Slow-Cooker Chicken Soup With Ginger & Fennel Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

Does soup taste better in slow cooker? ›

Slow cookers can transform a few simple ingredients into the most delicious soups by simmering them for hours. This low and slow cooking allows the flavors to mingle, creating rich, flavorful soups perfect for chilly days, nights, or any day you want to enjoy a bowl full of goodness.

Chop the carcass into pieces and throw the bones into a pot with a bay leaf and some fresh thyme sprigs. Pour the prepared chicken broth into the pot and simmer it for about 15 minutes. Pull out the bones and strain the broth through a fine sieve. Cook the chicken like you would normally, baking or roasting.

That varies by what's inside the slow cooker and also by the appliance's setting and model, the experts say. Most recipes for all-day cooking call for 6 to 8 hours on low. Quality- (and safety-) wise, another 1 to 2 hours in 'keep warm' mode won't mess things up.

While broth and stock both get richer and richer the longer you cook them, the problem is that the chicken meat will dry out and get tough if you let it go too long.

You can cook the chicken at a high-enough temperature to kill bacteria by turning up the heat on the broth, but for a much safer and tastier method, brown your chicken first. Browning or searing the chicken in a separate pan is not only far more foolproof, but adds richness and extra umami to your soup.

Fortunately, we're here to let you in on a game-changing secret: Water makes a more than acceptable replacement for chicken stock in most soups, stews, sauces, and braises. And in many cases, water actually produces a better-tasting result.

Chicken skin is key to this whole endeavor, Koenig told me. I fretted that it would make the soup greasy and overly rich, but she insisted: “Keep the skin on to maximize your soup's flavor. All of the savory, full-bodied oomph that you expect from a good chicken soup comes from the skin.”

A slow cooker should be your go-to if you make a lot of soups or stews and want your meats fall-off-the-bone tender. Because they can be easily transported, they're also excellent to bring to potlucks.

Our answer. Slow cookers can be useful for cooking stews, but generally the combination of low heat and a tightly fitting lid will mean that the auce doesn't get a chace to thicken (by reduction) and consequently the sauce can be a little thin.

"When a slow cooker is too full, it may not heat the food evenly," explains Leal. As a result, some parts of the dish may overcook, while others remain undercooked. "This can also increase the risk of foodborne illness, because the food might not reach a safe temperature throughout," she says.

How do you make soup more flavorful? ›

Roast or caramelize your vegetables before adding them to your soup to bring out their natural sweetness. Add ingredients like mushrooms, tomatoes, soy sauce, miso, or seaweed to enhance the flavor of your soup. Use fresh herbs like parsley, cilantro, basil or thyme to add fresh flavor to your soup.