Chicken broccoli recipe

This chicken broccoli recipe is a soup you can make in fifteen minutes.

So like most of us you do not have a lot of time but you want to rustle up a quick, healthy meal. In a quarter of the time it takes you to find parking, drop into the grocery store and find a fast food supper you can make this delicious meal. I liquidise it into a soup, but that's not necessary.

This page was last upgraded by Dr Barrie Lewis on 8th June, 2023.

Slow food made fast

Slow food, made fast, is our philosophy at Chiropractic Help.

Soup gives some folk indigestion if eaten in the evening, especially if you've had alcohol before or with the meal; I find it less troublesome if I fry in butter than oil or margarine. This broccoli chicken recipe is so rich in fibre, healthy phytosterols, and the benefits of folate that you need not be the slightest bothered by cholesterol.

Broccoli for painful knees? Not so crazy as it sounds, new research is being done on broccoli for osteoarthritis in the UK.

Chicken Broccoli recipe

Chicken broccoli recipe makes use of a homemade meaty bouillon and sweet or ordinary potato. How to use chicken bones to make a delicious soup.

Ingredients:

1. One large sweet potato
2. An onion, chopped
3. A handful of frozen chicken bones (and flesh if you want)
   
4. A large punnet of broccoli florets
5. Any other greens you may have.
   
6. Perhaps toss in a handful of chickpeas, the richest source of B6.
   

Go for it

This incidentally is the very best potato peeler that I've ever used; and, at around three dollars, it's dirt cheap. 

Broccoli is the queen of the anti cancer vegetables, rich in a compound called glucoraphanin that is converted into tumour preventing substances in the body. Dinkum, there's strong research. And even more of these phytochemicals are found in the florets than in the main head.

Broccoli also is rich in lutein, the carotenoid that prevents macular degeneration; there are an estimated five million blind Americans due to this nasty and, by and large, preventable disease. Along with another phytochemical called zeaxanthin, they are found in very high concentration in the retina of the eye.

• Put your large pot on low heat and drop in an ample pat of butter.
• Quickly peel and roughly slice your onion. You are going to liquidise it anyway, so hurriedly, and drop into the hot butter. Sizzle slowly for a few minutes. 
• Toss in a handful of frozen chicken bones collected after dinner a couple days ago. Add any of the flesh of the chicken that may be over, but that's not necessary.
  
• Peel your sweet potato and roughly chop into chunks, and drop into the pot. Add two cups of boiling water, and bring rapidly to the boil. Simmer for ten minutes.
  
• Meanwhile, dunk the broccoli florets into water and roughly shake and brush to get any insects off. Rinse once or twice, perhaps three times if you love love to grow organic broccoli, free from pesticides, as I do. You may have a few aphids to add protein to your soup!
• I've thrown in a handful of mange-tout sugar snap peas left over from lunch. They need to be strung, but are eaten pod and all.
• Drop the broccoli (and peas) into the pot, cover and bring rapidly to the boil again. 
• Add a teaspoon of sea salt and any spices you like. I might add a smidgeon of cumin, or fresh coriander.

It's Sunday, so I've barbecued two chickens (always two, same time to cook, and tomorrow we'll eat the second one), instead of pulling frozen chicken bones from the freezer.

Strip the flesh from the carcass and drop the chicken bones into your pot. Strong research from Harvard Med school incidentally that chicken bones bouillon are better than anti inflammatories for stubborn arthritis. Nice and tasty anyway.

A teaspoon of cumin by the way goes well with any chicken dish. What is cumin, you may be asking. It's far nicer if you roast the seeds and then grind them yourself; I then keep it under olive oil in the fridge.

Our motto at "slow food made fast" incidentally is that it can be healthy and taste good!

If you don't have a pressure cooker, do yourself a big favour. For the cost of two TV dinners for the family you can buy a decent stainless steel pressure cooker.

Then, once the onions are lightly done, just toss in the potatoes and broccoli, the chicken bones, and any other left over greens; and an ordinary spud, and perhaps a carrot if you like.

Who says you have to follow this chicken broccoli recipe to the letter? Do your own thing.

Bring to pressure for five minutes, and hey presto it's done. These modern cookers are quite safe; they have a safety catch so you can't open them when it's dangerous. Do remember to flick it on though before starting.

Liquidise

Pluck out the chicken bones and liquidise. Add a tablespoon of cream if your cholesterol is "disgustingly low"! It will be, I can promise you, if you dip regularly into foods like this. This is the way to get off statins safely.  Sprinkle with chives, perhaps.

We are going to have a side dish of chicken meat on wholewheat bread. Who needs anything more for dinner?

Benefits of folate

There's strong research now that the real cause of inflammation in blood vessels is a toxic breakdown product of protein metabolism called homocysteine. Normally, with a healthy diet, we have the vitamins and minerals to degrade homocysteine in the body as it's formed, but this process is utterly dependent on the presence of folate and certain other vitamins like choline in the diet.

Minimal folate, B12 or choline in the diet > homocysteine buildup > inflammation.

And, of course, one of the great benefits of folate is to be found in this broccoli chicken recipe, rich not only in glucoraphanin but also in vitamin B9, and a host of other phytochemicals like lutein and zeaxanthin that prevent macular degeneration.

Zeaxanthin macular degeneration is a subject for every single one of us; it causes five million Americans to needlessly blind; it's richly found in your chicken broccoli recipe. 

Benefits of vitamin B6, C and E

Our chicken broccoli recipe also has many of the wonderful benefits of vitamin B6, also known as the anti-frailty substance. In a study done in Spain, following 1643 community dwelling individuals for 3.5 years found that compared with those enjoying the most B6 in their food, those having the least were 165% times more likely to become frail⁽¹⁾.

Frailty was defined using Fried's definition: 3-5 of the following criteria:

1. Unintentional weight loss > 4.5kg
2. Exhaustion
3. Weakness
4. Slow walking speed
5. Low physical activity.

Also important were vitamins C and E, and folate. (280% less likely to become frail if you have enough of all four)

Vitamin B6 is particularly rich in chickpeas, organ meats, fatty fish, chicken and potato.

Vitamin E in fact came out tops in the study at 230% less likely to become frail; sunflower seeds and almonds.

Very significantly, the lead author states: "There is no evidence of frailty prevention in those taking the vitamins as supplements."

Sulforaphane

Sulforaphane is a naturally occurring phytochemical found mainly in dark green leafy vegetables; strong research has shown that it helps to prevent the death of osteoblasts, the cells that build bone^[1]. Your chicken broccoli recipe is a rich source of this isothiocyanate, as this group of substances are called.

Broccoli and chicken are also amongst the best sources of calcium for osteoporosis,

Sweet potato calories

The good news is that sweet potatoes calories are relatively low, 100 cals per cup on the carbohydrate  despite being so deliciously sweet. More important, the Glycemic Index is low if you boil it. That makes your chicken broccoli recipe particularly good for the obese and the diabetic; enjoy a soft white scone with it, and you've just ruined the meal. Only use healthy flour.

They are not difficult to grow either, if you have a largish garden. Planting sweet potatoes is a breeze but they'll take over if you're not careful and invade your kitchen backdoor!

Interestingly new potatoes do not produce the glycemic fattening reaction of those that are weeks or months old.

Chiropractic help

A healthy body and spine is totally dependent on low inflammation in the joints; otherwise chiropractic will only be of partial value for you, and all other treatment too, of course. That means chicken bones stock and foods like broccoli, rich in anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties; our chicken broccoli recipe fits the bill.

Remember to check out that broccoli osteoarthritis page.

Don't forget also to increase your omega-3 from fatty fish or freshly ground flaxseed.

No amount of drugs, surgery, physical therapy or chiropractic help will be adequate if you are eating a highly inflammatory diet. You'll be constantly in pain and swallowing bucketfuls of anti inflammatory drugs ... watch your stool to see if it turns black from a bleeding ulcer.

Vegetarian?

Just add more peas, or a cup of frozen legumes. Cooking chickpeas takes only thirty minutes if you have a pressure cooker.

Chickpeas are the very richest source of vitamin B6, more than organ meats, fish and chicken.