How to Make a Warming and Healing Chicken Herbal Soup
清雞湯 (qīng jī tāng). The direct translation is clear chicken soup, although this soup name refers to a variety of chicken soups. In general this name is for the clearest of chicken soups, although in this soup, it's drank without eating the herbs.
This is the soup for when you need more than comfort — you need to actually rebuild.
Four ingredients with one clear purpose: replenish Qi, nourish Blood, and support the Spleen and Lung after depletion. What separates this from a plain chicken and ginger soup is the codonopsis root — the gentle, broadly accessible herb that Chinese medicine practitioners reach for when someone needs sustained Qi-building support without the intensity of ginseng. Mild enough for everyday use, effective enough to have earned its place in the TCM pantry for centuries. This is a small pot with a big job — quiet, warming, and deeply restorative in exactly the way your body needs.
TIP:
The small volume of water in this soup means it is much more concentrated than a large family pot. This is intentional. The codonopsis in particular releases its Qi-building compounds slowly over a long simmer, and in a small pot those compounds are not diluted. The result is a broth that is almost medicinal in its concentration — which is exactly what a therapeutic individual-portion soup should be.

Ingredients
- 500 g of chicken breast (keep whole or slice that it fits into your soup pot)
- 5 whole dried red dates (pitted)
- 3 slices of fresh ginger
- 2 dried codonoposis root (deng shen or 党參)
- 4 cups of water

Cooking Instructions
- In a ceramic or glass pot, add in your fresh chicken, sliced ginger, dried red dates, and dried codonoposis root.
- Add in 4 cups of water and cover.
- Turn on the heat to high until that comes to a boil.
- Reduce heat to a low boil so that it barely bubbles and let that sit for 2 hours.
- Serve and enjoy!
- Use a ceramic or glass pot. This is the traditional way to boil and cook traditional Chinese medicine and herbs because these materials do not interact with the pot, where stainless steel or metal pots may.
The back story to this specific soup is that it was designed to:
- Help recover and replenish post menstruation
- Increase yang deficiency and rebalance the body
- Warm the body and improve blood and Qi flow
- Support older women and men to harmonize yin and yang in the body (especially women 40+ and men 50+)
- Reduce stress and relax the shen (spirit)
You can explore this article on "what it means to have cold hands and feet" and how this soup can help!
Would love to hear if you have any further suggestions and thoughts in the comments below!
The variations
There are so many variations of this soup available! You can also add all these other ingredients to change it up. They are all warming, so it essentially keeps the nature of the soup.
Codonopsis roots (dang shen 党参) help boost qi, strengthens spleen and lungs, and supports immunity. This herb is sometimes referred to as "poor man's ginseng" as it's most cost effective, but less stimulating. It slowly rebuilds energy, especially for busy, stressed people.
Reishi mushrooms (ling zhi 灵芝) help calm the mind, nourish heart and lung qi, support immunity and resilience. Reishi helps with emotional calm and restful sleep, while the body rebuilds strength.
Dang gui helps to tonify and nourish blood, improve circulation, and warms the body. It is sometimes called “The women’s herb” because it is famous for supporting menstrual health and recovery.
Dried tangerine peels help move qi, harmonizes digestion, clear dampness, clears phlegm from the body. It helps your body digest the soup, absorb nutrients, and prevents heaviness or bloating.

Reishi mushrooms are wonderful for nourishing the heart and lungs, also often used for overall maintaining good health.
These codonopsis roots from Amazon are a good choice to add to this soup. I will add 1-2 pieces in 8-10 cups of water soup.
I also get my dried tangerine peels from either Amazon or from souperwell (both highly reliable sources) here.
I also get my dried red dates from either Amazon or from souperwell (both highly reliable sources) here.











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