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A bowl of canja, Portuguese chicken soup.
Soups

Canja (Portuguese Chicken Soup with Couscous)

Leonor Perreira · Updated Nov 5, 2026
Prep
10 min
Total
2 h 10 min
Servings
8
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Canja is the soup Portuguese families make when someone is ill or the weather turns cold: a golden broth with shredded chicken and a touch of mint. This version uses couscous instead of the usual rice.

Recipe

Canja

A free-range hen cooked slowly with carrot, onion and garlic, then couscous and mint at the end. Simple and nourishing, the homemade soup for cold days.

Ingredients

8 servings

Method

  1. 1
    Cut the hen into smaller pieces.
  2. 2
    Put a large pot of water on the heat with the peeled garlic cloves, the carrot and the peeled onion.
  3. 3
    When it boils, add the hen and the stock cube and season with salt.
  4. 4
    Cook for about 45 minutes, or until the meat is tender. Take off the heat and strain the broth.
  6. 5
    Set aside the hen, the giblets and the carrot.
  7. 6
    Bring the broth back to the heat and cook the couscous in it, about 15 minutes.
  8. 7
    Roughly shred the hen.
  9. 8
    Add the cooked carrot, cut into small cubes, and the shredded hen to the broth with the couscous. Serve with a few mint leaves.
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A better broth

A whole bird, bones and skin included, gives the broth its flavor. Keep it at a gentle simmer for at least 45 minutes rather than a hard boil, so the broth stays clear and golden.

Rice is the traditional choice (carolino rice, which thickens the broth a little), and small pasta shapes work too. Couscous, as here, cooks quickly and soaks up the broth.

Storing

Canja keeps in a closed container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. To freeze it, let it cool completely and leave space at the top of the container; it keeps for 2 to 3 months. Freeze the broth without the couscous, which goes mushy when thawed, and cook fresh couscous in it when you reheat it. Bring it to a full boil when reheating.

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