Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Corn Soup with Rivels
Chicken thighs and breast poached in broth with the stripped corn cobs, then pea-size egg-and-flour rivels and fresh corn, half cut and half grated, simmered until tender, finished with shredded chicken and parsley and topped with chopped hard-cooked egg.
Chicken corn soup is a Pennsylvania Dutch standard. Wikipedia lists it among the region's dishes, made with chicken, corn, hard-boiled eggs and egg noodles, sometimes with saffron, which has been grown in Pennsylvania Dutch country since the early 19th century, and sometimes with rivels. Rivels (riwwels) are tiny dumplings described as "large crumbs," made by rubbing egg and flour between the fingers; Wikipedia, citing the food historian William Woys Weaver, says the name comes from a German verb meaning "to rub," and that rivels are one of the starches used to thicken Pennsylvania Dutch soups.
America's Test Kitchen's Christie Morrison built this version for Cook's Country around sweet corn used three ways: the stripped cobs steep in the broth while the chicken poaches, half the kernels are grated to release their juice and starch, and the rest are cooked just until crisp-tender. Her rivels are a firm egg dough with chives, pinched into pea-size pieces that ATK says most closely resemble German spaetzle.
Why it works the kitchen science
Corn three ways
Simmering the bare cobs flavors the broth, grating half the kernels releases sweet milky juice and starch that lightly thickens the soup, and the cut kernels stay crisp-tender.
A stiff dough for rivels
A firm egg dough holds together as tiny pinched pieces, so they cook into chewy little dumplings and add body instead of dissolving into paste.
Step by step
- Step 1
Make the rivel dough: mix the flour, chives and salt in a bowl, make a well, add the eggs and work them in with a fork, then your hands. The dough will be very firm. Knead it on a lightly floured counter until smooth, about 1 minute, return it to the bowl, cover and let it rest while you start the soup.
- Step 2
Cut the kernels off 2 ears of corn into a bowl. Grate the other 2 ears on the large holes of a box grater into the same bowl. Keep all 4 cobs.
- Step 3
Melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook the onion, celery, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper until lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Step 4
Add the broth, thighs and cobs and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, 25 minutes. Add the breast and simmer until it reads 165°F, about 20 minutes more.
- Step 5
Take the pot off the heat, discard the cobs and move the chicken to a plate. Pinch off pea-size pieces of dough and drop them into the soup, then stir in all the corn and its juice.
- Step 6
Bring back to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the corn is just tender, about 25 minutes, stirring now and then so the rivels don't stick.
- Step 7
Shred the chicken with two forks, discarding the bones, and stir it in until heated through, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley, season with salt and pepper and serve topped with the chopped hard-cooked eggs.
Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Corn Soup with Rivels
Serves 6 · about 10 cups · 2 hr total
Rivels
- 1 1/4 cups (6 1/4 oz) all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp minced fresh chives
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Soup
- 4 ears corn, husks and silk removed
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 onion, chopped fine
- 2 celery ribs, chopped fine
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 2 bone-in chicken thighs (5 to 7 oz each), skin removed, trimmed
- 1 bone-in split chicken breast (10 to 12 oz), skin removed, trimmed
- 2 tbsp minced fresh parsley
- 2 hard-cooked large eggs, chopped
Method
- Make the rivel dough: mix the flour, chives and salt in a bowl, make a well, add the eggs and work them in with a fork, then your hands. The dough will be very firm. Knead it on a lightly floured counter until smooth, about 1 minute, return it to the bowl, cover and let it rest while you start the soup.
- Cut the kernels off 2 ears of corn into a bowl. Grate the other 2 ears on the large holes of a box grater into the same bowl. Keep all 4 cobs.
- Melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook the onion, celery, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper until lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the broth, thighs and cobs and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, 25 minutes. Add the breast and simmer until it reads 165°F, about 20 minutes more.
- Take the pot off the heat, discard the cobs and move the chicken to a plate. Pinch off pea-size pieces of dough and drop them into the soup, then stir in all the corn and its juice.
- Bring back to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the corn is just tender, about 25 minutes, stirring now and then so the rivels don't stick.
- Shred the chicken with two forks, discarding the bones, and stir it in until heated through, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley, season with salt and pepper and serve topped with the chopped hard-cooked eggs.
Adapted from Christie Morrison, "Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken and Corn Soup", America's Test Kitchen (Cook's Country, October/November 2015; published August 11, 2015), serves 6. We follow it as written: rivel dough of 1 1/4 cups flour, 2 tbsp chives, 3/4 tsp salt and 2 eggs, kneaded about 1 minute and rested; kernels cut from 2 ears and 2 ears grated; onion and celery browned in 2 tbsp butter 5 to 7 minutes; 8 cups broth, 2 skinless thighs and the cobs simmered partially covered 25 minutes; a skinless split breast about 20 minutes more; rivels and corn simmered partially covered about 25 minutes; chicken returned 3 to 5 minutes; parsley and chopped hard-cooked eggs. ATK takes the breast to 160°F; we take it to 165°F (USDA FSIS). America's Test Kitchen. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Use fresh corn in season: the recipe depends on the bare cobs and the juice of the grated kernels, which frozen corn can't give you.
- Pinch the rivels small; they swell as they cook.
- Stir gently but often after the rivels go in; they settle and stick to the bottom.
- Leftovers thicken as the rivels absorb broth; thin with broth and reheat to a rolling boil (USDA FSIS).
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Rivels are made with whole eggs. Disputed: Wikipedia, citing Weaver, says egg yolk and flour are rubbed together; ATK uses whole eggs and kneads a dough.
- Chicken corn soup has noodles, not rivels. Disputed: Wikipedia lists egg noodles and says rivels are sometimes added; ATK uses rivels only.
- Saffron belongs in it. Disputed: Wikipedia says sometimes; ATK leaves it out.
- "Rivel" means "to rub." Documented as Wikipedia's account, citing William Woys Weaver.
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