First courses are inherently soups. They can have an authentic name, for example: cabbage soup, borsch or lagman - but they don’t stop being soup. The basis of most of these foods is the broth. The exception is only vegetarian stew prepared with vegetable broth. And of all the types of meat that can be used for broth, chicken is the most popular - it is much cheaper than all other representatives of the animal world, it is very affordable and has no specific smell (like fish), and is also glorified as diet (read - low-calorie) component of any soup. But is it?
Myths and fallacies
That this poultry is ideal for those who want to lose weight is complete nonsense. Dietary chicken meat is considered in the sense that it is most easily absorbed by the body, even when it is weakened by blood loss or a long-term serious illness. That is, a person does not spend forces, which he already does not have enough, to digest "difficult" food and receives enough food to replenish vital energy.
Which part of the chicken is more dietary?
Meanwhile, the chicken itself is a very nutritious bird. So if your goal is to lose weight or keep what you have achieved, keep in mind that the calorie content of chicken soup is highly dependent on what part of the carcass you took for the broth. If you are going to use soup for maintaining your strength, you should take a closer look at the choice of meat for him.
Most often, the broth is boiled on legs. For some, nostalgia affects it - in Soviet times, there were only two of them, there were no separate limbs, and everyone wanted to eat just this part of the bird. Other people are price-oriented, while hips and lower legs are cheaper. Still others believe that chicken is all dietary. As a result, the calorie content of chicken soup is significantly increased and is unlikely to suit those who follow the figure and weight, because the diet broth should be cooked from poultry breast. In the most extreme case, you can cook a young chicken whole, but not use the lower limbs of this bird.
Calorie content and benefits
It should be noted that nutritionists, who are not concerned about losing weight, but about restoring a breakdown in patients, also prefer this part of the carcass. And although they are little interested in the calorie content of chicken soup, they insist on their choice, since breasts do not contain cholesterol, but they contain a lot of phosphorus. A broth of them facilitates and accelerates bone growth, helps with gastritis and ulcers, facilitates the treatment of influenza, and normalizes heart function. At the same time, doctors recognize that the calorie content of chicken breast soup is very low (depending on the preparation methods - only 15-20 kcal per 100 g, if there are no heavy components). This becomes very relevant in the treatment of the same heart diseases complicated by overweight.
Do not forget that the same nutritionists do not recommend “sitting” only on “breast” chicken broth or soups with it. Not even an allergic person risks making breast intolerance and experiencing all the unpleasant sensations associated with the manifestations of allergies - from ugly rashes to Quincke's edema.
What is the calorie content
First of all - from the meat base. The quality of the purchased bird, its origin and fattening will definitely affect what the final calorie content of soups on chicken broth will be. And it will be much lower if a factory carcass is put on the broth. Broilers give a not very rich base and rather tough meat. It’s worth soaking them for two hours in cold water: if you took the carcasses in the supermarket, the penicillin introduced to the birds for longer storage will go away. If you have a “village” chicken, you won’t need any additional body movements, but the soup will turn out to be much more satisfying and high-calorie.
Next come the pleasant additions to the broth. The very first number is, of course, everyone’s favorite potato, without which the first is not at all right. But when it is added, the satiety and nutritional value of the dish increases significantly! So, the calorie content of chicken soup with potatoes (even if nothing else floats in the broth) grows to hundreds of calories. If you add only tomatoes, cabbage and, say, bell pepper, then depending on the ratio of the components of the calories will increase not so much: by 25-30 per 100 g. Mushrooms will raise this figure to almost 40 kcal, but still this figure will not seem it’s so big when compared to how much calorie-boosted chicken noodle soup is. All pasta is five times as nutritious as potatoes. So to eat a bowl of spider soup with pasta is the same as sipping five plates of broth with potatoes.
Rules for making low-calorie soup
- Rule one - only breast is bought!
- Rule two - the foam formed during boiling is necessarily removed, since it contains the maximum amount of unnecessary fat. Some extreme people are even advised to leave the broth in the refrigerator for several hours. All fat is collected at the top and mercilessly merged.
- Rule three - in no case do not cook chicken soup with vermicelli: the calorie content of the latter is in no way suitable for dietary nutrition.
- Rule four - the broth should be cooked slowly and leisurely, for almost an hour. About 30 minutes before "time X" you need to put onion and carrots, peeled, but not chopped and not fried, for flavor and appetite. The fifth (and last) rule follows from this: do not fry any vegetables before adding to the broth. They are saturated with oil and become very satisfying. And even more so, it is necessary to avoid roasting, if chicken soup with vermicelli is being prepared - the calorie content of such a dish is already high, so you should not aggravate the situation.
Ways to overcome the calorie content of the broth
How to “defeat” the overall nutritional value of soup? Obviously: just do not put high-calorie components in it. But there remains the satiety of the broth, which is also possible to overcome. First of all, all fat is removed from any piece. Equally important is the removal of the skin - it increases the calorie content of chicken soup. So the chicken will be the perfect shopping choice. Skinning immediately reduces calories by three times.
The right move would be to drain the first broth: the meat was cooked for a quarter of an hour - and the broth goes to the toilet. It's a pity, of course, but the next one will be more dietary.
If the broth stood in the refrigerator at night, do not forget to remove everything from it, even very small Zhirins. Now your soup will be truly low-calorie!