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What do you eat when you're sick?
From chicken noodle soup to congee, no matter what cuisine or culture, what do you eat when you're sick? Since everyone around me is getting ill, I'm looking to expand my "sick food" recipes for drop off. Bonus points if it's easy on digestion and will keep in the fridge/freezer for awhile.
Chicken congee is my go to because it's simple and can easily be dressed up or down.
Thanks for all the replies! I love learning about different food (and beverages) so I hope you find something new to try yourselves.
Pho, miso soup or Ramen
Getting sick does weird things to my palate, even if my head isn't congested. If I'm out on the road, losing my taste for all the complicated and spicy foods that I can't get at home is often the first sign I'm coming down with something. I adore pho, but pho seasonings often become unappealing to me when I'm ill, particularly the star anise.
Miso and ramen soups tend to be too simple and salty for my taste when I'm feeling unwell, or at least, the ones available locally.
Mexican chicken soup seems to be the exception, but this is a perfect example of the psychology of eating. Food as medicine is more about what you associate with feelings of comfort and relief.
Yup. Our Vietnamese place also sells an amazing dumpling soup, which is a lot like wonton soup, but with proper dumplings and a mushroom/beef broth.
Pho is the ambrosia of the gods and heals everything.
Pastina, aka Italian penicillin. Specifically Ronzoni brand, which has sadly been discontinued
Teeny tiny star pasta, like the diameter of cooked rice. Super quick to cook. As a kid, we’d just add a butter, salt, and a touch of milk to loosen it up a bit. For a heartier meal, you can scramble in an egg at the end while still on the burner - it coats the Pastina a bit, still generally fluffy with individual bits - then top with Parmesan cheese and black pepper. Some people make full soups with it.
I remember this pasta! I didn't realize it was discontinued. Is there a different brand you like? Definitely adding this to my repertoire, thank you.
No replacement for me yet. I hoarded as much as I could find after the announcement and have been rationing…
There’s a few companies making a star shaped Stelline style, but it’s noticeably larger and a totally different experience. Some say the acini de pepe style pasta is similar enough. Barilla apparently makes a Pastina that looks similar in photos, but I haven’t found it in stores so can’t confirm it’s a drop-in replacement.
You got me looking into this, which sparked a totally different but related Tildes topic. Thank you!
Edit: It looks like Barilla makes a very close equivalent.
My kids HATE the acini de pepe and loved the Ronzoni. I only notice that it takes nearly twice as long to cook because its much thicker.
I love chicken noodle soup, but not the nice fancy ones. No, it needs to be the artificial lipton kind which just seems optimised for sick people (maybe it's the boatload of salt).
But otherwise plain congee with some pickled mustard greens works great too.
I also assume the salt works like a Gatorade.
My wife just had UPPP surgery and has been stuck on a mostly liquid diet for the past two weeks. Prior to the surgery I cooked large batches of chicken and beef bone broth which I froze using large ice cube molds. Then while she was recovering I'd just take a cube or two out of the freezer and make soup or something with it.
The first night I made roasted garlic mashed potatoes as part of dinner for my son and me, and then mixed the leftovers with the chicken stock and some cream into almost a vichyssoise for my wife. That worked out really well for a few days, especially since I could keep the mashed potatoes and stock separate then just combine on the fly as needed.
I turned 5lb of onions into caramelized onion jam at one point and used that sporadically with the beef broth to make French onion soup. Again the onions can be caramelized ahead of time and then frozen into individual portions where you're just combining with a stock cube for one cup of soup at a time.
I had miso paste in the back of the fridge and some hondashi powder in the pantry, so we did miso soup one night with tofu. That was crazy easy and tasty too.
Aside from that, she's been eating a lot of applesauce, mac and cheese, and cream of wheat. Personally I'd rather have grits than cream of wheat, but to each their own.
I hope your wife is recovering well. Thanks for the comprehensive list as well! Do you keep the frozen stock cubes in the mold or do you unmold them and store in a different container?
I pop them out of the mold and just keep the frozen cubes in a ziplock bag. There's always a lot more broth than cube space so I have to freeze it in batches.
If I'm very sick I normally lose my appetite or have a sensitive stomach. So ill force myself to each soup for the nutrients and liquid. Toast and butter. Cereal and milk. Both of these are simple to prepare and comfortable on the soul, so I find myself eating them too
Aside from soup, I always find myself craving fresh fruits! Apples, grapes, melons... almost anything crisp and juicy.
Thank you for this. I've been so resigned to making smoothie kits that I've neglected normal fresh fruit...
All the soups. Spicy when congested.
Homemade chicken soup is the best, preferrably with a matzah ball. Pho ranks #2. Then spicy packet ramen with homemade chicken stock instead of half the water. Then other soups like miso.
There's also a Chinese takeout place near me that makes hommade spicy mustard. Packs a whallop, it's mostly just ground mustard seed and horseradish. Few dabs of that on anything will clear even the stuffiest noses.
After the worst has subsided, typically like a ceasar salad with lots of spinach, cold pasta, tomatos, croutons, parm cheese.
I'm also a huge soup lover, I make them all winter and I save a little from each batch to freeze in case of emergency. Here are a few favorites:
Coconut Curry Butternut Squash
Corn Chowder
Roasted Tomato *Pardon the IG link here, this recipe used to be on Whisk but it looks like they got bought by... Samsung?? and you can no longer view recipes without signing in :(
Going to try to make that spicy mustard. Homemade condiments are a great idea!
All the spicy soups, the spicy chicken soup my mom makes (with all the Indian spices) along with rasam (an spicy tamarind soup) really clears out the sinuses.
Recently discovered yujacha, a Korean tea made from yuja (or yuzu) citrus. Super comforting to drink in the cold and I've been drinking it again now that I've got a cold and its so nice.
Korean cuisine is underappreciated as a source of comforting recipes. They've got cold-weather eating and food-as-medicine nailed down. Fermented banchan are great for helping to restore gut health after a round of antibiotics. The teas, stews, soups and other winter season Korean foods just make me feel better in general during the dark months when everyone is getting sick.
I just had Korean food yesterday because a) I love Korean food, b) the weather was absolutely miserable and called for a spicy broth, and c) to help with some sinus blockage.
To add to the spicy soup discussion: there's a chicken tortilla soup at a local Tex Mex restaurant in my city that does me right every time.
Caldo de Pollo, traditional Mexican chicken soup, heavy on the garlic, chili pepper, cilantro, cinnamon, oregano, and lime, is the perfect cure for what ails you. I grew up on the weakly flavored, tepid broth and mealy matzo ball Jewish version of chicken soup, and there's no comparison to the healing and spirit-lifting power of Mexican chicken soup. It's sunshine in a bowl for when you're feeling weakest. I've gone from wracking chills and fever to just fine after a dose of this. Even if your head is stuffed up to the point where it feels like you've got a concrete bowling ball on your neck, Caldo de Pollo still has flavor.
I keep the magic soup base in the freezer for the next bout of whatever's going around, and just throw in fresh toppings, shredded chicken breast, and vegetables when it's time.
Thank you for including how you prepare this from frozen! Absolutely going to add this to my menu.
My go to is usually a hot toddy with a couple added crushed cloves, and mandarin oranges. Not much, but does the trick for me.
Had to look this up and it looks delicious. Definitely going to keep some ingredients on hand for this~
I am also a soup kinda guy. But for some reason every time I am sick, I get really strong chocolate cravings. So yeah. Snickers/ M&Ms are my food of choice
I thought I was alone on the chocolate cravings while being sick. May I suggest champorado? It's a Filipino chocolate rice pudding and it keeps pretty well. I understand if it's just too much effort when you're sick though!
Thanks for the recommendation. I’m in south east Asia right now anyways, maybe I’ll find this somewhere
Chicken congee, which I stockpile in the chest freezer. If I can crowbar my body out of bed and into the car, it's pho or ramen. Pho is lighter on the stomach.
How are you storing your congee?
A ~5 cup container, good for several meals. After being defrosted it tends to separate, but a good stir will bring it almost to its original texture.
When I'm sick, I make a huge pot of HK Borscht! It's hearty, tangy, and tomatoey. The cabbage kind of disintegrates and thickens the soup, so I like to reserve a third of it, along with all of the potatoes, until the last 30 mins of simmering. Sometimes I use all oxtail, or all stew meat, depending on my budget and how tired I am because oxtail takes longer to prepare. I don't use basil as listed in the recipe, and I like using ketchup in lieu of white vinegar. I taste the soup before adding the brown sugar to make sure it's not too sweet.
At home, I crave my mom's Chinese Pork and Daikon Radish Soup. It's simple yet flavorful. However, daikon might be a turnoff for those who aren't familiar with it. Because it's cruciferous, it makes the whole house smelly farty while the pot simmers away! 😅 I find the actual flavor of the softened radish mild and sweet. My mom uses only pork neck bones, which require at least one hand and vigorous gnawing. Spare ribs are probably easier to store and eat. I like to add a scoop of cooked white rice to my bowl before serving.
Plant-based friends might enjoy White Bean and Hominy Green Chili. Hominy has a bouncy texture and permeates the broth with corn flavor. A recipe would be something like this. I like adding vegan ground beef, which vegans/vegetarians may not find necessary. You also don't need the masa and almond milk slurry; I just use a bit of corn starch for a looser chili. Rather than sweating the poblano peppers, I prefer to roast them. I also use half a can of diced jalapeno instead of fresh. If your recipient has a sore throat, you might want to double the poblano and omit the jalapeno entirely.
Thank you for the HK Borscht recipe! I've never loved many of the beet-heavy versions because they're too sweet and need gobs of sour cream for balance. I suspect most commercially available beets are now much sweeter than the historical roots that borscht recipes evolved around.
I haven't tried traditional borscht (beets aren't my favorite), but I can see how the earthy sweetness would require adding other ingredients to balance it out. With the Cantonese adaptation, there are also ingredients that give off sweetness. I still find it necessary to add sugar to tame the acid. It doesn't need much though. You could try adding only half of the amount listed, then go from there. Hope you like it!
If it's any kind of stomach illness I wont get much more down than broth, saltines and maybe some ginger ale.
Spicy buffalo wings. Thai or Indian food. I love anything that clears my sinuses and reminds me what flavor is.
If you want to nuke your sinuses with spice, may I suggest ginger tea? Specifically Prince of Peace Ginger Honey Crystals. I can taste the spice even when I'm sick and unable to taste much of anything else.
Thank you for reminding me about ginger tea - we keep our own brew around all the time, so I didn't even think about it as a "drink when sick", even though it's good for a raw throat or upset stomach.
You can make your own ginger tea concentrate and keep it in the 'fridge or freezer. We'll usually buy a pound or two of roots, wash them without peeling, slice thinly, cover with 2 times the volume of water, bring to a boil, then simmer until the water is reduced by half.
Strained and cooled, the concentrate is good in the refrigerator for 2 - 3 months. The boiled ginger pieces can still be used in cooking, with a less potent flavor - we'll throw those in the freezer and pull out a handful whenever recipes seem to need a little ginger taste.
Just add water to desired dilution (we like it strong, so about 1 part ginger concentrate to 3 - 4 parts water), reheat, and add sweeteners/lemon to taste.
Toast with jelly/jam was always a staple for me. I typically don't have an appetite so it's light, but still kind of hearty and filling in a way? Plus the sweetness is nice.
Honey/cinnamon toast is also great!
I just got COVID for the first time and right now I'm eating nothing. It's miserable but I can't get my ass out of bed, at least I'll lose some of the holiday weight
soup and lots of fruit.
Maybe some tortellini with only butter.
But mostly soup during the evening and fruit during the day.
Also drinking lots of water
I don't really have a specific food that I eat when I'm sick, but since I'm most often taking care of myself I do things that are easiest. That usually means just eating bread or the most basic microwave meals.