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 Soup with Farro and Vegetables
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 3-4 stalks celery, chopped
- leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme (1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon)
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken
- 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- [1 cup farro, rinsed]
- salt and pepper to taste
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 chicken, thyme, bay leaf, parsley, broth, and water. Bring to a boil.
- Add rinsed farro and return to a boil. Reduce to a low boil, cover and cook for 15 minutes or until farro is tender. Taste for seasonings. Add salt and pepper as necessary. Add water if it has become too thick (we love ours super thick, more like stew).
- Remove bay leaf and serve.
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!
Very tasty and easy to make. Always looking for ways to add more whole grain and meat budget stretchers. I used the back, ribs, wings and part of the breast of a whole chicken. Boiled the pieces in water to make broth and cook the chicken. Toasted the farro with the onions, celery and carrots. Added fresh chard from the garden and topped with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
Made this today, I definitely will make again!
So glad you like it!
Had farro in my cupboard and used (finally)….delicious…..thank you!
So glad to hear it! I appreciate you taking the time to come back and leave a comment, means a lot!
Have you ever tried this recipe in the slow cooker? How would you adjust it, if you did?
I have not, but I think it would probably work great!
I want to know that also
I haven’t tried it but it would probably work. Let me know if you try it! I think the farro will take 2-3.5 hours to cook in the slow cooker, but like I said, I haven’t tried it so I can’t make promises. I’d love to hear how it turns out if you do it!
THIS IS FANTASTIC!!
I’m pretty sure my kids could live on chicken soup alone all winter, and it doesn’t even get very cold here :)
I actually have a bag of unopened farro in the cupboard that I had no idea what to do with. I love barley, so I’m excited to try it now!
Hope you love it!
This is a fully loaded beautiful-looking chicken soup! I love all the colorful veggies :)
We eat all the soup in the winter! Farro in soup is such a great variation! Pinned!
It’s been getting all sorts of cold here too..and I actually have yet to make ONE SINGLE SOUP!
But, this looks like THE place to start. Loving that farro! Pinned!