Tired of washing soup pots and containers? I bet you didn’t know you could make golden, traditional chicken soup in a pan!

My mother is famous for her chicken soup. No one in the world makes chicken soup better than her. I make her recipe every week — it’s good, but not nearly as good as hers!

When I was newly married, my mother-in-law gifted me with a huge, and I mean huge (think industrial sized!), soup pot, claiming it’s the best way to make soup, since you only have to make it every six months. Divide it into containers and then you never have to worry about soup!

But I had many problems with this arrangement:

The process of dividing the soup was so cumbersome and messy that, even though it only happened once every six months, I dreaded it!
I found that every week I was stuck with either too much or too little soup, as I had all my soup stored in the same-size containers and sometimes I was serving more or fewer people.
I was also busy defrosting soups and washing containers on Erev Shabbos, which was a pain.

Overall, I did not find the process to be helpful. I know many many people make big batches of chicken soup and freeze it and it works for them — but it really didn’t work for me.

In addition, I find that chicken soup is probably one of the easiest and quickest soups to make. Going down to my garage, fetching the soup, defrosting it, and washing out the soup container probably took longer than just making a fresh one.

And so I reverted to making fresh soup every week. I easily adjusted the size based on my guest list, and it was perfect.

And then I took the perfection up one level. I started making my soup in a disposable pan, so I didn’t even have to wash the pot afterward! I’ve found that the 5 lb. or 10x7x3-inch pans (I call them the 5×7 pans) are the perfect size for my family of six and I make my soup in one of those every week — no mess, no clean up. It simmers beautifully like that on the stove, or I cover it tightly and bake in the oven on 350 for 3 hours. Alternatively, if I am having guests, the deep 9×13 pan serves 12-14 people.

I love this arrangement; it works so well for me!

On Yamim Tovim, if I am not serving chicken soup, any soup that I made in a regular pot, like my easy veal or beef vegetable soup, I will transfer to a disposable pan to warm up on Yom Tov for easy cleanup. I don’t keep a fire on my stovetop; I warm everything in my oven, soup included!

Of course, if you choose to make this recipe in a real pot, it works perfectly well! It even works with my mother-in-law’s method of making a huge batch and freezing it, just adjust amounts accordingly. I double, triple, or even quadruple my recipe as needed.

Chicken Soup In a Pan

It’s your basic classic chicken soup, just made in a disposable pan!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

2 pieces bone-in chicken
1 sprig dill
2 small carrots, peeled and quartered
1 parsnip, peeled and quartered
1 large stalk celery, cut into chunks
1 small potato, peeled, cut into chunks (optional)
1 small zucchini, cut into chunks
2 tsp coarse sea salt
Water, to cover

Instructions

Pace everything in a 5-lb. (7”x10”x3”) oblong pan. Add water until the top of the pan. Cover.
Bring to a boil over a high flame. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 3-4 hours.
Alternatively, once it comes to a boil, place in the oven on 350°F for 2-3 hours. (I do this if I know I won’t be around to check on it.)

Notes

This recipe can be doubled and tripled. If I have a lot of guests, I generally use a real pot and make it the traditional way, but I have also made this soup in a deep 9×13 and it serves 12-14 people.