This spicy jerk chicken soup recipe is delicious, flavorful, and very spicy thanks to Grace Foods Jamaican jerk seasoning.
This soup was seriously SO good and you only need a few ingredients for a really flavorful dinner. I love jerk chicken but never attempted to make it on my own. Since I don’t really grill, I wasn’t able to make an authentic jerk chicken recipe, but this take still hit my cravings pretty well!
This recipe uses Grace Foods Jamaican Jerk Seasoning. They are not a sponsor of this post; I just found it at H-Mart and wanted to try it. I used the hot variety and I loved it! Everyone has different heat tolerances, but for me, it was definitely spicy!
I also used a few shakes of smoked black cardamom, which you can buy in my shop. It’s optional, but I found in the absence of a grill, the smoked black cardamom added a subtle undertone of smoky sweetness that I really enjoyed. You can also add a dash or two of liquid smoke if you like.
How to make this spicy jerk chicken soup recipe:
For this recipe, you need just a handful of ingredients, including:
- Onions, for the stock
- A 5.5-pound whole chicken
- Grace Foods Jamaican Jerk Seasoning, or your favorite Jamaican jerk sauce
- Water
- Aromatics for the soup, including carrots, celery, and onion
- Smoked black cardamom
- White rice and scallions for serving
That’s it! The result will be a really wonderful, savory, spicy soup that you won’t be able to stop eating!
I definitely recommend splitting this recipe up into two days. The first day will be simmering the stock. Let the chicken cool overnight and the next day will be making the soup.
First, start with the stock. Sautė an onion and then add the jerk sauce. Grace Foods recommends 1–2 tablespoons per pound of chicken. You’ll want to adjust that ratio depending on your tolerance for heat. I did about 6 big tablespoons which yielded a very spicy soup!
Add the chicken and then cover with about 10 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 2–3 hours or until the chicken is nearly falling off the bone. The broth will reduce pretty significantly!
From there, turn off the heat and let it cool. Transfer to the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, remove the chicken from the broth. The broth will be quite congealed because of the collagen; it’s totally normal!
Pick the chicken from the bones and discard the carcass. Heat the congealed broth over the stovetop. Once it’s returned to liquid, strain through a sieve and discard any solids. This will be your spicy broth base for the soup! You should have about 4–5 cups of the spicy broth which you will cut with water.
From there, simply prepare the soup. Sauté the aromatics, add the smoked black cardamom if using, and then add the chicken, broth, and additional water. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the carrots are tender. Serve it with rice and minced scallions. You’ll love how comforting it is!
Looking for more chicken recipes? Check my archives!
If you made this recipe, please rate the recipe below and leave a comment to tell me how you liked it! If you take a picture of it, please tag me on Instagram so I can feature you in my feed!
Spicy Jerk Chicken Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil divided
- 2 yellow onions peeled and quartered
- 5.5- pound whole chicken giblets, and neck reserved for another use
- 6 tablespoons Grace Foods Jamaican Jerk Seasoning or your favorite Jamaican jerk sauce
- 10 cups of water plus more for the soup
- 1 yellow onion peeled and diced
- 4 large carrots peeled and diced
- 5 ribs celery with leaves trimmed and diced
- 1 teaspoon smoked black cardamom optional
- Cooked white rice for serving
- Minced scallions for serving
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Prepare the stock:
- Heat 1 tablespoon neutral oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the quartered onions and sauté for 6 minutes. Add the jerk sauce and sizzle it for 1 minute.
- Add the whole chicken and cover with 10 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 2–3 hours or until the chicken nearly falls off the bone. The broth will reduce pretty significantly. Taste the broth and add salt, if needed.
- Turn off the heat and let it cool. Transfer to the refrigerator overnight.
Pick the chicken from the bones:
- The next day, remove the chicken from the broth. The broth will be quite congealed because of the collagen.
- Pick the chicken from the bones and discard the carcass.
- Transfer the pot of congealed broth to the stovetop. Turn the heat to medium. As soon as the broth has returned to liquid, strain through a sieve, and discard any solids. You will have about 4–5 cups of spicy broth for the soup.
- Wipe out the pot and return it to the stovetop.
Prepare the soup:
- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of neutral oil over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion, carrots, and celery (with leaves!) and sauté for 10 minutes until beginning to brown in spots—season with salt and pepper. Add the smoked black cardamom and cook for 45 seconds until fragrant.
Simmer the soup:
- Add the chicken to the pot. Measure the spicy broth base before adding. You’ll want about 8 cups of the liquid total for the soup, so if you have 4 cups of broth base, add 4 cups of additional water. Add the broth base and the water as needed and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until the carrots are tender—taste and season with salt and pepper.
To serve:
- Spoon warm, cooked rice between bowls and ladle the soup on top. Garnish with minced scallions. Enjoy!
Why do you have to let the soup sit over night? I’ve made lots of soup with whole chicken and have never let it sit over night. What am I missing out on if I just let it cool enough to handle?
You can absolutely make it the soup the same day instead of refrigerating. I find that broth does get a bit more flavorful the next day and you get the bonus of being able to split up the recipe a bit so it’s less labor intensive in one day. But, I’ve made soups both ways and any benefit is fairly negligible so it’s definitely not an issue to just make the soup the same day you make the broth 🙂