Chicken Foot Soup

Winter days were made for cozying up to a bowl of piping hot soup. And this chicken foot soup hits the spot every time. If you are not a fan of chicken foot (chicken feet, if you must) try my recipe for chicken and split peas soup. It is a popular recipe on the blog and comes together quickly.

Pressure cooking the chicken foot

I always pressure cook my chicken foot before adding it to the soup. You can use a traditional pressure cooker or an instant pot, like I did here. It helps to tenderize the chicken feet until they are almost melting off the bones. What I love most about using the instant pot as a pressure cooker is that you don't lose any of the liquid to escaping steam as you do in traditional pressure cookers. Everything stays in the pot for a really yummy broth that goes right into the soup! If you are not sure how to clean the chicken foot, please check out my chicken foot souse recipe where I show you tips on how to clean chicken foot!

Making the pumpkin base

This soup has a velvety pumpkin base. I used frozen pumpkin for this recipe but if you have fresh pumpkin even better. To bring out the richness of the pumpkin flavor I sautéed the pumpkin with onions and garlic and cooked it until it was completely mushy. The smell of the pumpkin cooking was so amazing and I couldn't wait for this pot of chicken foot soup to come together.

Adding the root vegetables

Whenever I make this chicken foot soup, I add lots of root vegetables. You can use any combination you like, but for this recipe I used white sweet potatoes, regular sweet potatoes and sweet ripe plantains. I add a bit more veggies that I need and allow some of them to melt creating a thick, velvety and rich broth. Imagine sitting under a blanket and cozying up to a bowl of this chicken foot soup.

Once the chicken foot pressure cooks I add it to the base I created with the pumpkin and root veggies. I can hardly wait to start eating. This soup is that good.

Finishing up the soup

Nothing smells better than a pot of bubbling soup! When the broth thickens and some of the veggies melt away, you can add some duff to the soup if you like. Use my duff recipe and create mini duffs (about 2 inch in size) and then add it to the top of the soup, following the method for cooking duff listed in the duff recipe. The addition of the duff really puts the comfort in this dish. Once the chicken foot soup comes together serve up a bowl or two and dive in! Try the recipe as is or try adding duff, either version is sure to be a hit.

The chicken foot soup recipe:

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Chicken Foot Soup

Althea Brown

Chicken Foot Soup is a thick pumpkin based soup loaded with chicken feet and root vegetables. It is the perfect lazy Sunday dish.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 15 mins

Course Soup

Cuisine Guyanese

Servings 6 Generous Servings

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2 lbs of chicken foot cleaned and claws removed
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 lb peeled and cubed pumpkin
• 2 tablespoon of oil for cooking like olive or avocado oil
• 1 small yellow onion finely chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 ½ lbs yellow plantains diced
• 1 ½ lbs white sweet potatoes
• 1 ½ lb of yams or regular sweet potatoes diced
• 1 ½ teaspoon of salt
• pinch of black pepper
• 1 tablespoon of dried parley flakes or fresh parsley finely chopped
• 2 wiri wiri peppers for flavor can sub with 1 Scotch Bonnet Pepper
• Between 8 and 10 cups of water

Instructions

 

• Wash and clean chicken feet, then add chicken feet to an instant pot or traditional pressure cooker.
• If using an instant pot add 5 cups of water to the pot and ½ teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of garlic powder, 1 tablespoon of onion powder and a pinch of black pepper
• If using a traditional pressure cooker, add enough water to cover the chicken feet, then season as listed in the step above
• Pressure cook on high for 30 minutes with the instant pot or until the chicken feet are tender and the skin is almost pulling off the bones
• While the chicken feet are pressure cooking, warm the oil in a large stock pot on medium-high heat Then add the onions and garlic and sauté until the onions become soft and translucent, for about 5 minutes
• Next, add the pumpkin to the stock pot followed by salt and a pinch of black pepper
• Cook until the pumpkin is soft and mushy, then add the white sweet potatoes, diced plantains and regular sweet potatoes.
• Add the parsley flakes or fresh parsley and wiri wiri pepper and mix together well
• While you are waiting for the chicken feet to finish pressure cooking add 5 cups of water to the stock pot and turn the heat down to low and allow everything to cook in a low simmer.
• When the chicken feet are done pressure cooking, release the pressure according to instructions in the instant pot manual, then pour the chicken feet and broth into the stock pot
• Mix together, then increase the heat to high heat and continue to cook the soup until the sweet potatoes and plantain are tender
• Using the back of your pot spoon, crush some (about ¼) of the sweet potatoes and mix into the broth of the soup, then mix together well to form a smooth velvety broth
• Serve warm

Notes

I am not sure how long it will take to cook the chicken feet in a traditional pressure cooker. So if you are using a traditional pressure cooker I recommend cooking the chicken feet first, before starting to cook your other ingredients in the stock pot. This way your root veggies won't melt away before your chicken feet is tender enough.

In the instant pot, it takes between 30 and 45 minutes to pressure cook chicken feet. This is just enough time to prep and cook your other ingredients. So to save time I put my chicken feet to cook in my instant pot while I am working on the soup base. When the timer goes off on the instant pot, my soup is almost always ready, so I just add the chicken feet and cook for 10 to 15 more minutes and then I am done.

You could cook all of the soup in the instant pot, but mine is not big enough for the amount of soup I want to make. If you want to cook the entire soup in the instant pot, sauté the onion and garlic in oil first, then add the chicken feet. Cook on high pressure for 30 minutes, then release the steam. Set the pot to sauté and add the other ingredients and continue to cook until the sweet potatoes are tender! The pumpkin will melt away while the sweet potatoes are cooking. It should take the same amount of time and you'll have the same delicious results.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!