This nourishing Chinese herbal soup is made with silkie chicken, prized for its rich flavor and restorative properties. Simmered with traditional Chinese medicinal herbs like angelica root, astragalus, and goji berries, it’s a comforting dish rooted in healing.
Walk into any grocery store in the U.S., and the pink chicken you see is almost always the Cornish Cross: fast-growing, high-yielding, and bred for convenience. In Chinese cuisine, different types of chickens are valued for different cooking methods. We choose lean old hens for slow-cooked stocks, yellow-skinned Wenchang chickens for Hainanese chicken rice, and for deeply nourishing soups? It’s always the silkie.
Silkies grow slowly, about a third of the rate and a fraction of the size of Cornish Crosses. They have a striking appearance: dark skin, black bones plus a a richer, gamier flavor and a firmer texture. Although silkie chickens are typically smaller than Cornish Crosses, they have concentrated flavor and are ideal for making soups. You don’t cook silkie for juicy breast meat, you cook it for the deeply restorative broth.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), food is medicine, and silkie chicken is prized for its supposed immune-boosting properties. I pair mine with classic Chinese herbs: Codonopsis, Astragalus, Angelica root (当归), Chinese yam, goji berries, jujubes, and cordyceps. These are very typical in both restaurant and home preparations of this dish, but ultimately optional.
Silkie Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 silkie chicken about 2 lbs
- 20 g ginger, sliced
- 6 dried jujubes
- 2 tbsp goji berries about 40g
- 20 g dried cordyceps optional
- 4 pieces dried chinese yam optional
- 10 slices dried astragalus optional
- 10 slices dried codonopsis optional
- 3 slices dried angelica sinensis optional
- 1 green onion, chopped for garnish
- kosher salt to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the herbs. Place the dried cordyceps in a small bowl and cover with water to soak while you prepare the chicken. Place the chinese yam, stragalus, codonopsis, and angelica root into a cheesecloth and tie off into a bundle, if using.
- Prepare the chicken. Cut the head off of the chicken with a sharp knife. Optionally, break the chicken down into pieces (thighs, drumsticks, wings, breasts, and back). Trim the nails off the chicken feet with kitchen shears.
- Skim the soup. Place all of the chicken, including the back and head, into a large pot. Top with just enough water to cover the chicken and bring to a boil. Once boiling, carefully drain the broth from the chicken pieces and discard the first pot of broth. Rinse the chicken pieces under cool water and use your hands to scrub away any scum. Return the chicken to the same pot.
- Simmer the soup. Add the remaining herbs and spices along with the drained, soaked cordyceps to the pot along with just enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer and allow to simmer with a lid on for 30 minutes.
- Taste and serve. Season the soup with salt to taste. Pull off pieces of chicken to serve in the broth and garnish with chopped green onion.
