Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Soup

I got an email from my daughter a few weeks ago, telling me about an amazing soup that she had made. She had roasted some broccoli and made a soup with it along with some chicken and cheese.

It never crossed my mind to use roasted vegetables in soup, so I was intrigued. My daughter was impressed on how the roasted broccoli added extra flavor to her soup.

So needless to say I couldn’t wait to give this soup a try. Plus when we were shopping this weekend, we stopped at our local vegetable and fruit market and they had a bag of broccoli and cauliflower on a great special.

So I decided to roast a few different vegetables for my soup. I am a big fan of vegetable soup any way. You can usually find me in the kitchen on the weekend cooking up a big pot of some kind of vegetable soup.

When I got done roasting my vegetables I noticed the lack of a variety of colors. Then it hit me that I should have roasted some carrots with the other vegetables, but since I had everything roasted I decided to forego the carrots.

I am one of those people that eat with my eyes. I love a variety of colors when eating vegetable soup or other foods for that matter. But I am sure I am not the only one that eats with my eyes.  So in that respect the soup was a bit disappointing.

But the flavor made up for the lack of color. The roasted vegetables definitely give the soup a wonderful flavor. If you are a fan of roasted vegetables I would suggest the next time you make vegetable soup to try this and give your soup a little twist by roasting the vegetables first.

Print Recipe

Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
3 medium potatoes peeled and cut into cubes
2 medium onions cut into bite size pieces
5 cups of broccoli and cauliflower combined
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound of cooked chicken breast
48 ounces low sodium chicken broth (or homemade)
1/4 cup barley (can omit if you like)
2 bay leaves
1/2 thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
2. In a large bowl combine the prepared vegetables. Drizzle the 3 tablespoons of olive oil over them and toss the vegetables to coat them evenly with the oil. Sprinkle the garlic powder over the vegetable and toss again.
3. Prepare a baking sheet (a jelly roll pan works well) by covering with aluminum foil and spraying the foil with non-stick cooking spray. Spread the vegetables on the prepared baking sheet so that there is one layer.
4. Place the vegetables in the oven for 15 minutes, stirring them in the middle of the cooking time; this will help them to roast evenly.
5. While the vegetables are roasting cut up the cooked chicken into bite size pieces. Add the chicken broth to a large kettle.
Once the vegetables are roasted remove from oven and add them to the chicken broth. Add the barley, bay leaf and season with the thyme, salt and pepper.
6. Bring the soup to a boil, once it starts to boil reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes to 50 minutes to make sure the barley is cooked through. If omitting the barley simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.
(Note: You can add your favorite vegetables and your favorite seasoning to make this soup to your taste)