Everyone loves something relaxing a bowl of chicken soup-especially hard-to-beat classics like chicken and dumplings or chicken noodle soup. I truly believe there is no better medicine than a warm bowl of healing chicken soup when you feel a cold coming on.

Whether you’re making a traditional chicken soup, mirepoixTrying a new mixture of ingredients using rotisserie chickenOr rely on store-bought broth for one simple ingredient that will enhance your meal: lemon. Juice, flavor, or both! Your recipe may already call for this.

Most recipes call for lemon at the beginning of the recipe, but for soup you’ll want to wait and add the lemon towards the end of the cooking process to preserve its crispness. Start with the juice or zest of half a lemon, then add more as desired.

Why Should You Add Lemon to Chicken Soup?

Perfect Matching

First of all, lemon and chicken are a classic ingredient pairing. Like cornbread and kale, biscuits and jam, or Clairee and Ouiser. You get the idea, the two go together perfectly! From crowd favorites like chicken piccata and lemon pepper wings to endless roasted and baked lemon chicken recipes, you can’t go wrong with this combination, especially in soup.

Increases Flavor

Besides the match made in heaven, the real reason you should add lemon to chicken soup is because of its acidic properties. If you look at almost anything soup recipe (or most recipes in general), you’ll find that they all have something in common: some type of acidic ingredient, like citrus, vinegar, or tomatoes. Not only will the acid brighten your soup, it also balances out the flavor, including the saltiness from the broth (store-bought chicken broth and broth or bouillon are often high in sodium).

It’s Good For You Too

Another reason to enrich your chicken soup with lemon instead of other acidic ingredients is its health benefits. Lemon is rich in vitamin C, aids digestion and is full of antioxidants. Many soup recipes are made with ingredients that are good for you and healing, and lemon goes well with it.

How Does Adding Acid Balance a Meal?

You probably weren’t looking for a full-fledged cooking class, but you’re about to take one anyway! When looking at any recipe, it’s all about the unique balance of flavors and how the ingredients mix to create the perfect meal without overpowering each other. While each ingredient offers its own flavor, the way they come together creates the taste we experience: salty, sweet, sour, savory or umami.

Acidic ingredients such as lemon and lime are often associated with tartness and sourness on their own; but when you add them to a dish, they enhance or brighten other flavors. When seasoning a pot of soup, you probably need more salt and pepper. But if your recipe already has enough salt and it still doesn’t taste very good, it’s probably because it needs an acidic ingredient.

Lemon Juice and Lemon Peel

The juice is what adds tartness and acidic properties to balance the flavors; The peel (or peel of the lemon) contains the essential oils from which you get all the beautiful aromas. The flavor gives you plenty of lemon flavor without the acidity of the juice. When grating citrus fruits, be sure to wash them first. Personally, I like to use both of them in my soups because they enrich the recipe and get maximum flavor.

The Best Alternative to Lemon

If you don’t have lemon on hand or don’t like the taste, vinegar is an easy alternative. There are many varieties, and each offers different characteristics and flavor profiles, but there’s a good chance you already have at least one type of vinegar (balsamic, white wine, red wine, sherry, rice vinegar, or cider) in your pantry, and all you really need is a splash. .