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The batch-cooked chicken soup that’ll feed you for 3 days

By Lesego Madisa, 31 May 2023

Cooking for one? Batch cooking is a time and electricity saver! However, eating the same meal for the entire week isn’t very appealing. With the right tweaks and additions, one big pot of soup and can be turned into three delicious meals. See how we turn classic chicken soup into a fragrant chicken curry, hug-in-bowl chicken dumpling soup, and a flaky pot pie.

You can't mention soup without including chicken soup. What's not to love? Your grandmother probably claims it has healing properties and it's the warmest hug in a bowl on a cold winter's day. It's super-easy to make; you don't need fancy knife skills, expensive ingredients and hard-to-find equipment to make it. But, like most popular winter dishes, it does require patience. This may not be a factor on weekends, but trying to balance work and a social life and the reality that is loadshedding, simmering a pot of chicken soup for over an hour on weekdays isn't always an option. A simple solution is to batch cook: cook once and make various dishes during the week. You'll save tons of time and have dinner on the table before the lights go out (or during lights out by candlelight). Here's how we turn one pot of poached chicken soup into 3 speedy and hearty meals that you can enjoy throughout the week.

Get the recipe for whole-poached chicken soup here.

Recipe 1: Whole-baked Thai green curry chicken

Additions: Thai green curry paste + coconut milk + rice

Hacking Thai green curry using chicken soup is easy. Fry store-bought curry paste until fragrant, top it with a can of coconut milk and the chicken soup. Add a few pieces of the poached chicken and bake for 25–30 minutes, or until the chicken's skin is golden brown. Serve with rice, lime wedges, pickled red onions and chopped coriander. Dinner is done in under an hour!

Get the recipe for whole-baked Thai green curry chicken here.

Recipe 2: Chicken soup dumplings

Additions: cream + dumplings

Chicken soup is traditionally brothy and light, but on some days you crave something heartier and richer. For those days, add a cup or two of cream to your soup. Hannah's dumpling recipe is very easy to follow. Basil pesto adds herbaceous flavour to the richer chicken soup, while the buttermilk gives the dumplings a light texture and makes them easy to scoop and drop into the simmering soup. The dumplings cook in the soup and are left pillowy and buoyant.

Get the recipe for chicken soup dumplings here.

Recipe 3: Chicken pot pie

Additions: cornflour + cream + puff pastry

By now, your batch of chicken soup should be on its last leg. Combine 1 T cornflour and 2 T water to make a slurry and stir into a simmering pot of the leftover chicken soup. Add cream and simmer until it has thickened. Shred the chicken for an equal chicken-to-sauce ratio. Pour into ramekins or a baking dish and top with puff pastry. Tuck in the pastry to avoid any leaks. If you have a bit of time, make a fun design with any pastry off-cuts.