Cuban Style Chicken Soup

Cuban style chicken soup is a great twist on a classic. It’s a rich and savory; the perfect soup for cool fall nights or when you’re feeling under the weather.

I’m completely and utterly biased when it comes to this recipe; my grandmothers “sopita“. I, along with my entire family, grew up with this broth running through our veins. Even now, she always has a container of stock stashed away in her freezer, ready for whenever it is needed. And while many look at it like a simple chicken soup recipe, to me, it is even more symbolic of the love she has for her family. I can’t count the number of times she has shown up with sopita in hand, warding off any colds or ailments. I distinctly remember it being the only thing I wanted to eat after giving birth to my son. But that’s the beauty of a grandmother’s soup, and by extension her love, its in the simplicity and richness that touches the soul. This, my friends, is not simply a recipe, it’s an heirloom.

Tips for Cuban Style Chicken Soup:

• Use an entire chicken, and I mean ENTIRE chicken. You want the bones, skin, neck, and innards when making this soup. This is where all the flavor comes from, plus the added bonus of vitamins and minerals.

• I know I say it almost every recipe, but listen I love my pressure cooker and honestly don’t know what I would do without it! That being said, I use a pressure cooker for this recipe (Shocker!). You do not need one, but it will help cut the cook time down.
• This recipe will yield a lot of shredded chicken. Ironically, I usually don’t add the chicken back to the soup. I save it for another recipe that calls for shredded chicken (tacos…I save the chicken for tacos).

• My grandma adds carrots, potatoes, corn on the cob, malanga, and noodles. I follow the same rule. 🙂
• Speaking of added ingredients…lets take a moment to talk about malanga. It’s a root vegetable that is commonly used in South American, Caribbean, and African cooking. It’s similar to a potato in flavor, but has significantly more starch. It is also an excellent source of fiber.

Chicken soup is a classic, but this Cuban version is equally delicious. I hope you love this version as much as me and my family do. Enjoy! 🙂

Cuban Style Chicken Soup

Cuban style chicken soup is a great twist on a classic. It's a rich and savory; the perfect soup for cool fall nights or when you're feeling under the weather.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 40 mins

Course Soup

Cuisine Cuban

Equipment

• Pressure Cooker

Ingredients

  

• 1 whole chicken broken down
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 head garlic halved
• 1 medium tomato quartered
• 1 medium green bell pepper quartered
• 3 carrots sliced
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 cups water
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ⅛ tsp cumin
• ½ packet sazon
• 3 yellow potatoes peeled and chopped
• 1 malanga peeled and chopped
• 6 oz fideo noodles
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• Place the chicken, onion, garlic, tomato, green bell pepper, two carrots and bay leaves in the pot of a 6-quart pressure cooker. Fill the pot with enough water to just cover the ingredients (roughly 8 cups of water). Place the lid of the pressure cooker on the pot, locking it in place and adjusting the pressure valve according to manufactures instructions. Once pressurized, cook for 30 minutes.
• Once the 30 minutes has passed, allow the pressure cooker to depressurize. Strain the contents of the pot using a fine mesh sieve. Take extra care to ensure that small pieces of bone are left behind. Reserve the chicken for use in another meal.
• Return the stock to the pot of the pressure cooker and bring to a boil. Add the garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, sazon, potatoes, sliced carrot, malanga, and fideos to the pot. Continue to cook the soup until the potatoes, malanga and fideos are cooked through.