Kimchi Chicken Soup and the Luxury of Leftovers

Leftover rotisserie chicken, kimchi and canned white beans create a big-flavored, satisfying, healthy, weeknight-quick meal. Recipe below.

WE LOVE LEFTOVERS. Besides the way certain dishes just taste better the second day, there’s the deliciously smug pleasure we get from using stuff up rather than discarding it. So when we were recently faced with leftover rotisserie chicken and a giant jar of kimchi that wasn’t depleting or getting any younger, we created this impromptu soup. It was so good that you’re actually looking at the second batch we’ve made—from the same chicken and jar of kimchi.

Although kimchi is Korea’s national dish, we weren’t looking at making anything specifically Korean or Korean-inspired. We just wanted the big flavor the fermented Napa cabbage would bring to a chicken soup—tangy, verging on sour, pungent, often spicy and loaded with umami.

Besides tasting good, nutrient-dense kimchi is loaded with health benefits. Fermentation fills it with probiotics that promote good gut health (and increasingly, gut health is linked to everything, including an improved immune system and brain health). It also provides vitamins A, B and C, and essential minerals like calcium and iron. Further, studies show that it may lower cholesterol, improve heart health, lower blood sugar, reduce inflammation and even help with weight loss.

We added white beans to our soup for the same two reasons—we like the taste and they’re good for you. Beans are very high in fiber content and a great source of plant-based protein. According to UCLA Health, they can lower cholesterol and blood sugar, prevent constipation, protect against colon cancer and help manage weight.

But back to the delicious soup. It comes together in 45 minutes or less and invites plenty of variations in making it. And it’s absolutely satisfying as a meal, especially with some bread and butter on the side.

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Kimchi Chicken Soup

Leftover rotisserie chicken, kimchi and canned white beans create a big-flavored, satisfying, healthy, weeknight-quick meal.

Course One-pan meal, Soup

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cups rotisserie chicken, cut into small pieces (or other cooked chicken)
• 2 cups Napa cabbage kimchi, chopped
• 2-1/2 cups water (plus more, if needed)
• 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1 15- ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed (we used Great Northern)
• freshly ground black pepper
• salt, if needed

Instructions

• In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium flame. Add onion and sauté, stirring frequently, until onion softens and becomes translucent, about 3 minutes.
• Add chicken, kimchi, water, broth and beans, and stir to combine. Season generously with black pepper and raise the heat to bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer the soup and cook, partly covered for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, to let flavors combine. If it’s too thick, add a little more water.
• Taste soup and adjust seasoning with a little salt, if needed. Serve along with some bread and butter.

Kitchen Notes

Make it vegetarian (or semi-vegetarian). Substitute more water for the chicken broth and cubed, sautéed tofu for the chicken. It won’t be completely vegetarian because kimchi usually contains some sort of fish or seafood sauce. You can find vegetarian and even vegan kimchi to make it completely vegetarian.