20 Cozy Chicken Soups to Make This Winter

One-Pot Chicken & Cabbage Soup
Photo: Antonis Achilleos

These cozy recipes are perfect for when you're craving chicken soup, especially on chilly nights. With seasonal ingredients like carrots, celery, onions and potatoes, these comforting bowls are well-suited for the winter months. Recipes like our Instant Pot Chicken Soup with Root Vegetables & Barley and One-Pot Chicken & Cabbage Soup are ideal meals to snuggle up with.

01 of 20

Chicken & Kale Soup

chicken kale soup

This easy chicken and kale soup will keep you warm on a cold and rainy day or any day that calls for a simple, hearty soup. For convenience, you can make this soup with frozen kale without the need to thaw it beforehand.

02 of 20

Tinola (Filipino Ginger-Garlic Chicken Soup)

side view of brothy chicken soup in a white bowl
Lisa Cassell-Arms

Tinola, a comforting Filipino soup seasoned with plenty of ginger and garlic, has countless variations throughout the Philippines. The soup calls for malunggay leaves (aka moringa), which can be found fresh or frozen at Asian markets. Bok choy is a good substitute. Feel free to increase the amounts of garlic and fish sauce for an even more flavorful soup. Serve this easy and healthy chicken soup on its own or with jasmine rice, quinoa or wild rice.

03 of 20

Instant Pot Chicken Soup with Root Vegetables & Barley

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Be sure to use bone-in chicken here--it enhances the flavor of the broth, and the bones are easy to remove after cooking. This healthy chicken soup can be made in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker.

04 of 20

Slow-Cooker Chicken & Chickpea Soup

Slow-Cooker Mediterranean Chicken & Chickpea Soup

The only things better than healthy dinner ideas are easy healthy dinner ideas. This set-it-and-forget-it slow-cooker soup recipe is just that. It simmers away all day so you come home to a warm and healthy dinner the whole family will love. Using bone-in chicken thighs is the key to making rich soup without adding broth. Plus, if you're also in need of healthy meals on a budget, thighs are less expensive than breasts, and dried chickpeas are a relatively inexpensive and versatile pantry item that's always good to stock up on.

05 of 20

One-Pot Chicken & Cabbage Soup

One-Pot Chicken & Cabbage Soup
Antonis Achilleos

This simple, yet flavorful, chicken-cabbage soup is perfect for enjoying on a cold day. Sherry vinegar adds a touch of brightness and pairs well with the medley of vegetables. Serve with crusty bread.

06 of 20

Chicken Vegetable Soup

Chicken Vegetable Soup
Photography / Kelsey Hansen, Styling / Sammy Mila

Barley adds texture, flavor and a healthy dose of fiber to this chicken vegetable soup recipe.

07 of 20

Chicken & Dumplings Soup

a recipe photo of Chicken & Dumplings Soup in a bowl
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer

This hearty and warming chicken-and-dumplings soup features whole-wheat biscuits that offer a boost of fiber while maintaining a light texture. Thyme and parsley add freshness to the traditional flavors of this crowd-pleasing soup.

08 of 20

Moroccan-Inspired Chicken & Sweet Potato Soup

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This healthy chicken soup recipe gets bold Moroccan flavor from sweet potatoes, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and a touch of fiery harissa. To get a homemade stock flavor using store-bought broth, we simmer bone-in chicken breasts in the broth before adding the rest of the soup ingredients.

09 of 20

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup with Rotisserie Chicken

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup with Rotisserie Chicken

This creamy rotisserie chicken soup has a delicious chicken pot pie feel to it. We call for rotisserie chicken to streamline your prep time--look for a nice big one with lots of breast meat on it. Pair this comforting and easy soup recipe with a green salad, or, if you're really hungry, a grilled cheese sandwich.

10 of 20

Easy Chicken & Broccoli Soup

Easy Chicken Broccoli Soup
Jennifer Causey

This easy chicken and broccoli soup is creamy and luscious, but still light. The broccoli florets absorb the creamy soup base, while the chicken stays tender. This is the perfect soup to make on a busy weeknight when you have leftover roast chicken or rotisserie chicken on hand. While the recipe calls for chicken breasts, if thighs are what you have on hand, feel free to use those.

11 of 20

Chicken Orzo Soup

Chicken Orzo Soup
Photography / Jennifer Causey, Styling / Melissa Gray / Kay Clarke

This quick chicken orzo soup has warm, comforting flavors from the perfect combination of broth, chicken and vegetables. The orzo makes it filling without weighing it down.

12 of 20

Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup with Soft-Boiled Eggs

Homemade Chicken Ramen Noodle Bowls

Transform canned chicken noodle soup by adding fresh ginger, crunchy vegetables, herbs and a jammy soft-boiled egg. Look for a low-sodium soup that has 450 mg sodium or less per serving.

13 of 20

Low-Carb Chicken Soup

Low-Carb Chicken Soup

This comforting, low-carb chicken soup is packed with veggies. Chicken thighs add rich flavor and remain tender after simmering in the soup. The lemon juice added at the end brings a lovely hint of brightness.

14 of 20

Ajiaco Bogotano (Potato Soup with Corn, Chicken & Capers)

Ajiaco Bogotano (Potato Soup with Corn, Chicken & Capers)
Greg DuPree

Ajiaco celebrates a key crop in the Andes Mountains region, where more than 4,000 potato varieties are grown. There are three types in this soup. Cookbook author and food stylist Mariana Velásquez uses russets to stand in for Sabanera potatoes, which practically dissolve into the broth, giving it body. Yukon Golds and tiny creamer potatoes replace Pastusas and Criollas—the former lends a golden hue and the latter a sweet, almost buttery flavor. Guascas—a fragrant herb also known as galinsoga, gallant soldier or potato weed—imparts a slightly bitter taste unmatched by anything else, Velásquez says. (Look for it dried online or in the few Colombian markets in the U.S.; you can also find it fresh at farmers' markets.) The soup takes her back to her childhood in Bogotá. She remembers one Friday each month being "Ajiaco Day" at her all-girls school. "They would bring the bowls of broth to each of us and then place the avocados, corn, chicken, capers and cream in the center of the table," she says. "It was the most special lunch and we all loved it."

15 of 20

Rotisserie Chicken Soup

Rotisserie Chicken Soup
Brittany Conerly

In this installment of Diaspora Dining, Jessica B. Harris' series on foods of the African diaspora, the author and historian contemplates change and chicken soup, and how her own chicken soup tastes and methods have evolved. For her favorite version, Harris loves using lemon, avocado and cilantro, plus her favorite time-saving hack: the store-bought rotisserie chicken.

16 of 20

Chicken Chorba

Chicken Chorba
Greg DuPree

"Chorba" comes from the Arabic word for drink, referring to this soup's thin broth. It's popular across North Africa and is prepared in numerous ways—with fish, meat or just veggies. This no-frills recipe was passed down to London-based chef Nargisse Benkabbou from her maternal grandmother. The simple ingredients make a tasty meal that evokes her past. "In Morocco, chorba is often enjoyed during Ramadan, so it always reminds me of the times we used to gather with my family to break the fast," she says. Benkabbou—who frequently flies to Marrakech, where she's the executive chef at L'Mida—aims to celebrate her heritage with every dish. But she doesn't hesitate to add her own modern twist. "I love spicy food," says Benkabbou. "So I always end up adding harissa to my chorba, although it's a bit untraditional."

17 of 20

Classic Chicken Soup

Classic Chicken Soup

Classic chicken noodle soup gets a healthy upgrade with low-sodium chicken broth, whole-wheat egg noodles and tons of vegetables. To get a homemade stock flavor using store-bought broth, we simmer bone-in chicken breasts in the broth before adding the rest of the soup ingredients. But you're short on time, feel free to use pre-cooked chicken and start the recipe at step 2.

18 of 20

Chicken-Gnocchi Soup

Copycat Chicken & Gnocchi Soup
Photographer / Brie Passano, Food Stylist / Annie Probst

Gnocchi, those little Italian potato pillows, behave like dumplings in this deliciously homey soup with hearty chunks of carrot and celery. The best part is that the dumplings come fresh from a store-bought package and the cooked chicken can come straight from the rotisserie section of your favorite supermarket.

19 of 20

Mulligatawny Soup

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This is a soup with a long history (references to it in English go back to 1784) that can now be conveniently made in a modern appliance. Although it's technically an English soup, its origins are decidedly Indian. (The name loosely means "pepper water" in the Tamil language of Southern India.) The sweetness of apple and coconut milk counterbalances the garlic, ginger, curry and cayenne.

20 of 20

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

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This easy slow-cooker chicken noodle soup is chock-full of vegetables and noodles, and gets extra creaminess from a little light cream cheese.

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