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Chicken Corn Soup with Rivels – Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Corn Soup with homemade dough rivels. Make this Amish classic soup recipe; it’s comforting, hearty and a PA favorite!
Chicken Corn Soup Recipe is a Pennsylvania Dutch classic
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“Tastes almost just like my grandmother’s recipe, who is Pennsylvania Dutch. We live in Hershey, PA. Great recipe!“ KRISTIN
Why I love this Chicken Corn Soup Recipe
This recipe is a classic old-fashioned Pennsylvania recipe. I love the fresh taste of sweet corn. With fresh chicken, corn in a creamy broth, chock full of rivels, and hard-boiled eggs. This recipe is simple but includes all the ingredients known to make a delicious, hearty chicken corn soup.
And this is an ode to my childhood when we would visit Amish country in Lancaster County as often as possible. As many of you know, I’m a Pennsylvania girl. Despite growing up in the city, the country is my true home. I love the countryside of Pennsylvania, its back roads, its broad fields, and its delicious abundance of harvest.
I love me some good ‘ole chicken corn soup with rivels. This stuff is as Pennsylvania as you can get. I love how it uses fresh seasonal corn, chicken, fresh seasonings, and rivels. To me, there is nothing like fresh local corn. Surely, it’s so sweet and perfect. Great to grill, boil, or use in soups. You may love this fantastic tool to help you take it off the cob more easily. I have a similar one and it does the job great!
And here’s a brush to help get off those pesky hairs that you can seem to eliminate. There’s always some stragglers, right?!
The BEST Chicken Corn soup recipe, a Pennsylvania Dutch classic.
What are rivels?
Rivels are homemade, handmade little bites of dough. Simply made with only three ingredients: flour, eggs, and salt. Rivels could basically be categorized as very mini dumplings.They are cooked in the hot soup. The steam of the soup cooks them. As the soup boils the rivels cook to temperature and are then made ready when the soup is done. No precooking is necessary.
Even though they’re rather boring on their own. Just little bites of dough. But add them to the soup and BAM! You have yourself a marvelous meal. Add some fresh bread and dinner is served.
This meal needs to be on regular rotation in our house because everyone loves it and everyone wants there to be leftovers! It’s hearty, delicious, and the whole family loves it.
Ingredients needed for this recipe
Whole fresh chicken: Your grocery store may refer to as young fresh chicken, whole roaster chicken, frying chicken. Look for one about 5 lbs.
Corn: Please get fresh, in-season corn if available. It makes this recipe extra delicious!
This chicken corn soup is amazing in the fall too. Picture yourself, some good friends, a big bonfire, and a huge pot of this. It doesn’t get any more comforting than that!
Especially, if you love good, comforting meals, you’ll also want to try out our Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Pot Pie. It’s hearty and delish!
Place chicken roaster, onion and celery in a Dutch oven or stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for about 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through.
Remove chicken from the broth. Allow to cool to touch and cut into desired size pieces.
Meanwhile, shuck corn and cut corn off the cobs. Here’s a tool similar to what I use.
With heat on medium add corn kernels to the broth and cook for about 5 minutes until corn is tender. Add chicken back into soup. Stir in the parsley, season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a low boil.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine flour, raw egg, and salt to make rivels. Using a fork, mix by hand until it is the consistency of crumbs. Add a little extra flour if the dough is too sticky.
Slowly add the rivels to the boiling soup, crumbling them in by hand while stirring constantly. Cook for about five minutes.
Stir in hard-boiled eggs. Ladle into bowls and enjoy.
I’m a native Lancaster Countian & I don’t know what chicken corn soup is without rivels. We always like them about 1/2″ to an inch. My Mom made the best chicken corn soup around here but she put a secret ingredient in it.
From Hanover. What’s the secret ingredient??? LOL Trying to learn some old favorites as my mom died 2 days after 12th birthday. Never got to learn from her, so I started teaching my daughter young.
As a fellow Pennsylvanian (I live in Harrisburg) I have enjoyed rivels throughout my life. My mother passed a few years ago and I miss them. Hard to find restaurant’s that serve Homemade Chicken Corn soup or Chowder. So….when I saw this I think I fell in love with your cooking Mel. If you can make a good ham and bean soup…there might be a proposal in it for you…
I’m so sorry that your mother passed but it’s so nice to have those memories. What a great area we live in. 🙂 Yeah, I’m not sure of any fantastic restaurants that serve it. But if I do I’ll keep you in mind to let you know. Thanks so much for stopping by Troy!
I’m a Lancaster county girl, and we always put rivels in soups, Chicken corn and Ham an Bean. So wonderful to learn of a cook like you, Melanie. Good job, we need to pass these traditions down.
Yay, Mary! I adore Lancaster county. It’s one of my favorite local places to visit and I not-so-secretly have always wanted to live here. I definitely need to learn the Ham and Bean soup methods or sure. My mother in law makes it so I’ll have to have her pass on her recipe.
Thanks for the sweet words Mary. Appreciate it so much!
Great recipe! This is almost exactly how I make mine. I make a slightly bigger batch because everybody always wants some. And I add a little saffron sometimes. I ran out today though. I will be shucking a bunch of corn next few days to try and stock up for winter. I will have to pin this for my followers.
I’ve never had rivels! So interesting and love the texture they add to the soup 🙂
Makes the soup so much better. Also, if you use can corn add all the juice from the can. Amazing…
It also helps to add a can or 2 of creamed corn.
What a great, savory recipe! I could go for a big bowl of this right about now! 🙂
I have never heard of rivels! Learn something new ever day! 🙂
This soup looks amazing. I could eat corn all summer long!
rivels are made the same way gnocchi and home made egg noodles.
I learned something new today – I had never heard of Rivels before! I guess they are kinda like dumplings almost?
Btw – such a wonderful soup Melanie!
I’ve never heard of rivels, but i love corn soup and I love all things carbs so I think I’d love this!
What a gorgeous soup, Melanie! So perfect with those chilly fall days coming up quickly! I so want to try rivels now!
Thank you Sarah! WE love this soup.
I’m a native Lancaster Countian & I don’t know what chicken corn soup is without rivels. We always like them about 1/2″ to an inch. My Mom made the best chicken corn soup around here but she put a secret ingredient in it.
Thanks for stopping by Caroll! I love Lancaster County. It’s one of my favorite places to visit. 🙂 Mom’s make the best meals!
From Hanover. What’s the secret ingredient??? LOL
Trying to learn some old favorites as my mom died 2 days after 12th birthday. Never got to learn from her, so I started teaching my daughter young.
Linda
I put rivels in my ham and bean soup too! Yum
That’s a great idea Janet! Thanks for commenting and leaving us your tips. Appreciate it!
As a fellow Pennsylvanian (I live in Harrisburg) I have enjoyed rivels throughout my life. My mother passed a few years ago and I miss them. Hard to find restaurant’s that serve Homemade Chicken Corn soup or Chowder. So….when I saw this I think I fell in love with your cooking Mel. If you can make a good ham and bean soup…there might be a proposal in it for you…
I’m so sorry that your mother passed but it’s so nice to have those memories. What a great area we live in. 🙂 Yeah, I’m not sure of any fantastic restaurants that serve it. But if I do I’ll keep you in mind to let you know. Thanks so much for stopping by Troy!
I’m a Lancaster county girl, and we always put rivels in soups, Chicken corn and Ham an Bean. So wonderful to learn of a cook like you, Melanie. Good job, we need to pass these traditions down.
Yay, Mary! I adore Lancaster county. It’s one of my favorite local places to visit and I not-so-secretly have always wanted to live here. I definitely need to learn the Ham and Bean soup methods or sure. My mother in law makes it so I’ll have to have her pass on her recipe.
Thanks for the sweet words Mary. Appreciate it so much!
Great recipe! This is almost exactly how I make mine. I make a slightly bigger batch because everybody always wants some. And I add a little saffron sometimes. I ran out today though. I will be shucking a bunch of corn next few days to try and stock up for winter. I will have to pin this for my followers.
Awesome. Thanks for stopping by Wendy. We Pennsylvanians love our Chicken Corn soup. 🙂 Thanks so much for pinning. Have a wonderful day!
Have a recipe for chicken corn chowder or a chicken vegetable stew?
I do have a recipe for chicken corn chowder. Enjoy! https://gatherforbread.com/chicken-corn-chowder/
Tastes almost just like my grandmother’s recipe, who is Pennsylvania Dutch. We live in Hershey PA. Great recipe!
Tastes almost just like my grandmother’s recipe, who is Pennsylvania Dutch. We live in Hershey PA. Great recipe!
Excellent recipe! I’ve never had rivels turn out so well.