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Traditional Chinese Chicken Foot Soup

Ellen
A sweet and velvety soup, this chicken foot soup recipe is made with traditional chinese ingredients. A super tasty soup that’s also good for you - rich in collagen, vital nutrients and minerals!
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 45 mins
Course Appetizer, Soup
Cuisine Cantonese, Chinese
Servings 8 people

Equipment

  • 1 large stock pot
  • 1 instant pot (instead of a stock pot)

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs chicken feet (claws removed)
  • 1 lb pork neck bone (Note 1)
  • 1 small carrot (peeled and chopped)
  • cup dried black eyed peas
  • 3 Tbsp raw red peanuts
  • 2 dried dates (or figs)
  • 6 red dates
  • 2 ginger slices (optional)
  • 4 chinese yam slices (dioscorea opposita) (optional)
  • 9 cups water (or unsalted chicken broth)
  • 3 tsp chicken bouillon powder (optional)
  • salt to taste

Instructions
 

Prepare ingredients

  • Rinse and scrub (if needed) the chicken feet to remove any dirt. Trim off the claws and tips with a pair of scissors.
  • In a bowl, rinse chinese yams (if using), dates, red dates a few times. Set aside. (Note 2)

Parboil Ingredients

  • Fill a large soup pot with water. Add chicken feet, pork bone and red peanuts and bring to a boil. Boil the pot for about 5 minutes until a film starts to form. (Note 3)
  • Strain and discard the water. Rinse the feet, pork bone and peanuts to remove as much surface debris as possible.

Make Chicken Foot Soup

  • In a clean pot, add back the chicken feet, pork bone and peanuts.
  • Add in chopped carrot, black eyed peas, dried dates, red dates, ginger slices and chinese yams (if using)
  • Add water (or unsalted chicken broth) to the pot. Cover and bring to a boil. (Note 4)
  • Turn heat to low and simmer the soup in a covered pot for at least 45 minutes.
  • Add salt and chicken bouillon powder (if using) and simmer for another 10-15 minutes.

Serve Chicken Foot Soup

  • Skim off fat and oil off the surface (with a spoon or broth skimmer). (Note 5)
  • Serve hot. Cool and refrigerate unused portions.

Notes

Notes

  1. You can find pork neck bones in most Asian grocery stores.  Pork hock or pork back bone works too.  If you’re unable to find any of these, feel free to leave out.
  2. Rinsing Chinese dried herbs isn’t mandatory and you can skip this step.  It ensures there isn’t any surface debris or dust just like you would rinse rice before cooking.
  3. Parboiling ensures a clearer nicer looking broth.  Most Chinese soups that have pork bones call for parboiling for this reason.  If you have a sieve and are short on time, you can skip this step.  The resulting broth won’t be as clear and you will need to strain out all the little food bits. 
  4. You can also use an instant pot instead of simmering in a pot.  Simply choose the "Broth" option on your instant pot which will pressure cook for 45 minutes and will produce a more flavorful soup!  Pressure cooking will break up all the soup ingredients and produce a murkier broth.
  5. Chicken feet broth is quite oily because there is a lot of chicken skin.  Skimming off the surface oil will produce a cleaner broth.
Keyword chicken feet soup, chicken foot soup, chinese soup
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