The healthy chicken soup that will make you feel better in an instant. Meet our amazing Chicken Quinoa Soup that’s naturally gluten-free, protein-packed, and flavor-filled.
Who else is soup obsessed like Fit Foodie Finds? We love these taco soup or hamburger soup recipes! We can’t get enough.
Soup is Simple
Is there anything better than a big bowl of soup filled with your favorite things? Soup is one of our favorite meals when it’s cold outside, but it does make a healthy and easy meal during any season!
Every culture has its version of soup. It’s a dish that is stretched over every group of people all around the world. Every culture has developed a soup recipe that represents their country’s spices, produces, and protein.
We love all soup here on Fit Foodie Finds. We love to mix and matching our favorite ingredients and creating soup recipes that taste great, but are easy to make.
This chicken quinoa soup is made with ingredients you are familiar with and is ready in under an hour.
Chicken Quinoa Soup Q & A
Can I use any kind of quinoa in chicken quinoa soup? Yes, you can use any quinoa you would like in this chicken quinoa soup. Red quinoa, multi-colored quinoa, or white quinoa will work in this chicken quinoa soup.
Can I replace quinoa with another grain? We have only tested this chicken quinoa soup with quinoa. Feel free to test it with farro, barley, or any other grain and let us know how it works!
What other vegetables can I put in chicken quinoa soup? This chicken quinoa soup has classic vegetables like carrots, celery, and onion. If you would like to add other vegetables to this soup, feel free.
Just note in the details below when to add certain vegetables so you don’t end up with mushy vegetables.
Add with carrots + celery
- Potatoes
- Cauliflower
- Broccoli
- Sweet Potatoes
- Mushrooms
Add with 15 minutes left of cook time
- Sweet Peppers
- Peas
- Zucchini
- Yellow Squash
How long can I keep chicken quinoa soup in the refrigerator? Store this chicken quinoa soup in an airtight container for 5-7 days in the refrigerator.
Can I freeze chicken quinoa soup? Yes, you can freeze chicken quinoa soup. Let the soup cool completely before placing it into a freezer-safe container. Freeze the soup for up to 3 months.
How to Make Chicken Quinoa Soup
This chicken quinoa soup is flavor-packed, great for meal prep, and has healing properties for those days you feel under the weather. Let’s break down how to make it!
Ingredients
The ingredients in this soup are simple and you probably have everything you need to make this soup right now! We used a classic soup base of carrots, celery, and onion.
The protein in this soup isn’t lacking! We used white northern beans, quinoa, and chicken to boost the protein in this soup to 33 grams of protein per serving.
Finally, the amazing flavor in this soup comes from grated lemongrass, ginger, bay leaves, and fresh lemon juice. All these flavors support each other to create a flavorful broth that is both flavorful and healthy.
Cook Time
We used a similar cooking method to our one pot golden curry chicken soup – everything is cooked in one pot.
The base flavors of this soup come from sauteing the onion, carrots, and celery in the lemongrass, ginger, and garlic. It softens the veggies just enough and brings the flavor out in the onion. It deliciously perfect.
After sauteing the vegetables for 5-7 minutes all you have to do is add the rest of the ingredients (except for the lemon juice) into the pot, bring it to a boil, and then let it simmer for 30 minutes.
The quinoa and the chicken cook perfectly together flavoring the broth and you have 30 minutes to relax or check a few things off of your to do list.
Finishing Touch
After the soup has simmered for 30 minutes all that’s left is shredding the chicken and adding the lemon juice.
Why add lemon juice to the soup? Lemon juice brightens up this soup without having to add any additional salt. It works wonders for flavor!
After shredding the chicken and adding the lemon juice to the soup, bring soup to a boil and then remove from heat!
Serve with fresh parsley and enjoy!
Healthy Soup Recipes
- Best Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
- One Pot Golden Curry Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
- 20 Healthy Soup Recipes
Chicken Quinoa Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- 2 teaspoon fresh grated lemongrass*
- 3 large carrots sliced and halved (~2 heaping cups)
- 3 large celery stalks sliced (~2 heaping cups)
- 1/2 medium yellow onion finely diced
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 tablespoon Frank's Hot Sauce
- bundle of rosemary*
- 1 15-oz. can great northern beans drained and rinsed
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
- 3 bay leaves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 medium lemon juiced
- Fresh parsley for serving
Instructions
- First, prepare veggies by slicing and halving 3 large carrots. Then, slice 3 large celery stalks and finely dice a 1/2 medium yellow onion.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large stockpot over medium/high heat. When olive oil is fragrant, add in minced garlic, grated ginger, grated lemongrass, carrots, celery, and onion.
- Sauté veggies for about 5-7 minutes, or until the onions are translucent.
- Then, add in chicken broth, uncooked quinoa, hot sauce, bundle of rosemary, great northern beans, raw chicken breast, bay leaves, salt, and pepper.
- Mix and bring to a rolling boil.
- Once boiling, turn heat down to low and cover. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
- Once the soup has cooked for a full 30 minutes, remove the rosemary bundle and discard. Remove chicken breast and use 2 forks to shred. Place the shredded chicken back in the stockpot and mix.
- Turn off heat and squeeze in a full lemon worth of lemon juice and mix.
- Serve with a lemon wedge and fresh parsley.
Tips & Notes
- grated lemongrass: we use grated lemongrass paste in a tube, but if you can't find this product, feel free to use a stick of fresh lemongrass. Add this during step 4 and remove during step 7.
- rosemary bundle: using baker's twine, tie together 4 or 5 sprigs of rosemary.
Nutrition facts
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I’ve made this soup three times and it’s always a hit! I love the variation on regular chicken soup.
Love, love, love this soup! I’ve made it three times in the past month, and it has great flavor, especially on a chilly fall evening.
I made two swaps to the existing recipe– 1) I subbed 3/4 of a cup of barley in place of the quinoa, and 2) I used rotisserie chicken. It comes out great, and makes dinner for the week so easy!
Love your site! Thank you ladies for doing what you do!
This recipe was incredible and so easy! My boyfriend loved it, and he’s not a big soup guy. It’s very warm and filling.
delicious recipe, i wanna recommend this diet book for the people who want to be more healthier ,and wanna do more diet recipes http://bit.ly/2lVTUFt
Are the nutritionals on this for the entire recipe? With the simplicity of the ingredients, I can’t imagine the calories and fat listed would be for one serving. Looks good!
Thanks for bringing this to our attention! We are taking a look at this right now!
Just to check, is the quinoa cooked before you put it in the crock pot? Looks delicious!
Uncooked!!
I love this recipe, healthy and yummy. Made it four times now! Affordable and delicious!
LOVE!!! What I love about this recipe is that it only call for a few ingredients but it’s still so flavorful and hearty! Thanks for your comment!
I love everything about fall!! The weather is perfect for running. I love all things pumpkin. And it’s a great time of year for soup and chili.
One pot meals are the best! This looks super yummy! I seriously LOVE how easy it is.
Yum!!! I love soup and one pot meals! This looks so great && I can’t wait for more!
I am so excited for this series! I absolutely love the crock pot but always run low on ideas, so thank you!
I really enjoy fall because of the cooler temps, clothes, leaves changing, but your right, the idea that MN winter could be right around the corner is no fun!