Chicken Soup with Farro and Vegetables – an easy, healthy and filling weeknight meal. You’ll love the texture of the farro in this soup.
Here in Michigan, it has been collllllllllld. Winter has arrived in full force. This of course means I’m craving lots of warm soups and stews. Nearly all my soups turn out more like stew — we like them thick.
Less broth, more of the good stuff. If you have a guy in the house who might raise an eyebrow about eating soup as a main course – just make it super thick and full of great protein. He’ll be happy and full – on soup alone!
As I mentioned earlier this week, I often buy and roast bone-in chicken breasts (I get the big ol’ family pack of them). Once they are roasted and cooled, I’ll shred them. Sometimes I keep the shredded chicken in the fridge but most often, I throw it into zip-top bags and freeze it. It makes for simple meals when I don’t really know what I’m going to cook.
Just the other day, Ben came home from work for a few minutes before jetting back to work for an evening event. He was going to grab Subway on the way back to work but he had a bit of a sore throat.
So I convinced him to eat a quick dinner before he left again. I grabbed a bag of frozen shredded chicken out of the freezer and using that, I had homemade chicken noodle soup on the table in under 30 minutes. And he said his throat felt the best it did all day. The powers of homemade chicken noodle soup, my friends.
Instead of noodles, for this soup I use farro. Farro is a wheat grain — I’d describe it as similar in texture to barley. I often use barley for a soup like this (see my chicken barley soup with kale and butternut squash) but for variety, I decided to go with farro.
Farro helps to thicken this soup and it also retains a slight crunch to it. Not crunchy crunch – just a good bite. (I’m sure that totalllly makes sense. You better make this soup. Then you’ll know what I’m talking about.)
Chicken soup for the soul. Enjoy!
If you love this, you’ll also love Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup or Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup.
More Soup Recipes
- Slow cooker minestrone (with quinoa!)
- Lentil soup with pasta
- Instant Pot broccoli cheese soup
- Creamy carrot ginger soup — vegan and Whole 30
- Roasted cauliflower soup with cheddar
- 20 minute Italian turkey, bean and spinach soup (a reader favorite!)
- Or if that isn’t enough, you can check out my entire archives of soup and stew recipes.
Chicken Farro Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion (1 medium onion)
- 1 cup diced carrots (2 large carrots)
- 1 cup diced celery (3 stalks celery)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (more if you like!)
- 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (see note)
- 2 cups water, or additional broth
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 3 breasts)
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup farro, rinsed
Instructions
- Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add onion, carrots, and celery and season with salt and pepper. Sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and continue to cook while stirring, for one more minute.1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 cup diced onion, 1 cup diced carrots, 1 cup diced celery, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper, 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Add broth, water, chicken, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, and farro. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth, 2 cups water, or additional broth, 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1 tablespoon dried parsley, ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves, 1 bay leaf, 1 cup farro, rinsed
- Reduce heat to low to maintain a simmer and cover and cook for 30 minutes or until farro is tender and chicken is cooked through, stirring occasionally.
- Remove bay leaf from soup. Remove chicken from the soup pan, and shred or dice, and then return it to the soup.
- Taste the soup, and add salt and pepper as desired. If the soup is too thick for your liking, stir in extra water or broth. Serve hot.
Notes
- Chicken broth: We tested this recipe with reduced-sodium chicken broth and found that the soup needed a little more salt than is called for in the recipe. It’s important to taste the soup near the end of the cooking time, and season as desired, since chicken broth contains varying amounts of salt.
- Storage: Refrigerate leftover soup in a covered container for up to 3 days. The soup will thicken as it sits or when it is stored because the farro continues to absorb liquid. Add more water or broth as desired. Chicken farro soup freezes well, for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Reheat individual portions in the microwave or in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Get a head start: To save last minute prep time, dice the onions, carrots, and celery in the morning or even the night before. Put them in a covered container and refrigerate.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
This has become one of my favorite soups – perfect comfort food!
So happy to hear it! Thanks for leaving a review!
Seasoning was disappointing. It was better the second day, however, with a little heat added to spice it up.
Thanks for the feedback!