Three comforting chicken soup recipes for when it’s cold or when the weather isn’t so nice

When the temperature drops, you’re not feeling well, or just feel like a hearty, hot meal, there are few things more restoring than a bowl of chicken soup. It has been thought about for ages a culinary elixir for common ailments like the common cold, and it’s even called “Jewish Penicillin” for its all-encompassing healing properties. While these three recipes all focus on the main ingredient chicken, they are slightly different from each other, but they are all super delicious and more importantly if you’re not feeling well, easy to make.

Emma McCaskill’s Fried Chicken Noodle Soup
Designed to be simple, adaptable and complementary, this soup is from Adelaide’s Emma McCaskill, the former head chef of Sparkke in Whitmore, Sydney’s Tetsuya’s and Melbourne’s now-closed Ezard. The best part is that it’s ready in 40 minutes as she uses fried chicken from a charcoal store or supermarket instead of cooking it from scratch. It’s also a pick-your-own-adventure soup, as you can add just about any root vegetable you like and whatever veggies you’ve used up in your vegetable bin.

Matt Moran’s chicken soup
“When I feel like I’m catching a cold, or just want to eat something light and healthy, I make this chicken soup,” says celebrity chef Matt Moran. pamphlet† Moran, from Sydney’s sophisticated Aria and farm-to-table, Chiswick, loves this recipe because it achieves all the hearty, comforting notes a chicken soup should have. “It’s satisfying, warms you up and makes you feel better.” We also love it because you get sweet pops from the corn and using risoni paste makes you feel full and satisfied.

Eftichia’s avgolemono
Avgolemono is a very comforting and nutritious Greek chicken soup with lots of lemon juice, so it’s a super spicy dude. This recipe also has double the warming factor that it comes from Yiayia Next Door: Recipes from Yiayia’s Kitchen, a collection of traditional Greek recipes and a tribute to the simple acts of kindness people experience through food. The book was written by Melbourne brothers Daniel and Luke Mancuso, who lost their mother Teresa to domestic violence, and neighbor Nina, who helped them by feeding home-cooked meals over the fence. The brothers began to document these acts of culinary generosity through a dedicated Instagram account, @yiayianextdoor, which now has more than 86,000 followers. It grew into a social enterprise with a community of fans. This version is of Eftichia and her granddaughter says “My yiayia was an extraordinary woman who died at the age of 99… My yiayia, Eftichia and thea [aunty] Angela always had a pot that bubbled for me on their hot plates whenever I visited one of them.’

With additional coverage by Callum McDermott, Che-Marie Trigg and Daniela Frangos.

Looking for more recipes? look at the pamphlet recipe hub here.