Chicken powder and bouillon are both great flavor bases for soup season. While their labels might look similar, the two ingredients are quite different. Typically, those little bouillon cubes are packed with other ingredients and flavors like onion powder, garlic powder, celery, turmeric and parsley. Chicken powder, on the other hand, is made without additional spices. With its simple, concentrated flavor, chicken powder is a much more versatile ingredient since it’s formulated without mirepoix — the blend of aromatics that creates the foundation for some soup recipes. Keep in mind, chicken powder and bouillon have different uses, and you can’t really swap one for the other, in most cases.
Chicken powder is popularly used in Chinese cooking. Like bouillon cubes, the savory ingredient delivers a heavy punch of umami. Chef Jet Tila counts chicken powder among his top must-haves for home cooks, and Mayor of Flavortown Guy Fieri can’t go without the pantry staple since it amps up stews, rice dishes, and chicken recipes.
Bouillon versus powder
About the size of a sugar cube, bouillon cubes work like magic to build a basic broth. Drop one in a pot of boiling water, and it will release the dehydrated flavors of chicken (or beef or shrimp) and veggies, for an instant start to soups and stews. For a more stripped-down ingredient list, you can make your own bouillon at home. These cubes last much longer than a box of store-bought stock, which holds up a mere four to five days. Bouillon is particularly popular in many Latin American and West African cuisines
Chicken powders are primarily made of dehydrated chicken meat and a few other flavorings like chicken fat, maltodextrin, monosodium glutamate, sugar, salt, and yeast. With chicken powder, you can achieve a purely poultry flavor, unencumbered by additional components like veggies and herbs. It’s still a substantial ingredient for a flavorful broth, but the powder ultimately allows you more control of the taste.
