
(Confinement) Deer Antler Healing Soup
(Confinement) Deer Antler Healing Soup
Soup Name:
(Confinement) Deer Antler Healing Soup
Traditional Chinese Name:
鹿茸高麗參雞湯 (Lù róng gāo lì cān Jī tāng)
This soup is very warming in nature and sweet to taste.
For videos, visit us on YouTube.
A pretty traditional (although the ingredients aren’t easy to find) Chinese confinement soup. High quality Korean ginseng is not a cooling ingredient and is extremely beneficial in aiding the body in healing. You can really taste the fire or “hotness” in this soup as it literally does warm your body. While this soup does not contain your more mainstream ingredients, it is a traditional recipe that is passed down from generation to generation. There are a few variations of this soup, but a majority of the time, the key ingredients are always there.
For more information on what confinement is and the Chinese ingredients associated with confinement, please see our Confinement Soups page.
This is what dried deer antler’s look like. Small, ovalish, and brown thinly sliced wood-like herbs that are hard to texture and feel. This ingredient is designed for warming the Yang and targets vital essence and blood, which is why it’s so commonly used for confinement, healing, and post surgeries.
To be honest, I don’t commonly use this Chinese medicine in soups, but really only for confinement purposes.

Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 2 hours
Total time: 2 hours 30 mins
Serves: 2 bowls
1 fresh whole chicken, prepared
1 pound of fresh pork shank
5-6 slices of deer antler, washed
5-6 slices of Korean ginseng, washed
5 large dried red dates
1 L of boiling hot water
- Blanch the pork and chicken in a pot of boiling water
- In a separate pot of boiling water, add all the ingredients together and boil on high heat for 30 minutes
- Here you can either turn your soup onto medium and let it continue to simmer for another 2 hours or transfer soup into a ceramic pot and double boil for 2 hours (the objective to intensive the flavor of the soup with the Chinese herbs)
- Serve hot
- This soup is warming and healing
- Great for confinement, post surgery, and healing
- It is designed to remove “wind” from the body and particularly helpful for nourishing essence and blood
- Both deer antlers and Korean Ginseng are super warming ingredients
- This tonic (literally that’s what I call it rather than a soup) targets the kidneys and liver (vital parts in TCM)
For videos, visit us on YouTube.

A selection of confinement Chinese Soups
What is confinement and confinement stories
Baby 5 & 6 Confinement story
Some confinement foods for your tummy!
The DO's and DON'T's of confinement
CHECK OUT OTHER SIMILAR HEALING HERBAL SOUPS
Learn more about how these types of teas and soups can help improve your overall blood circulation and how you actually know that it's working?
It's not a perfect science (still working to perfect it), but I'd say the methodology and thinking is sound 🙂
Would love to hear your thoughts!