Simple Lemon Coriander Chicken Soup

Delicious lemon coriander soup with soft and juicy chicken and an easy homemade broth! Learn the tips and tricks to make chicken soup with tender pieces of chicken that are not tough and chewy.

Chicken lemon coriander soup in a white and blue bowl.

Recipe video

Why You’ll Love This Chicken Soup Recipe

Lemon coriander chicken soup makes an easy comforting dinner on a cold night. The secret lies in the chicken broth. It has such exploding flavors, you won’t believe you need only simple spices to make it.

This chicken cilantro soup is everything you want a soup to be. It is lemony, gingery, and full of nutrients. Like the Indian mutton soup it is a wholesome dinner in itself. You just need some bread to dunk into all that yummy goodness!

The hard part of cooking chicken soup is not to overcook the chicken while still getting the maximum chicken flavor. I’ve got you covered here.

We cook the chicken first with spices and aromatics. Then we remove it and return to the soup at the end of cooking.

Another unique thing about my chicken lemon coriander soup is the coriander paste. It is made with simple ingredients like coriander stems, lemon peel, and cashews. I’m sure you have those in your kitchen.

This soup is also a trick to make a little go a long way. With 6 pieces of chicken thighs, you can make 4 to 5 bowls of this awesome chicken soup. So, next time you think you don’t have enough chicken for everyone, you know where to look!

Did you make the honey lemon pepper wings? Do not discard the wing tips. You can use them in this soup recipe to make chicken broth.

Lemon coriander soup with chicken in a metal soup pot.

Here’s how you make the chicken cilantro soup:

Ingredients

(You can find the exact measurements and instructions in the printable recipe card at the end of this page.)

Labelled ingredients for lemon coriander soup with chicken.
Chicken: I recommend bone-in cuts of chicken like chicken thighs, drumsticks or quarters. The bones add a ton of flavor to the broth.
Vegetables: Carrots, cabbage, green peas, or bell peppers can be used.
Lemon: You will need lemon peel and juice. The peel has a lot of citrus flavor you wouldn’t want to miss.
Coriander: Use the tender stems along with the leaves.
Spices for broth: Cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, cloves, peppercorns and chilies.
Turmeric: To elevate the flavor, color and health benefits of the chicken broth. (Oops, forgot to include it in the picture!)
Aromatics for the broth: Ginger, garlic and onion.
Thickening agent: Corn flour/ cornstarch.

How To Make Lemon Coriander Chicken Soup

Make Chicken Broth

  1. Heat oil in a deep pot. Add the bay leaf and spices, and saute for a couple of minutes.
  2. Add the ginger, garlic, and chicken thighs and saute until they turn white on the outside.
  3. Add water, turmeric, and salt. Bring it to a boil.
  4. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Shred The Chicken

  1. After 20 minutes, open the pot and check if the chicken is done. If the flesh has traces of pink (check the thickest part of the chicken), cook for 5 minutes more.
  2. Once cooked, remove the chicken from the pot.
  3. Separate the flesh from the bones and shred them into pieces. Discard the bones.
  4. Strain the broth and discard the spices.

Make Coriander Paste

Add roughly chopped coriander stems and half of the leaves, cashews, and lemon peel to a blender jar. Blend with a little water into a smooth paste.

Make Chicken Soup

  1. Heat oil in the pot. Saute thinly sliced onions until they are translucent, but not brown.
  2. Add sliced carrots and saute for a couple of minutes.
  3. Add the chicken broth and bring it to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes and add cabbage.
  4. After a couple of minutes, add the coriander paste.
  5. Make a slurry by mixing corn flour with water. Add to the soup.
  6. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Add shredded chicken.
  7. Cook for a couple of minutes, then turn off the flame. Add salt and pepper to taste, if required.
  8. Add chopped coriander leaves and lemon juice. Mix and enjoy your chicken lemon coriander soup!

Recipe Tips

Chicken cilantro soup in a white and blue bowl.
For more flavor: If you have the time, return the separated chicken bones back to the broth and simmer for 30 minutes. This will deepen the flavor of the broth.
Lemon peel: Peel the lemon quite thinly so that it doesn’t contain the white part (which is bitter). If it is difficult, zest the lemon.
Cooking vegetables: Add vegetables (like carrots) that take longer to cook first. When vegetables are overcooked in a soup, they lose flavor (unless you blend them). So you have to take as much care in cooking veggies as cooking chicken.
Scaling: This recipe can be easily multiplied or reduced according to the number of people you are serving.
Make ahead option: This soup stays fresh in the refrigerator for 3 days and in the freezer for a month. Thaw it completely in the fridge and heat it just before serving.
Storing leftovers: Store the leftovers in a container with a tight-fitting lid in the fridge and finish it up within a couple of days.
Substitutions: Try to use whole spices, but if you can’t find them, buy the ground versions. Or you can replace cinnamon, cardamom, star anise and cloves with ¾ teaspoon of garam masala for this recipe. You won’t get as much flavor but it still works.

Make This A Vegetarian Lemon Coriander Soup

The chicken in the lemon coriander soup can be replaced with button mushrooms. I would recommend brown button (cremini) mushrooms that have a deeper flavor than white ones. You can also add more veggies like green peas and French beans.

Mushrooms give rich umami flavors that would otherwise be lacking if you leave out the chicken. Quarter the mushrooms and cook as per the recipe.

Added advantage: You don’t have to worry about overcooking the mushrooms. They taste even better when cooked longer.

What To Pair With This Chicken Cilantro Soup

Or serve a healthy soup and salad dinner with

Common Questions About Chicken Lemon Coriander Soup

Why is the chicken in my soup so tough?

Chicken becomes tough and chewy when you overcook it. DO NOT cook the chicken in the soup for more time than necessary. If you want to simmer the soup longer, remove the chicken from the soup as soon as it is cooked. You can return it to the soup later, at the end of cooking.

Should you brown the chicken before putting it in soup?

Saute the chicken for a minimum of 5 minutes with spices and aromatics. This simple trick will dramatically deepen the flavors of your chicken soup. Browning the chicken before adding it to the soup is a quicker way to make your chicken soup taste better, as opposed to simmering it for long hours.

Does chicken soup taste better the longer you cook it?

Chicken soup does taste better when you simmer the chicken longer. But the tricky part is that the chicken flesh becomes tough when overcooked. So the solution is to remove the flesh from the bones and simmer the bones in the broth for as long as you want.

Can you put raw chicken in chicken soup?

There’s nothing wrong in adding raw chicken to the soup because anyway it will get cooked through. But you will be missing out on the flavors you get by browning the chicken before adding it to the soup.

Hope I have answered all your questions about making lemon coriander soup. If I haven’t, please ask in the comments below, I will be happy to help!

Looking For More Soups?

Lemon coriander soup with chicken in a white and blue bowl.

Simple Lemon Coriander Chicken Soup Recipe

Learn the secret to making lemon coriander chicken soup that is full of flavors with tender pieces of chicken that are not overcooked and chewy.
Author: Sheeba
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Course dinner, Main Course, Soup
Cuisine Asian, Indian
Servings 4
Calories 407 kcal

Ingredients
  

For chicken broth

  • 2 teaspoons olive oil divided
  • 6 bone-in chicken thighs
  • 2 inch piece of ginger chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic chopped
  • 2 green chilies slit lengthwise
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 star anise
  • 3 pods cardamom
  • 2 inch piece of cinnamon
  • 3 cloves
  • 1 teaspoon peppercorns
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric

For coriander paste

  • 1 bunch coriander leaves stems and leaves separated
  • 10 cashews
  • 2 teaspoons lemon peel

For lemon coriander chicken soup

  • 1 onion thinly sliced
  • 1 carrot sliced into matchsticks
  • 1 cup cabbage shredded
  • 2 tablespoons corn flour
  • tablespoons lemon juice
  • salt and pepper to taste

STEP BY STEP IMAGES

Scroll back to find detailed recipe photos!

Instructions
 

Make chicken broth

  • Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a deep pot. Saute the spices:
    2 green chilies, 2 bay leaves, 1 star anise, 3 pods cardamom, 2 inch piece of cinnamon, 3 cloves, 1 teaspoon peppercorns
  • After a couple of minutes, add roughly chopped:
    2 inch piece of ginger, 6 cloves garlic
  • Add 6 chicken thighs and saute until they turn white on the outside. Add 4 cups of water,½ teaspoon of turmeric, and 1 teaspoon salt.
  • Bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Shred the chicken

  • After 20 minutes, open the pot and check if the chicken is done. If the flesh has traces of pink (check the thickest part of the chicken), cook for 3 to 5 minutes more.
  • Once cooked, remove the chicken from the pot. Separate the flesh from the bones and shred them into pieces. Discard the bones.
  • Strain the broth and discard the spices.

Make coriander paste

  • In a blender jar, add roughly chopped coriander stems (about ¼ cup) and half of the leaves (about ½ cup), 10 cashews, and 2 teaspoons of lemon peel.
  • Blend with ¼ cup of water into a smooth paste.

Make chicken lemon coriander soup

  • Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil in the pot. Saute 1 thinly sliced onion until they are translucent, but not brown.
  • Add 1 sliced carrot and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring it to a boil.
    Simmer covered for 5 minutes and add 1 cup of shredded cabbage.
  • After a couple of minutes, add the coriander paste.
  • Make a slurry by mixing 2 tablespoons each of corn flour and water. Add to the soup and simmer for about 5 minutes.
  • Add shredded chicken and cook for a couple of minutes, then turn off the flame.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste, if required. Mix in 1½ tablespoons of lemon juice and the remaining chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot!

Video

Notes

  1. Chicken: I recommend bone-in cuts of chicken like chicken thighs, drumsticks or quarters. The bones add a ton of flavor to the broth.
  2. Lemon peel: Peel the lemon quite thinly so that it doesn’t contain the white part (which is bitter). If it is difficult, zest the lemon.
  3. For more flavor: If you have the time, return the separated chicken bones back to the broth and simmer for 30 minutes. This will deepen the flavor of the broth.
  4. Cooking chicken: The cooking time depends on the size of the chicken pieces. DO NOT cook the chicken for more time than necessary. It is better to check after 15 minutes of simmering.
  5. Cooking vegetables: Add vegetables (like carrots) that take longer to cook, first. When vegetables are overcooked in a soup, they lose flavor (unless you blend them). So you have to take as much care in cooking veggies as cooking chicken.
  6. Substitutions: Try to use whole spices, but if you can’t find them, buy the ground versions. Or you can replace cinnamon, cardamom, star anise and cloves with ¾ teaspoon of garam masala for this recipe. You won’t get as much flavor but it still works.
  7. Scaling: This recipe can be easily multiplied or reduced according to the number of people you are serving.
  8. Make ahead option: This soup stays fresh in the refrigerator for 3 days and in the freezer for a month. Thaw it completely in the fridge and heat it just before serving.
  9. Storing leftovers: Store the leftovers in a container with a tight-fitting lid in the fridge and finish it up within a couple of days.
Nutrition facts for chicken lemon coriander soup.

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Hi! I’m Sheeba, welcome to Go Healthy ever after!

I have a passion for cooking delicious nourishing food that’s easy to cook with fresh natural ingredients free from additives or preservatives. The easy healthy recipes you find here will inspire you to cook with creativity.

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