Coconut Curry Chicken Soup

This is a recipe recommended by my friend Beth from CrossFit Freedom. She gave it rave reviews, and now I know why! As I was chopping my veggies, I got word that we may have a few extras for dinner so I bulked up the recipe. Feel free to halve it...or just make the whole thing and enjoy the leftovers for a few days! I was in a chopping mood, so I did it all by hand. If you want a shortcut, use your food processor or hand chopper to chop. You could also try this recipe with a rotisserie chicken.

Adapted from paleodish.com.


Serves 8-10.

Ingredients
1 roasting chicken (mine was 3 1/2 pounds)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
coconut oil
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
6 carrots, peeled and diced (2 cups)
2 onions, peeled and diced
6 stalks of celery, diced (2 cups)
32 ounces organic natural chicken stock
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes (I use Muir Glen Organics Fire Roasted.)
1 can full-fat coconut milk
juice of 1 lime
2 tsp chili paste
4 tsp red curry paste
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp coconut aminos
sea salt
Garnish
full-fat coconut milk
carrot shreds

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Rinse chicken and dry thoroughly with paper towels inside and out.
3. Season generously inside and out with salt and pepper.
4. Place chicken on a rack in a roasting pan and cook for 45-60 minutes. Chicken does not have to be completely cooked as it will continue cooking in the broth.
5. Remove chicken from oven, let cool, remove skin, and shred with your fingers or two forks. 
6. Set roasting pan on stovetop over medium heat. Add a little bit of the chicken stock to scrape up the browned bits (deglaze). Remove from heat.
7. While chicken cooks, prepare the vegetables.
8. Warm about 2 Tbsp coconut oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add diced vegetables and cook until crisp tender, about 20 minutes. Add pan drippings and the remainder of the chicken stock to a stock pot.
9. Add remaining ingredients and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes or more. The longer you simmer, the better. (I let mine simmer for about an hour.)
10. To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with carrot shreds and a splash of coconut milk. (Cilantro would also be a great garnish but I did not have any on hand.)