Use free range or stewing chicken. If you have to substitute regular chicken from the grocery, I suggest using chicken bone broth instead of plain water for making the soup.The length of the cooking time depends largely on the kind of chicken you use. Stewing chicken will take more than an hour to cook while regular grocery chicken should be done in 30 to 40 minutes. The one hour cooking time specified below is based on how long it takes to cook a free range chicken to tenderness.