Filipino Chicken Tinola

With these cold winter months and having started the year sick, comfort foods in the form of stews and soups are what my body craves. I recently added this Filipino comfort dish into my dinner rotation after a friend told me it was part of hers, and I can’t believe I’d forgotten about it!

It’s such a simple, nutritious soup to cozy up to, packing lots of immunity-supporting and gut-healthy benefits - ginger and bone broth for the win! Though it’s usually a pretty clean and healthy dish on its own, I make some intentional choices on quality ingredients to make it work for me and my fam to support our health goals.

This soup only takes 30 minutes to make so it can be an easy lift on a weeknight for a family of one or five. It’s an easy recipe to season with love - exact measurements need not be followed. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. chicken thighs*

• avocado oil

• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 onion, sliced or diced

• ginger slices (~2 thumbs width)

• 4 cups bone broth (or chicken broth or water); enough to immerse chicken fully

• salt & pepper to taste

• 1/2 T. fish sauce*

• greens of your choice (I use bok choy, spinach); traditionally it calls for moringa leaves, green papaya or chayote

Instructions

1. Heat your pot and add oil.

2. Saute onions, garlic and ginger for about 5 minutes until softened.

3. Brown chicken slightly a few minutes on each side.

4. Add quality bone broth to submerge chicken. The more you have, the more soup to slurp on later!

5. Bring to a boil and lower heat to simmer for about 10 minutes.

6. Add vegetables of choice in order based on cooking time.

7. Simmer for a few minutes more until all vegetables are cooked.

8. Enjoy with white rice or on its own. (I actually threw in leftover quinoa last time I had it!)

*Notes

• Chicken: I use organic pasture-raised chicken thighs, skinless and boneless. You can also use any part of the chicken you prefer though the breast could get tough and lack the depth of flavor that makes the soup so good.

• Fish sauce: I use Red Boat which only has two ingredients—anchovies and salt—for extra depth and umami. You can also just stick with salt. Use the fish sauce sparingly at first if you’ve never used before - it’s quite potent, even small amounts, and you can always add more later if needed.

• BONUS: Take any extra broth and vegetables and blend on high to make another soup to eat as a new meal. Between the collagen and nutrients from the bone broth and additional vitamins and minerals from the vegetables, it really hits the spot for another simple, nutritious, rich, green soup to enjoy. No waste! (I suggest removing the ginger pieces before blending.)