The Simple Searing Tip For The Absolute Best Chicken Soup

Chicken soup is the ultimate all-weather comfort food. Hearty, flavorful, versatile, and nourishing, the savory dish has remained popular since the domestication of poultry thousands of years ago and has inspired modern recipes spanning generations and cultures. It finds itself central to countless old wives' tales as the antidote to anything that ails you. But a good chicken soup is nothing without a generous helping of flavorful chicken. While there are varying expert (and amateur) opinions on which parts of the chicken to use, exactly how to prepare it for your soup, and whether to chop or shred it for optimal texture, searing your chicken in butter and oil is key to achieving a chicken soup that's next-level-delicious. 

Searing  — pan-frying at medium-high heat until a golden crust develops — can be done easily with both skinless and skin-on chicken and has best results with breasts, tenders, and thighs. And when done in butter as well as oil, your chicken receives a rich flavor boost and a juicy texture perfect for a delectable chicken soup with every bite. 

Making an appetizing chicken soup worth writing home about begins with the chicken. But there's no need to struggle with whether to use dark or white meat. For optimal flavor and heartiness, go ahead and use both — the dark meat offers a juicy, robust flavor while white — dark meat's leaner relative — will contribute extra protein to your dish. And we already know we don't have to sell you on butter — it undeniably makes everything better, including poultry. When used in combination with oil, which is equally important to your searing process, butter adds a velvety rich flavor, elevating your chicken to an ideal level of tenderness that will make your soup anything but basic. But it's important to note that butter burns quicker and at lower temperatures than oil, so you'll want to turn the heat down a bit to compensate.

To maximize the combination of oil and butter, you'll want to heat up a bit of oil in your pan, making sure to get your skillet hot before adding your chicken. And then comes the most important part: leaving it alone. In order for your chicken to sear properly and develop that flavorful golden crust, it needs to remain undisturbed while cooking, which should take about 4-5 minutes for each side. Add the butter at the end to allow your chicken to take on that extra rich flavor that kicks your seared chicken — and your soup — up a huge notch.

There are a myriad of other tips to make the tastiest chicken soup on the block. For starters, if you go the homemade stock route, be sure to remember two words: chicken feet. That's right. Simmering chicken feet with your vegetables and water (and perhaps a few seasonings) to make your stock is an infallible method of creating a deeply flavorful base for your soup. Chicken feet are brimming with intense flavor and nutritional benefits that contribute to a healthy gut as well as healthy skin and bones — so go ahead and incorporate them into your chicken soup recipe. You'll need about one pound of chicken feet to make four quarts of stock. Not sure where to find chicken feet? Try your local Asian grocery store. 

Equally important to the flavor profile of your chicken soup are the vegetables and herbs you choose. While you can throw in anything from pearl onions, leeks, and carrots to peas, asparagus, and even spinach, the herbs are what really set your flavor apart, so choose them wisely. Tarragon, bay leaf, and thyme are three herbs that are high in pungent, earthy flavor and will help deliver the ultimate chicken stock. You can decide when to use fresh or dried herbs, but it's important to note that dried herbs have a stronger flavor, so if you decide to use dried, you'll want to start with 1/2 teaspoon of each, increasing the amounts to taste.