Homemade Chicken Escarole Soup with Bone Broth

This deeply flavored chicken soup begins with a dutch-oven roasted chicken that becomes both the star ingredient and the foundation for a rich homemade stock. The recipe is inspired by our friend Frank and his late Italian mother, a sweet woman and wonderful cook who always added escarole and pepperoni to her chicken soup—traditional Italian touches that transform an ordinary soup into something special. Frank carries on her tradition faithfully, honoring the recipe she passed down to him. The result is a nourishing bowl that’s worth every step.

The Roasted Chicken

Dutch-oven roasting produces exceptionally moist chicken with crispy, golden skin. The bird roasts in a covered pot, creating a self-basting environment where the meat stays tender while the skin crisps beautifully during an uncovered final blast of heat. The process is straightforward: season your chicken generously, place it in a preheated dutch oven, cover and roast until nearly done, then finish uncovered to achieve that perfect crackling skin. Once cooled, you’ll remove the meat for the soup and reserve every bone and bit of skin for stock. For complete roasting instructions and timing, see this detailed guide.

Making the Stock

After removing all the meat from your roasted chicken, place the carcass—including bones, skin, and any bits of meat still clinging to the frame—into a large stockpot. Add roughly chopped vegetables: an onion (quartered, skin and all), a couple of carrots, a few celery stalks with leaves, and a handful of parsley stems. Toss in a bay leaf, several peppercorns, and a generous pinch of salt. Cover everything with cold water, about 10-12 cups, making sure the bones are fully submerged.

Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, then immediately reduce to a gentle simmer. This is important—a rolling boil will make your stock cloudy. Let it simmer uncovered for 3-4 hours, skimming off any foam or fat that rises to the surface during the first 30 minutes. The longer it simmers, the more flavor and body you’ll extract from the bones. You’ll know it’s ready when the liquid has reduced slightly and tastes rich and deeply chicken-y.

Strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl or container, pressing gently on the solids to extract every drop of flavor. Discard the solids. Let the stock cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. The fat will solidify on top, making it easy to skim off before using. This stock will keep refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for 3 months.

About the Mirepoix

The aromatic base of this soup is built on mirepoix, the classic combination of diced onion, celery, and carrot that forms the flavor foundation of countless soups and stews. [See our detailed explanation of mirepoix here].

Building the Soup

With your bone broth ready and your roasted chicken meat reserved, you’re prepared to build the soup itself. The process begins with heating ghee, olive oil, and pepper together—this peppery fat becomes the foundation for everything that follows.

The mirepoix goes in next, along with garlic, sautéing gently over medium-low heat until the vegetables soften and turn translucent. This slow cooking develops sweetness and depth that quick-cooked vegetables simply can’t achieve. A splash of Pinot Grigio deglazes the pan, lifting all those flavorful browned bits and adding a subtle acidity that brightens the finished soup.

Once you add the bone broth, the soup begins to come together. Fresh herbs—parsley, sage, and thyme—mingle with an unexpected touch of curry powder that adds warmth without overwhelming the other flavors. Worcestershire and soy sauce deepen the savory notes, while diced Yukon Gold potatoes add heartiness and body.

The chicken goes in for a long, gentle simmer that makes it melt-in-your-mouth tender while allowing all the flavors to marry and deepen. This is where patience pays off—that hour of simmering transforms good soup into extraordinary soup.

The Italian Touch

The escarole comes in at the very end, along with the green parts of the Vidalia onion. This timing is crucial—you want the escarole to wilt and become tender but still retain some texture and its vibrant green color. Frank’s mother knew this instinctively, as Italian cooks do. The escarole adds a subtle bitterness that balances the richness of the bone broth beautifully, cutting through the fat and creating a more complex, satisfying bowl.

The chopped uncured pepperoni that Frank’s mother always included is optional but highly recommended if you like a little heat. It adds both spice and a distinctive smoky flavor that makes this soup distinctly Italian-American—a perfect balance of comfort and kick.

A Soup Worth the Effort

This isn’t a quick weeknight soup. It’s a weekend project, the kind of cooking that fills your house with wonderful aromas and rewards you with something truly special. But the beauty is that much of the work can be done ahead—roast the chicken one day, make the stock the next, assemble the soup when you’re ready.

The soup keeps beautifully and actually improves after a day in the refrigerator, making it perfect for meal prep or for having something wonderful on hand during a busy week. It’s the kind of soup that reminds you why cooking from scratch matters, and why traditions—like Frank’s mother’s escarole and pepperoni—are worth carrying forward.

One Chicken, Many Possibilities

What I love most about this recipe is how it embodies the philosophy of making the most of what we have. One roasted chicken becomes dinner, then becomes stock, then becomes this incredible soup—three meals from a single bird. It’s the kind of thoughtful, waste-nothing cooking that our grandmothers practiced without even thinking about it, and that Frank’s mother surely knew by heart.

This approach to cooking—stretching ingredients, building flavors, taking time to do things right—isn’t just economical or sustainable. It’s deeply satisfying in a way that shortcuts never quite manage to be. When you ladle this soup into bowls and taste the depth that comes from homemade stock and slow-simmered chicken, you understand why some things are worth the extra effort.

If you’re interested in more ways to maximize a single chicken and create multiple meals from one bird, check out my post on making the most of Tuesday: one chicken, many meals. Because sometimes the best cooking isn’t about fancy ingredients or complicated techniques—it’s about honoring what we have and transforming it into something that nourishes both body and soul.