Clear Chicken Soup with Carrots & Potatoes (Romanian-Style)

This clear chicken soup is the one I grew up with – and then our children grew up with – and now it’s the one everyone asks for the second they’re planning a visit. It’s not complicated, but it is specific: chicken pieces poached first, carrots and a whole peeled onion for sweetness, big halved potatoes cooked just until tender… then the chicken, potatoes and onion come out so the broth stays beautifully clear. At the table, everyone builds their bowl their way: parsley on top, optional pasta, and (if you love garlic) a spoon of toum (garlic sauce or “mujdei de usturoi”) loosened with hot broth.

Each culture has its chicken soup, no doubt, and I can’t proclaim that I have tasted them all. But I was recently told this chicken clear soup is better than Hainanese chicken broth (for chicken rice), (which I did have in Singapore and it was amazing) and even beats my mum’s (I’m hoping she doesn’t read that last part). So there’s that!

What you’ll love about this recipe

It’s almost like there are two meals in one, if you decide to serve this soup next to the Romanian-style “rasol” – which means poached chicken pieces served with the clear broth.

1. It’s a proper family soup – comforting, familiar, and generous. I love it when everyone asks for seconds. Trust me, they will!
2. The method keeps the broth clear and golden, not cloudy.
3. Serve-it-your-way: chicken and potatoes on the side, soup in bowls. Or just shred the chicken and add the pieces to the bowl.
4. If you decide to try this chicken clear soup recipe with toum, you will never go back to boring chicken soup.
5. This is the soup that you should make when someone is in need of a hug. Gentle and nourishing for body and soul!

Watch how to make clear chicken soup

https://youtube.com/shorts/P1FN2rMvayE?feature=share

Ingredients notes & swaps

For the soup

• 1 small to medium chicken, portioned into pieces (legs, thighs, breasts, wings, carcasses)
  • Note: Starting with pieces helps it cook evenly and makes serving easy. If you’re not a fan of carcasses, keep them for a separate stock.
  • Swap: If you don’t like the idea of portioning a chicken, ask your butcher or just buy separate bone-in chicken legs or drumsticks and thighs, and chicken breast (preferably with bone and skin).
• Water, enough to fully cover the chicken (about 2–2.5 litres)
  • Swap: You can use veg or chicken stock, but water keeps it cleaner and clearer.
• 3 large carrots (or 4 medium), peeled and chopped into chunky pieces
• 1 large onion, peeled but left whole
• 2 – 3 large potatoes, peeled and halved (big pieces on purpose)
• Salt (1 tsp per litre of water)

To finish

• Fresh parsley, chopped (for every bowl)

Optional (but the best bit)

• Toum or “mujdei de usturoi”, to serve. Toum is a creamy garlic sauce (often found in Middle Eastern cuisine which has been influencing Romanian cuisine for centuries). I only use garlic cloves, a little odorless oil and salt to make this toum, but you can add a little lemon juice too.

Step-by-step: the way our family makes it

Pro Tips & how to keep chicken soup clear

• First things first: please buy the best quality chicken you can afford, as this is your main flavor factor. I am a little bit of a snob when it comes to chicken (since I’ve been accustomed to having free range chicken from my parents’ farm), but I’m very aware that free range chicken comes at a cost. So do what you can to get a tasty one that lived a better life. My philosophy is less often, but better meat.
• Cold water start and skim straight away: helps remove proteins (that’s what the scum is) that rise to the surface as foam, keeping the broth clearer.
• But…, I’m going to be controversial here and say, I don’t always do this and even if the water is hot, there won’t be masses of scum and as long as you quickly remove it with a spoon or strainer in the first few minutes of boiling, it will be just as delicious and still nice and clear.
• Another tip is to take a clump of kitchen paper and run it carefully over the top and sides of your pot where scum tends to accumulate, just be careful, the broth will be hot.
• Gentle simmer, not a rolling boil: boiling churns everything up (especially potato edges) and makes the broth cloudy.
• Lift everything out at the end: removing chicken, potatoes, and onion is a surprisingly effective way to keep the soup tasting light and looking clear.

What I do with the cooked onion (so nothing’s wasted)

• That whole onion has done a lot of work to flavor your broth. Once it’s out of the pot, you can bin it or do what I do and save it:
  • Cool it, refrigerate it, then whizz it in a food processor to add to these juicy beef meatballs or my black bean beef burgers later. It adds moisture and sweetness, and helps meatballs stay tender.

serving it family-style

This is the part people remember because in Romanian homes this is served family-style.

I serve the soup clear in bowls, with some of the carrot pieces and an abundance of freshly chopped parsley, while the chicken pieces and potato halves (or you can leave some whole carrots too) sit on a platter for everyone to choose their favorites – leg, breast, wing… whatever makes them happiest.

• Some people add chicken and potatoes back into their bowl (my hubby).
• Some eat chicken and veg on a side plate between spoonfuls of soup.
• Some do both, that would be me (because why choose?).
• And the best part is that you can add a few spoonfuls (or a little) of the thinned out garlic sauce (toum) in your soup or just spoon over your side plate of chicken and veg. I certainly do this.
• I’ve known some people to literally slurp the garlic sauce with a spoon too!

You get the idea, the chickeny goodness is undeniable and irresistible. And you can always serve bread with this soup, my family loves to dunk chunks of this crusty brown sourdough or this simple same-day sourdough (great for beginners, by the way).

variations & substitutions (but please don’t lose its soul)

• Water or stock: Water keeps it clean and classic; if you can’t get good chicken, stock cube or a good stock help, just replace the same volume.
• Pasta instead of potatoes: my mum tends to make homemade egg pasta (a tagliatelle lookalike), and cooks the pasta separately, adding it to each bowl, rather than plonking it in the soup pot. Cooking it separately keeps the broth clearer and makes leftovers better. But I haven’t mastered the homemade pasta yet, so just make a simple egg drop pasta (or “rags”) like the one in this Cavolo Nero soup. You can keep both pasta and potatoes if you want too.
• Herbs and lemon: parsley is the classic finish; you can try tarragon as it’s such a classic herb pairing for chicken. Sometimes I squeeze a little lemon juice to cut through the chicken’s richness.
• Maybe not so traditional, but since I’m such a dairy freak, I would not say no to adding a little sour cream to my bowl.

This soup is simple, but I always treat it like a tradition (worth of respect): clear, golden broth; sweet carrots; parsley freshness; and that table platter of chicken and big potato halves that turns dinner into a shared ritual. And if someone wants toum? Loosen it with broth, swirl it in, and watch them quietly fall in love with their bowl.

• If you make my recipe, take a snapshot for your Instagram
• Post and tag me @candyflossiecooks😉🤗!
• Don’t forget to rate my recipe! It will make my day!

Chicken Clear Soup with Carrots and Potatoes (Romanian Style)

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Flossie

Clear chicken soup, Romanian family-style: this is the golden, comforting one everyone asks for when they visit. Chicken pieces are gently poached, skimmed once, then simmered with carrots and a whole onion. Halved potatoes cook until tender, then the chicken, potatoes and onion are lifted out so the broth stays beautifully clear. Serve with carrot pieces (and optional pasta), shower with parsley, and offer toum on the side – loosened with hot broth for a creamy garlic swirl in the bowl.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe Saved Recipe!

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Main Course, main meal, Soup

Cuisine Romanian

Servings 6

Calories 492 kcal

Equipment

• 1 large pot
• 1 Chopping board
• 1 knife
• 1 vegetables or potatoes peeler
• 1 large platter or bowl for removing cooked chicken pieces and vegetables
• 1 pestel and mortar to make toum, optional

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Soup

• 1 small to medium chicken portioned into pieces
• 2-2.5 litres water enough to fully cover chicken
• 3 large carrots or 4 medium, peeled and chopped into chunks
• 1 large onion peeled and left whole
• 2-3 large potatoes peeled and halved
• 2 tsp salt or to taste

To finish

• 1 bunch Fresh parsley chopped (for serving)

Toum (garlic sauce), for serving

• 3 cloves of garlic
• a pinch of salt
• a few drops of odorless oil vegetable or sunflower
• a ladle of broth cooled slightly to loosen the garlic mix

Instructions

 

Portion the chicken

• Portion a small to medium chicken, removing the legs, separating the drumsticks and thighs at their joint, the wings, the carcass in two pieces and breast (separate the breast in two pieces horizontally at the bone). You should end up with 10 pieces of chicken. If you are not keeping the carcass pieces, freeze them to make stock another time.
• Or use bone-in chicken drumsticks, thighs and breast (preferably with skin and bone).

Skim the broth

• Add chicken pieces to a large pot and cover completely with cold water (2–2.5 litres).
• Bring to the boil. Skim off any scum/foam that rises. Add some salt here, but not all of it.
• Reduce to a gentle simmer and cook 35 – 45 minutes, until chicken is tender, but not falling off the bone.

Cook the broth

• In the meantime, peel an onion, but do not chop it. Peel and slice the carrots in thick discs of approximately 0.5 inches. You may also leave them whole. Add carrots and the whole peeled onion 20 minutes into the boiling time.
• In the meantime, peel and half 2-3 large potatoes. Add halved potatoes 30 minutes into the boiling time and simmer 15–25 minutes, until fork tender, but not flaking at the edges.
• Check throughout simmering and remove chicken pieces as soon as they are tender. If you leave any whole carrots, remove them too as soon as soft but still holding their shape.
• Remove the potato halves and the whole onion last to a platter/bowl.
• Taste the broth and adjust for seasoning if needed.

Optional step: Make the garlic sauce (toum)

• Add the garlic cloves and salt to a pestel and mortar and crush until completely smooth. Add a few drops of oil and use the pestel to make a creamy texture. Scrape the garlic mix into a bowl. Take a ladle of reserved broth and allow it to cool slightly, then gradually pour over the toum and whisk to combine.

Serve and enjoy

• Serve the soup clear with carrot pieces, adding a spoon of the garlic sauce (optional). Top each bowl with freshly chopped parsley. Serve chicken and potatoes on the side, spooning over garlic sauce if desired.

Video

Notes

Get the best quality chicken you can afford, it makes a big difference to the flavor.

Add the chicken to cold water to make it easy to skim the scum from the surface. But it’s okay if the water is hot, just skim as soon as boiling starts and reduce the heat. 

• Another tip is to take a clump of kitchen paper and run it carefully over the top and sides of your pot where scum tends to accumulate, just be careful, the broth will be hot.

Gentle simmer, not a rolling boil: boiling churns everything up (especially potato edges) and makes the broth cloudy.

Lift everything out at the end: removing chicken, potatoes, and onion is a surprisingly effective way to keep the soup tasting light and looking clear.

Don’t bin the onion, cool it, refrigerate it, then whizz it in a food processor to add to meatballs or burger mixture.

Optional (if you are adding pasta): If you want the broth as clear as possible (and leftovers that still feel fresh), cook pasta separately and add to bowls then pour the hot broth on top.

Nutrition

Calories: 492kcalCarbohydrates: 23gProtein: 37gFat: 28gSaturated Fat: 8gPolyunsaturated Fat: 6gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 136mgSodium: 939mgPotassium: 965mgFiber: 4gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 7071IUVitamin C: 39mgCalcium: 61mgIron: 3mg

Keyword Chicken clear soup, chicken clear soup recipe, clear chicken soup, how to make chicken clear soup

Tried this recipe?Tag me @candyflossiecooks on Instagram! I’d love to see how your dish turns out ! ✨

Try my other delicious recipes