Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
Soothe your soul with a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup! This is the ultimate comfort food and it couldn’t be easier to make and loaded with nourishment. Follow this simple recipe for the best chicken noodle soup recipe you’ve ever tasted, no joke!
BENEFITS OF CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
Chicken noodle soup is so much more than just a comforting and delicious meal. It’s also packed with health benefits. The chicken in the soup is delicious, healthy as well as aa great source of protein. The noodles provide carbohydrates, the body’s primary energy source. And the vegetables in the soup, like carrots, celery, and onions, are packed with essential vitamins and minerals. All in all, it’s the perfect meal for anyone feeling under the weather or just as a nutritious, tasty meal.
TIPS & TRICKS
- Cook the noodles or pasta separately in boiling salted water, if you cook them in the broth you can end up with a starchy, cloudy end result that lacks in flavour.
- Make your own stock for the best results.
- You can use noodles or different pasta shapes, just undercook them for 1 or 2 minutes less than the packet instructions.
CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
Chicken noodle soup is a tasty and comforting dish perfect for any season. It's easy to make, comforting, and full of delicious flavours. This recipe is a fresh, spring version of chicken noodle soup, it's made with succulent chicken, fresh vegetables, and noodles, in a rich chicken broth. It's perfect to eat all year round or if you're feeling a bit under the weather. It's a great option for a family dinner or a night in. This recipe is easy to make. It can also be made in advance and reheated for a quick and easy meal.
Ingredients
- 1 x whole chicken
- 1 x white onion 330g / 11.6oz
- 3 x carrots 400g / 14.1oz
- 2 x sticks of celery
- 2.5 litres of water
- Small handfull parsley stems
- 2/3 small stems of sage
- 1 x stem rosemary
- Small bunch of thyme
- 8 x black pepper corns
- 2 x bay leaves
- 4 x cloves
- 1 x star anise
- Salt to taste
- Dried noodles or pasta (around 80g per portion)
Instructions
- Break a whole chicken down into individual parts, legs, breasts, wings, carcass and feet.
- Place the carcase, wings and feet onto a roasting tray with a rack and roast at 220c / 430f for at least 1 hour, 30 minutes in give everything a flip to get an even roast.
- Once roasted place all the chicken pieces into a large saucepan and cover with 2.5 litres / 2.6 quarts of cold water. Place that pan onto your stovetop and onto a high heat, bring to a boil then simmer for 5 minutes.
- Pour out the fat into a dish and save for later then de-glaze the roasting tray with some boiling water and a wooden spoon and pour the juices into the stock pan.
- Skim off any fat and foam that comes to the surface of the stock then place an oven-safe lid or aluminium foil on top and load the whole pan into a 120c / 250f oven for at least 3 hours.
- Chop the onion into a fine dice, the carrot into a medium dice and the celery into pieces around twice the size of the carrot.
- Once your stock has had the minimum time of 3 hours in the oven, bring it out and skim off any more fat and impurities that have come to the surface. Then and in all the vegetable peelings and scraps, and all the aromatics listed above. (If you want to cook your stock for longer then just add the vegetable scraps and aromatics for the last hour of cooking, by doing this you keep the fresh individual flavours, if your do it for longer then you can end up with a kind of overcooked cabbage-like flavour in the stock).
- Once your stock has started its final hour of cooking, generously salt the chicken breasts and legs all over and leave to sit for 10-15 minutes.
- Preheat a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or dutch oven on a medium heat, add the chicken fat and the pieces of chicken skin side down, leave them to seal for at least 5 minutes. Brown the chicken in the pan until you have an even golden crust coating the chicken, then pull them out and set to one side.
- Drain the fat from the pan and add in all the chopped vegetables and a heavy pinch of salt, sweat the vegetables on a low heat for 10 minutes to de-glaze the base of the pan.
- After the final hour of cooking the stock, strain it through a fine mesh strainer into the other saucepan, bring to a simmer and add the chicken pieces in, simmer for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes pull the chicken pieces out and shred the meat into bite-sized pieces, optionally with the skin chop it into a fine dice, add all the shredded chicken back to the broth and season to taste.
- Cook noodles or pasta to just under package instructions, drain and rinse with a little cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Add noodles or pasta to a serving bowl and spoon the hot broth over the top.
Notes
EQUIPMENT
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Medium saucepan + oven-safe lid (4 litre / 4 quart)
- Large saucepan (5 litre / 5 quart or larger)
- Wooden spoon
FAQ
Can chicken noodle soup be frozen? Yes
Where did chicken noodle soup originate? China
Which chicken noodle soup is the best? This recipe!
Is chicken noodle soup good for weight loss? Yes, chicken is a lean meat and this recipe contains a lot of vegetables.
Can I make chicken noodle soup gluten-free? Yes, use rice noodles instead of wheat noodles.