Are you looking for a way to enjoy your favorite chicken noodle soup without the added sugars from the noodles? Do you WANT to eat more veggies? Have you heard about Zoodles? I simply adore them! You might remember they are included in my student Sydney’s recipe for California Veggie Noodle Bowl. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, zoodles are zucchini noodles! This is a fun and easy way to use a veggie that keeps on giving, as you know if you’ve ever planted these green beauties. My Chicken Zoodle Soup makes great use of zoodles by replacing the traditional noodles with a more healthy substitute: zucchini.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working to eliminate the added sugar in our diets. I truly believe it isn’t good for us, it’s making us fat, and we can definitely live with less of it, thank you very much! My kids think Operation Clear Out the Sugar is a bad idea, yet I can’t help but think that I’m saving them from too much processed food and an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, or other chronic diseases down the road. I hope they can learn a few healthy eating strategies now so their lives are easier later.
Chicken Zoodle Soup Recipe…
The best way, in my opinion, to make this soup is to use a Zoodle Slicer. I own this little guy, and it makes fast work of zucchini (and squash or other veggies). It’s also a fun way to get more vegetables into your diet. My only suggestion for using this for Chicken Zoodle Soup is to cut the noodles into manageable lengths prior to cooking the zoodles. (Because the slicer acts like a manual pencil sharpener, the strands of zucchini tend to be rather long and difficult to eat if they aren’t cut into smaller, bite-sized, pieces.)
To speed the cooking of Chicken Zoodle Soup on busy days, you can use the crock pot and assemble the rest of the soup when you arrive home. I actually made this for lunch, but I needed to mow grass for several hours before hand. The slow cooker worked great for cooking my frozen chicken tenders (I put 2 qts. water, the bays leaves, and six tenders in the crock pot on high for 3 hours. The chicken was ready to use when I finished.)
You could probably cook the veggies with the chicken in the slow cooker. I didn’t try this because I like to strain my cooking liquid before making the rest of the soup. Straining tends to catch all those funny cooked chicken pieces and foam that don’t look very appealing.
Try it!
I hope that you’ll try Chicken Zoodle Soup the next time you want some real comfort food, without worrying about processed food or added sugars. I LOVED having this as my lunch this week, and the little parmesan crisp crackers made a great side. Please let me know your thoughts on this dish. I’d love to hear your opinions!
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Chicken Zoodle Soup: Low Fat & Low Carb
Notes
The ground cinnamon adds a wonderful warmth. I encourage you to try it! This is also great served with several Parmesan crisps (cheese "crackers"). Recipe: Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Place 1 T. of Parmesan cheese in 6-9 mounds on parchment, flattening slightly. Bake in 400° F oven for 5 minutes or until slightly brown. Cool on parchment and store in refrigerator.
Ingredients
- 6 unbreaded chicken breast tenders
- 2 quarts water
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 large carrots, cut on the bias
- 4 stalks celery, sliced
- 1 large onion, diced finely
- 5-6 cloves garlic, minced fine
- 1 quart chicken broth
- 2 large zucchini, cut into zoodles
- 1 t. dried cilantro leaves
- 2 t. Kosher salt
- 1/2 t. black pepper
- 1 t. dried parsley
- 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a large pot (or slow cooker), place water, chicken breast tenders, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until chicken reads 165° F with an instant read thermometer.
- Remove chicken from pot and shred or chunk. Set aside for later use.
- Using a strainer, strain cooking liquid and return to pot.
- To the liquid add carrots, celery, onion, garlic and simmer until carrots are crisp-tender. (check with a fork)
- Return chicken to the pot, add all spices, and zucchini noodles.
- Cook until desired doneness, approximately ten minutes.
- Serve with additional dried cilantro, if desired.
