Chicken Foot Soup is a Jamaican restorative soup — chicken feet simmered for hours with yam, green bananas, dumplings, carrots, and pumpkin in a deeply flavored broth with scotch bonnet and thyme. It is the food of frugality and nourishment, using every part of the chicken, the soup that Jamaican mothers make when someone is sick or needs strengthening.
Chicken Foot Soup is a Jamaican tradition born of frugality — using chicken feet (a cheap, collagen-rich cut) to make a nourishing, restorative soup. The feet are simmered for hours with ground provisions (yam, green banana, pumpkin, carrots) and dumplings, creating a broth that is rich in collagen and deeply savory. It is the soup that Jamaican families make on Saturdays, the soup given to the sick, the soup believed to strengthen the body. The use of chicken feet reflects the African diaspora tradition of using every part of the animal.
A bowl of golden, slightly thickened broth with a chicken foot (or two), soft pieces of yam and pumpkin, a dumpling, and a carrot. The broth is rich, savory, with a silky texture from the dissolved collagen. The chicken feet are tender and gelatinous. It is the most nourishing, most comforting Jamaican soup.
The chicken feet must be cleaned thoroughly (outer skin removed, nails clipped). They are simmered for 60+ minutes — the long cooking dissolves the collagen (which thickens the broth and gives it its silky texture). The ground provisions are added in stages (hardest first). The scotch bonnet is added whole (for flavor, not heat).
Variations
Some add split peas; some add corn; some use different ground provisions; the soup thickness varies.
On the Palate
Where Chicken Foot Soup sits in the Jamaican flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
8 steps · 35 min active + 55 min waiting
- 15 min
Clean 12 chicken feet; remove outer skin; clip nails.
- 23 min
In a large pot, combine the feet with 2 liters water, 1 onion (quartered), 4 garlic cloves, 1 sprig thyme, 1 whole scotch bonnet (pierced), and 1 tsp allspice.
- 330 min
Simmer 30 minutes; skim any foam.
Watch outSkim the foam off the first simmer — leave it and the broth that should turn silky from the collagen goes cloudy and muddy instead.
- 45 min
Add 200 g yam (chunked), 200 g pumpkin (chunked), 1 green banana (sliced), and 2 carrots (sliced).
- 53 min
Add 6 small dumplings.
- 630 min
Simmer 30 more minutes until everything is tender.
Watch outSimmer long enough that the feet turn silky and the broth thickens from the collagen — cut it short and the soup stays thin and watery.
- 71 min
Season with salt and pepper.
- 81 min
Serve hot in deep bowls.
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