Chicken and Cabbage Soup with Ginger

This Chicken and Cabbage soup is a savory combination of chicken thighs, potatoes, vegetables, ginger, garlic, and spices. With just a dash of champagne vinegar, this recipe is lively, filling, and extremely delicious!

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love This Dish
• What You'll Need
• How to Make Chicken and Cabbage Soup
• Variations
• FAQ
• Expert Tips
• How to Store
• How to Make a Meal
• Recipes You'll Love
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Why You'll Love This Dish

I grew up in a predominately Filipino area. Most of my friends and their families were Filipino, and I learned a lot about how to combine and build flavors in their homes.

This dish draws on that. There's a traditional Filipino dish called Tinola, in which chicken pieces are cooked in a ginger broth with garlic and vinegar. When I decided to make chicken and cabbage soup, this was the first thing I thought of.

Never tried it? After I had had soup with a splash of vinegar, I never went back. It's bright, fresh, and brings all of the flavors in the soup to life. Plus, cabbage and vinegar have always been the best of friends.

So, why will you love this dish? First and foremost, it's incredibly delicious. The rich chicken thighs, fragrant ginger and garlic, earthy rosemary, and creamy potatoes are an amazing combination.

It's easy. The most culinary skill this recipe requires is some cutting and shredding with forks. Otherwise, it's just time in the pot.

It's quick. This soup takes about 30 minutes for a full meal that's packed with flavor.

It stores well. You can make this a few days in advance and it reheats super well. You can also make it and freeze it for a few months down the line.

Use it for meal prep. While you can't make it more than a week in advance, I've made a batch that served as lunches for two people for most of the week.

Finally, it's hearty and it's healthy. Lots of veggies paired with filling meat and potatoes make this an ideal dinner for those days when you really need to replenish yourself.

What You'll Need

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• Chicken Thighs I strongly prefer chicken thighs here because they don't get tough and they are more flavorful, but you can use chicken breasts if you'd like. Either way, you'll want to use the boneless, skinless variety.
• Chicken Broth You can use regular boxed broth, make your own chicken broth, or try Better than Bouillon, which I love.
• Baby Potatoes You'll want to use baby yellow potatoes here, like Baby Dutch Yellows.
• Fresh Ginger Don't replace with ginger powder unless you absolutely must!
• Fresh Garlic You can also use jarred garlic.
• Celery
• Carrot
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil Using high-quality extra virgin olive oil is always a treat, but any kind you have on hand will be fine here.
• Kosher Salt I always recommend using kosher salt in recipes. It is easier to control the saltiness because it is less concentrated per teaspoon than table or sea salt.
• Pepper Freshly cracked black pepper is my favorite!
• Cumin This was a secret ingredient my mom used in chicken soup when I was little. Just a dash adds warmth and depth to the broth.
• Rosemary This is one of the instances where I'm not opposed to dried rosemary because it has time to soften while the broth cooks.

How to Make Chicken and Cabbage Soup

Step One: Prep your vegetables: peel the ginger. Finely chop the garlic and ginger. Chop the carrots and celery. Quarter the potatoes and cut the cabbage into bite-sized pieces.

Step Two Place a large pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil. Sweat the carrot, celery, garlic, and ginger.

Step Three Add the potatoes and cabbage.

Step Four Add the broth and spices. Bring up to a boil and then cook at medium-high heat for about 5 minutes.

Step Five Add the chicken and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until cooked through.

Step Six Remove the chicken, shred with two forks, then return to the pot.

Step Seven Cook for another few minutes. Stir in the vinegar, taste for seasoning, then serve.

Variations

Rice In place of potatoes, try adding some cooked rice to the soup.

Fresh Herbs You can fresh herbs like parsley, dill, or basil before serving.

Spicy Add some finely chopped jalapeños or a pinch of red pepper flake to the soup with the carrots, celery, ginger, and garlic.

FAQ

Expert Tips

• If you forget to defrost some chicken for this recipe, you can use frozen chicken. It will just take longer to cook. Add the chicken along with the broth and check for doneness with a meat thermometer.
• Meal prep the dish! Make a big pot of this soup on Sunday night and you'll have lunches and/or dinners for nearly a week.
• Peel your ginger with a spoon. This is an easy way to remove the tough outer skin of the ginger without losing too much of the ginger itself.

How to Store

Fridge You can store this soup for 3 to 5 days in the fridge in an airtight container.

Freezer If freezing, cool the soup completely then transfer it to an airtight, freezer-safe container. I like to use gallon plastic or reusable silicone storage bags. Squeeze all of the air out, then freeze.

For the best taste, store soup for about 3 months or less in the freezer.

Defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat by bringing up to a boil and down to a simmer.

How to Make a Meal

This soup is definitely a meal unto itself. Here are some ideas to fill out your table with different sides:

Salad Try a simple salad with lemon herb vinaigrette.

Bread Serve with a crusty baguette, or go a step further and make some crispy crostini.

Crackers Have you ever made your own crackers? This soup would go really well with a handful of homemade crackers.

Sandwich Serve a half sandwich with a cup of this soup. A grilled cheese would be great!

Recipes You'll Love

Here are some other delicious soup recipes:

Chicken Pastina Soup

Instant Pot Chicken Stew

Greek Chickpea Soup

📖 Recipe