As we move into the winter months and everyone is starting to get sick again, I start to eye chicken noodle soup as a fortifying meal for the sick people in our house. With two small children, I’ll take every tool I can think of to get them back to healthy.
This soup is better than any chicken noodle soup I have tasted. It’s probably not the best chicken noodle soup, since that’d be outright boastful. However, it is the best I have made, the best I have tasted, and I would put it up against anyone’s recipe just to compare.
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What Makes This Soup Special?
Start With Quality Broth: The best chicken broth is bone broth made with a lot of chicken bones, vegetables, seasoning, and enough salt to make it worth eating. Balancing the saltiness of the liquid in the end is the key to a tasty bone broth. See our recipe for Bone Broth for more information.
If you need to use bullion, I suggest Better Than Bouillon as opposed a dry bullion. It gives an extra dimension to the chicken flavor of the broth, which is why I use it for everything soup related.
Use Well Seasoned Chicken: The quality of the chicken in the soup adds a good amount of umami to the soup in the end. I love to use all the meat from a roasted chicken, the perfectly cooked kind you can find at most grocery stores. Those perfectly moist, perfectly seasoned birds are the perfect source of chicken for this soup, and the flavor reflects it.
If you don’t have a whole bird to work with, check our Perfect Chicken Breast recipe to cook your own breast to use. Just avoid using canned chicken if at all possible, it has a quality I call “Can Stank” that can affect the entire flavor of the soup.
Quality Noodles: Any type of noodles will do, but I suggest using the handcrafted variety. They come out softer and add another layer of flavor as the cook in the broth. Egg Noodles also work rather well and come out just as soft in the end but they drink up a lot of broth as they cook.
Soup Vegetables: The type of vegetables used in the soup is key to this amazing flavor profile. Starting with the onion choice, leeks are the best option for soup flavor. Slightly sweet, but still oniony, it’s perfect. Add the fact that most people in the U.S. haven’t tasted leeks before, it give this soup a unique flavor all its own. Yellow onions, sweet onions, or shallots could also be used in a pinch.
Two to four cloves garlic are used to add that pungent aroma to the soup, which has the added benefit of making your kitchen smell wonderful. They balance the sweetness of the leeks very well.
Past that, celery and carrots bring up the rear and give you something to chew on, improving the texture significantly. They also add a lot of flavor to the soup as they cook, like every other ingredient in the recipe.
What Equipment Do I Need To Make Chicken Noodle Soup From Scratch?
- Two Knives
- Cutting Board
- Stock Pot
- Ladle
How Do I Make Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup?
Chop Leeks and Get Them Cooking
- Melt three tablespoons of butter over medium heat while you chop the Leek. They can get pretty big, but they cook down nicely. I chop them horizontally into 1/4″ strips, then run the knife over them a few times to reduce the size more. Toss it in the pot and let them cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Mince 4 garlic cloves and set them aside. Use fresh garlic, trust me it’s got a lot more flavor than the stuff in the jar, which has basically been pickled. You can find peeled garlic in most Asian markets, taking a lot of the work out of it.
- With about 2 minutes left, toss in minced garlic. Stir constantly since you don’t want to burn the garlic. After 2 minutes of sautéing, add two cups of broth to stop the cooking.
- If you’re using a roasted or rotisserie chicken, carve off the breast and thighs while the leek cooks. If your using cooked, skinless chicken breast, just dive in. Chop the meat into bite-sized pieces as best you can. I usually cut them lengthwise into strips, then roughly chop them horizontally to finish. Transfer chicken to a bowl for the next step.
Chop the Vegetables
Peel the carrots and wash the celery. We are looking for 1/2″ cubes of vegetables, so I usually split the carrots into halves or quarters, then chop them. For the celery, I cut off the tops and bottoms (white part), split the celery stalk lengthwise, and then chop them, saving time.
Add the Broth & Vegetables
- Add the remaining broth along with the vegetables. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes. Season with black pepper at this point so it infuses into the broth and loses its spice. Half to one teaspoon of pepper is plenty for us.
Add the Noodles & Chicken
- When the vegetables are finished cooking, add the chicken meat and noodles. Cook the noodles as directed. Egg noodles take almost no time, but regular wheat noodles take up to 15 minutes. Start the cooking time when the liquid returns to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. It’s a common misconception that you need to rolling boil noodles to get them done, simmer works just as well but is gentler on the already cooked ingredients.
- If you want to season with fresh herbs now, go for it. I tried to keep the flavors simple, but if you want to add fresh thyme, bay leaf, or other seasonings, go for it. I don’t really like bay leaves in soup, and most broths have the flavor infused into it already. To each their own!
- Season with salt one last time to make sure this chicken soup is salty enough.
Season and Serve with Fresh Parsley
If you have it on hand, chop some flat-leaf parsley and sprinkle it over the top before serving. It adds a nice bright note to the soup flavor, but isn’t entirely necessary!
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup- (One Pot!)
Equipment
- Big Stock Pot
- Chef Knife or Paring Knife
- Cutting Board
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp Butter
- 1 Leek Diced
- 2 cloves Garlic Minced
- 12 cups Bone Broth stock or broth works too
- 2 Cups Carrots Diced
- 3 Ribs Celery Diced
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1-2 lbs Chicken Meat Cooked, Diced. (2 Breast, 2 thighs is plenty)
- 1 lb Noodles
- Parsely to finish
Instructions
- In a stock pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leeks and saute for 10 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid burning. During the last two minutes, add the garlic and stir to cook slightly. Be careful not to burn the garlic.3 Tbsp Butter, 1 Leek, 2 cloves Garlic
- Stir in the Bone Broth to stop the cooking. Add the carrots, celery, and black pepper and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes.12 cups Bone Broth, 2 Cups Carrots, 3 Ribs Celery, 1 tsp Black Pepper
- After the simmer is complete, add the chicken and noodles. Stir to combine and simmer until the noodles are cooked through.1-2 lbs Chicken Meat, 1 lb Noodles
- Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley and serve immediately.Parsely
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, an Instant Pot is a great way to cook this homemade soup. Use the saute setting on low to get everything cooking for maximum success. Set it to Saute Medium when you move to boiling the liquids to speed up the process, and then reduce it to Saute Low to simmer. It should come out perfectly.
You can absolutely freeze chicken noodle soup, and it reheats really well in the microwave. Just allow extra headspace in your container for expansion of the liquid as it freezes.
Sealed in a leftover container and refrigerated properly, this soup should last 7 days since everything cooked together for a long time. In the freezer it should last for a least 3 months before off flavors begin to form.
I would say yes and no, depending on how it’s made. With the high sodium content and added preservatives in most canned soups, it’s a stretch to call them healthy. However, homemade chicken noodle soup made with bone broth and fresh vegetables is a nutrient-dense meal that is great when your body needs a pick-me-up.
You can absolutely add cooked noodles to this soup. Just remember, the noodles in this recipe are cooked in the broth which adds a punch of flavor to the noodles and condenses the soup as they absorb the broth. The noodle water also stays in the pot, adding thickness to the broth.
If you are adding cooked noodles, add them cold and allow them to warm up in the soup which should maximize the flavor mixing. Season to taste after adding them to account for any changes.
Bone Broth is a soup base made by cooking animal bones in acidic water. The heated acid, in this case, vinegar leeches the minerals from the bones into the broth, creating a nutrient-dense broth with an extra thick mouthfeel. Bone broth is a superfood compared to regular chicken stock, and making it at home is a great way to get extra use out of chicken bone and scraps. Check out our recipe for Bone Broth to see how easy it is.
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