How to make chicken foot soup
30.7.22
| Recipe by Renz
This delicious pumpkin-based soup cannot be passed by. This one-pot meal is
chock full of your favorite root vegetables and chicken foot. Chicken foot soup
is another great option for soup Saturday.
I don't even really find personally that chicken feet themselves have a taste or much flavor. It is basically just a lot of cartilage.
Any taste you get in a dish that uses it is from the seasoned broth or gravy.
There are many benefits of chicken feet though most people see them as just a boney piece of the chicken.
It is mostly cartilage and has a high collagen content. Collagen is good for joint pain, helps to prevent bone loss, and helps in skin health.
A large dutch pot or pressure cooker (you can easily use your instant pot for this).
Blender - can be a regular or immersion blender
You can make this on your stove with a regular Dutch pot or use a traditional pressure cooker or an electric pot. I'll break down the method for all of them for you.
The only difference with them is how the chicken feet will be cooked in the beginning.
We want to get the chicken feet tender for this. You can choose to boil it till tender in a pot of water, or if you're going to get it done quicker use a traditional pressure cooker or an electric one.
They all are basically the same process.
First, clean up the feet and remove the sharp claws. If you see any dark spots, use a knife and scrape them off. I go into how to clean chicken feet in my chicken foot souse post.
Wash and soak them in some cold water with vinegar or lime juice for about 10 minutes. Then rinse off the water.
Place the cleaned chicken feet in your large pot with water along with the pumpkin, split peas, half the amount of scallion, garlic, thyme, soup packet, celery, onions, bell pepper, and black pepper.
Let this boil on medium-high heat for about 25-30 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.
You can also pressure cook till tender in your traditional pressure cooker or place it in your electric pressure cooker using the meat selection for 8 minutes. Then manually release.
At this stage, some people like to remove the feet and just use the liquid. This would more than be a chicken feet bone broth.
I prefer to continue with the feet in the dish.
Once the pumpkin and split peas are tender, you can use your immersion blender and blend up the liquid. This will mostly give the soup some body.
If you don't have an immersion blender, remove about a cup and a half of everything but the chicken feet, and blend it together, then add it back to the pot.
Add in the christophene, yam, potatoes, and corn, and about 2 additional cups of water.
Along with the dumplings and carrots and let that boil for another 10 minutes. Continue to simmer until the provisions are tender and dumplings are floating to the top.
Taste and season for salt as needed.
If you added more ground provision make sure to add more cups of water so that the soup is not too thick. It will thicken up as it sits.
And I love a thick soup, so if you want it to have more liquid add more water and season it up a little more.
I do not personally like to freeze soups, especially those that have ground provisions and dumplings. They do not warm up that well.
If you are going to freeze this soup, I would remove the dumplings before freezing. Then place them in air-tight containers (I love these soup containers).
This soup will be good in the freezer for up to 5 months.
Leftover soup can be stored in the fridge for up to two days. Make sure to place any leftovers in an air-tight container.
It might be best to store them in small stackable containers if you have a lot of soup, so that reheating is not too much of an issue.
The best way to reheat this soup or any soup in fact, is on the stovetop. This is from the fridge or from the freezer.
Place the soup in a deep container, add a little water to the pot and let it simmer until warmed through. You will need to stir it occasionally to make sure no sticking is occurring.
This soup can be made ahead of time for any event. But no more than a few hours. I would not make this to put in the fridge and then reheat.
You can make this soup a few hours prior then just put it on a low simmer closer to when you want to serve. Make note of the water levels while simmering. You may need to add more while reheating.
Chicken feet take approximately 25 to 30 minutes to boil and get tender.
I always like to boil it with some fresh herbs in the water to help start to give it some flavor while it's boiling.
What I have listed in the ingredients might not always be what you have on hand. Here are some other options you can add to the soup:
If you tried this recipe, please give me a rating on the recipe card and let me know how you liked it.
Eating soup on a Saturday is a huge thing in the Caribbean. It's
actually a thing we call "Soup Saturday" that is basically an every Saturday
activity.
Our list of soups for a Saturday is long. And I'm about
to give you another one to add to the list.
I know eating chicken
feet might not be on the top of your list of things to eat, but I hope this
recipe makes you change your mind. This chicken foot soup with dumplings is
definitely one to add to your rotation.
It is a flavor-rammed dish
with chicken, a plethora of different root vegetables, fresh herbs and spices,
and of course dumplings.
If you are looking for a soup with less
body than this one, check out this
butter bean soup.
I know a lot of people who do not like to eat chicken feet,
or just think it looks off-putting. But I can personally say that it's really
not horrible. I have tried things that have tasted worse.
This is a
part of the chicken that is cooked a lot across the islands. I think off the
top of my head Jamaica is the one island I know that cooks these in multiple ways like
curry chicken feet.
What does chicken feet taste like?
I don't even really find personally that chicken feet themselves have a taste or much flavor. It is basically just a lot of cartilage.
Any taste you get in a dish that uses it is from the seasoned broth or gravy.
Is chicken feet soup healthy?
There are many benefits of chicken feet though most people see them as just a boney piece of the chicken.
It is mostly cartilage and has a high collagen content. Collagen is good for joint pain, helps to prevent bone loss, and helps in skin health.
What's in chicken foot soup?
There are a lot of spices in this chicken foot soup recipe. We want it to have
all the flavors. Some of them can be optional or even switch out for the
provisions you have on hand.
- Chicken feet
- Pumpkin
- Water or chicken stock
- Potatoes - This can be Idaho potatoes or sweet potatoes.
- Corn.
- Onions.
- Black pepper.
- Salt.
- scotch bonnet pepper.
- Packet soup (optional) - can be the pumpkin soup mix, cock soup mix
- Allspice berries
- Hot pepper
- Garlic cloves
- Green onions
- Fresh thyme
- Flour
- Carrots
- Christophene/cho cho
- Split peas
Equipment
A large dutch pot or pressure cooker (you can easily use your instant pot for this).
Blender - can be a regular or immersion blender
How do you make chicken foot soup?
You can make this on your stove with a regular Dutch pot or use a traditional pressure cooker or an electric pot. I'll break down the method for all of them for you.
The only difference with them is how the chicken feet will be cooked in the beginning.
Pressure cooking the chicken foot/boil chicken feet
We want to get the chicken feet tender for this. You can choose to boil it till tender in a pot of water, or if you're going to get it done quicker use a traditional pressure cooker or an electric one.
They all are basically the same process.
First, clean up the feet and remove the sharp claws. If you see any dark spots, use a knife and scrape them off. I go into how to clean chicken feet in my chicken foot souse post.
Wash and soak them in some cold water with vinegar or lime juice for about 10 minutes. Then rinse off the water.
Place the cleaned chicken feet in your large pot with water along with the pumpkin, split peas, half the amount of scallion, garlic, thyme, soup packet, celery, onions, bell pepper, and black pepper.
Let this boil on medium-high heat for about 25-30 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.
You can also pressure cook till tender in your traditional pressure cooker or place it in your electric pressure cooker using the meat selection for 8 minutes. Then manually release.
At this stage, some people like to remove the feet and just use the liquid. This would more than be a chicken feet bone broth.
I prefer to continue with the feet in the dish.
Continuing the base
Once the pumpkin and split peas are tender, you can use your immersion blender and blend up the liquid. This will mostly give the soup some body.
If you don't have an immersion blender, remove about a cup and a half of everything but the chicken feet, and blend it together, then add it back to the pot.
Add in the christophene, yam, potatoes, and corn, and about 2 additional cups of water.
Along with the dumplings and carrots and let that boil for another 10 minutes. Continue to simmer until the provisions are tender and dumplings are floating to the top.
Taste and season for salt as needed.
If you added more ground provision make sure to add more cups of water so that the soup is not too thick. It will thicken up as it sits.
And I love a thick soup, so if you want it to have more liquid add more water and season it up a little more.
Is it okay to freeze any leftover soup?
I do not personally like to freeze soups, especially those that have ground provisions and dumplings. They do not warm up that well.
If you are going to freeze this soup, I would remove the dumplings before freezing. Then place them in air-tight containers (I love these soup containers).
This soup will be good in the freezer for up to 5 months.
How to store any leftover soup?
Leftover soup can be stored in the fridge for up to two days. Make sure to place any leftovers in an air-tight container.
It might be best to store them in small stackable containers if you have a lot of soup, so that reheating is not too much of an issue.
How to reheat chicken foot soup?
The best way to reheat this soup or any soup in fact, is on the stovetop. This is from the fridge or from the freezer.
Place the soup in a deep container, add a little water to the pot and let it simmer until warmed through. You will need to stir it occasionally to make sure no sticking is occurring.
Can you make this recipe ahead of time?
This soup can be made ahead of time for any event. But no more than a few hours. I would not make this to put in the fridge and then reheat.
You can make this soup a few hours prior then just put it on a low simmer closer to when you want to serve. Make note of the water levels while simmering. You may need to add more while reheating.
How long does chicken feet take to boil
Chicken feet take approximately 25 to 30 minutes to boil and get tender.
I always like to boil it with some fresh herbs in the water to help start to give it some flavor while it's boiling.
Other ingredient options to add to soup
What I have listed in the ingredients might not always be what you have on hand. Here are some other options you can add to the soup:
- Green banana.
- Okra
- Eddoes
- Butternut squash
- Piece of ginger
- Pimento berries
If you tried this recipe, please give me a rating on the recipe card and let me know how you liked it.
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