🍲 Freekeh Soup

Name: Freekeh Soup
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Levant · Middle East
Ingredients: 150 g cracked freekeh, rinsed; 1.5 l chicken broth; 300 g chicken breast or thighs, skinless; 1 onion, finely chopped; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 tsp ground cumin; Salt and black pepper; 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Origin: Levant · Middle East

318kcal

per serving · 350 g

91kcal

per 100 g

21 gProtein6 g / 100 g

10 gFat3 g / 100 g

35 gCarbs10 g / 100 g

Freekeh soup, shorbat freekeh, is a hearty broth of cracked freekeh — young green wheat that is roasted while still unripe — simmered in chicken broth with onion, cumin and shredded chicken. The grain stays slightly chewy and gives the soup its distinctive smoky flavour. It is served hot with a squeeze of lemon and is a familiar dish during Ramadan in Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Egypt.

Diets

✓

No porkfor halal, the meat must be halal-slaughtered

✓

Dairy-freeno milk, cheese, butter or yogurt in a typical recipe

✓

Low-carb10 g carbs per 100 g

Not vegetarianbecause of: chicken broth, chicken

Not veganbecause of: chicken broth, chicken

Contains glutenbecause of: freekeh

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten

What it is made of

freekehchicken brothchickenonioncuminlemon

Recipe

4 servings50 min

Ingredients

150 g cracked freekeh, rinsed
1.5 l chicken broth
300 g chicken breast or thighs, skinless
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
Salt and black pepper
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Method

Simmer the chicken in the broth for 20 minutes, then lift it out and shred it.
Meanwhile soften the onion in the olive oil for 5 minutes.
Add the freekeh and cumin to the onion and stir for 1 minute.
Pour in the hot broth and simmer for 20–25 minutes until the freekeh is tender.
Return the shredded chicken, season and serve with lemon wedges.

How to make it lighter

Skim the fat from the broth after simmering the chicken to keep the soup lighter.
Use skinless chicken breast instead of thighs for more protein per calorie.
A big bowl of this soup before the main course makes a filling start to the meal for relatively few calories.

History

Freekeh is made by harvesting durum wheat while green and burning off the straw and chaff, a method long practised in the Levant and Egypt. Freekeh soup is eaten today across the region, and is especially popular as an iftar starter during Ramadan.

Count it in one photo

Point your camera at the table — Me Nutrition recognises Freekeh Soup and every other dish, with calories and macros for each. Ate only half? Slide it.

Download on the App Store

Similar dishes

Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →