Citrus Chicken and Rice Soup -- The Kind of Soup That Meets You at the Door

Late January and the city is buried. The kind of snowstorm Boston does every few years where you wake up and the cars have disappeared and the streets are unmapped and everything is quiet in a way that the city isn't quiet except when it's covered. I had to work Thursday and the T was slow and the hospital was short-staffed and we managed because we always manage but I came home at eleven PM and couldn't stand up straight and Sean had soup waiting on the stove, which he'd made himself from the stock I had in the freezer and whatever vegetables were in the crisper, and it was imprecise and good.

Thirty-two weeks. Sleep has become a negotiation between my body and my bladder and Liam, who seems to operate on a time zone several hours displaced from the Eastern Seaboard. I have developed specific opinions about pillows. Sean has adapted to sharing a bed with what he describes charitably as "a pillow situation" and less charitably as "a fortress."

I saw Linda Fitzgerald at the grocery store on Saturday and she said I was carrying beautifully, which is the kind of thing people say to pregnant women in their third trimester to avoid saying what they're actually thinking, but Linda Fitzgerald is not a dissembler and I think she meant it. She'd made beef barley soup for us and had it in a container in her cart specifically to hand off when she saw me. I didn't know she was going to be there. She said she'd had a feeling. Southie mothers have a particular sonar for pregnant daughters-in-law of family friends.

I ate the barley soup for three days. Sean had one bowl and called it "very Linda."

Linda’s barley soup reminded me that soup is its own category of kindness — the one that says I knew before you did. I’ve been making this citrus chicken and rice soup on the weeks when I need something in that same register: warming enough for a Boston January, bright enough to cut through it. It’s the soup I’d want waiting on the stove. Sean has started making it too, which is either a testament to how simple it is or how much he’s learned from watching me survive the third trimester on hot food and stubbornness.

Citrus Chicken and Rice Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 55 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
• 3/4 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
• Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
• Zest and juice of 1 medium orange
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (optional, for serving)

Instructions

1. Sauté the vegetables. Heat olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 6–8 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
2. Season. Stir in salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary and cook 30 seconds until fragrant.
3. Add broth and chicken. Pour in the chicken broth and nestle the chicken pieces into the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cook uncovered for 18–20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
4. Shred the chicken. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred with two forks into bite-sized pieces. Return the chicken to the pot.
5. Cook the rice. Stir in the rice. Simmer uncovered over medium-low heat for 15–18 minutes, until the rice is tender but not mushy. Add a splash of additional broth or water if the soup thickens more than you’d like.
6. Finish with citrus. Remove the pot from heat. Stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, orange zest, and orange juice. Taste and adjust salt as needed. The citrus should brighten the broth without making it sharp — add more lemon if you want it more forward.
7. Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh parsley if using. This soup keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 4 days; the rice will absorb more liquid as it sits, so add broth when reheating.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 285 | Protein: 26g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 520mg