- Water - Duh.
- Chicken - We're using a whole chicken for this one, chopped up!
- Salt & Pepper - To taste.
- Vegetable Oil - Substitute with sunflower, safflower or avocado oil.
- Onion - Chopped.
- Garlic - Fresh is always best! Minced.
- Carrot - Cubed.
- Parsnip - Sliced.
- Celery Stalk - Sliced.
- Bell Pepper - I used red bell pepper, cubed.
- Bay Leaves - Essential for soup.
- Vinegar - Plain ol' white vinegar - easy.
- Sour Cream - A must!
- Egg - We just need the egg yolk for this soup!
- Parsley - Chopped.
How to make creamy chicken soup
- Make Broth - Pour about 5qt (approx. 5L) of water into a soup pot. Add chicken, salt and pepper, bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes; remove the dark foam from the top with a slotted spoon. Transfer chicken and broth to a bowl and clean your pot if needed. Set aside but... DO NOT THROW AWAY THE BROTH!
- Cook Veggies - Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium heat. In the same pot you used to cook the chicken, add the onions and saute for 5 minutes until soft and translucent. Add carrots, celery, red bell pepper, parsnip to the pot and continue to saute everything for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Combine & Cook - Add the chicken and bay leaves; fill up the pot with the reserved broth. Bring to boil and cook for 30 minutes.
- Make it Creamy - In a separate bowl mix three egg yolks with sour cream. Gradually add hot broth with a ladle and keep mixing so it doesn't split. When the concoction is hot enough you can pour it back into the pot.
- Add Vinegar - Add ¼ cup of vinegar to the soup pot and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Finish & Serve - Remove from heat, add parsley and cover with a lid. Let sit for about 5 minutes, then serve.
How to serve creamy chicken soup
In a bowl with a spoon??? Just kidding, of course you know how to eat soup or you think at least. Romanian sour soups require fresh crusty bread and loads of hot peppers, pickled or fresh.
How to store leftover chicken soup
Properly stored, your leftover creamy chicken soup will last for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator. To further extend the shelf life of cooked chicken soup, freeze it!
Freezing
Find a flat space in your freezer to place the soup and keep frozen until you're ready to eat it!
Freeze soup in covered airtight containers or heavy-duty freezer bags. You can keep your frozen soup in the freezer for up to 3 months. I suggest labeling the soup with that date to keep track of the expiry date!
More great recipes from my kitchen:
- Sour Chicken Soup
- Ham and Cheese Breakfast Calzone
- Beans and Sausage Stew
- Peach Pizza
- Panzanella Salad
- Hearty Guacamole
- Beer Can Roasted Chicken
- Easy Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 5 qt water
- 1 lb chicken
- 1 teaspoon pepper ground
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 carrot cubed
- 1 parsnip sliced
- 1 celery stalk sliced
- 1 red bell pepper cubed
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup vinegar
- 8 oz sour cream
- 3 egg yolk
- 2 tablespoon parsley chopped
Instructions
- Pour about 5qt (aprox. 5L) of water into a soup pot add chicken, salt and pepper, bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes; remove the dark foam from the top with a slotted spoon. Transfer chicken and broth to a bowl and clean your pot if needed. Set aside but... DO NOT THROW AWAY THE BROTH!
- Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium heat in the same pot you used to cook the chicken, add the onions and saute for 5 minutes until soft and translucent.
- Add carrots, celery, red bell pepper, parsnip to the pot and continue to saute everything for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the chicken and bay leaves; fill up the pot with the reserved broth. Bring to boil and cook for 30 minutes.
- In a separate bowl mix three egg yolks with sour cream. Gradually add hot broth with a ladle and keep mixing so it doesn't split. When the concoction is hot enough you can pour it to the pot.
- Add ¼ cup of vinegar to the soup pot and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat, add parsley and cover with a lid. Serve in 5 minutes or so.
Nutrition
Notes
Don't get stuck on quantities. A soup is a soup, you are not mixing rocket fuel. The more stuff you add, the more water you might need to balance out the texture in the end - unless you like a thick soup... I don't. There is no way you can mess this creamy chicken soup up - unless you screw up the salt, pepper, sour cream and vinegar quantities. Make sure to add just a little at a time, taste as you go and you should be golden! Easy.
Remember, the damn sour cream mixed with egg, can easily split and if that happens you have to throw it away and start again. This is the reason why you mix these ingredients separately while pouring a bit of hot soup at a time. Otherwise, if you just throw it into the soup, will end up looking like cheese curds.
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