What’s in Chicken Noodle Soup?
It doesn’t take many ingredients or complicated ingredients to make homemade chicken noodle soup. You only need chicken, a few basic veggies, herbs, and spices to make chicken noodle soup. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
- Vegetables: I make a straightforward mirepoix with celery, carrot, and onion, and I add a little garlic for flavor. This vegetable medley simmers with the chicken to produce a delicious homemade soup broth. The vegetables give the soup a ton of color and texture as well.
- Bone-in Chicken: The best chicken noodle soup is made with bone-in chicken, which is essential. I use bone-in, skinless chicken breasts, so there are tasty bits of white meat all over my soup. Feel free to use drumsticks or thighs if you prefer dark meat. Although you can leave the skin on while the soup simmers and remove it later if you want an extra-rich soup, I prefer to remove the skin to cut down on excess fat.
- Herbs and Spices: The traditional warm flavor of this soup is derived from a blend of basil, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, and pepper. Naturally, we also add salt to enhance the natural flavors even more!
- Water: To make an incredibly delicious homemade broth, simmer the chicken, veggies, and seasoning in water.
- Noodles: You can use pretty much any type of pasta shape for this recipe; some suggestions are stars, alphabet pasta, fideo, or ditalini. I personally like to use wide egg noodles for this soup because of its airy texture.
Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
This recipe adapts very easily to the slow cooker. To view the step-by-step photos and instructions for my Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup recipe, click this link.
Since this recipe yields a large amount, I usually freeze half of it for days when I’m feeling particularly sick. With just a quick reheat in the pot or microwave, this soup instantly improves my mood. To freeze this soup, split it into individual servings, chill it thoroughly in the fridge, and then store it in the freezer for up to three months.
Pairs perfectly with homemade No-Knead Focaccia Rolls!
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 medium yellow onion ($0.37)
- 3 cloves garlic ($0.24)
- 1/2 lb. carrots ($0.49)
- 1/2 bunch celery ($0.83)
- 2 split chicken breasts, bone-in ($6.64)
- 1 tsp dried basil ($0.10)
- 1 Tbsp dried parsley ($0.15)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme ($0.05)
- 1 bay leaf ($0.15)
- 1/4 tsp Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 2-3 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 6 oz. egg noodles ($1.00)
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. In a big pot, combine the onion, garlic, and olive oil. Sauté over medium heat for about five minutes, or until the onions are transparent and soft.
- While the garlic and onion are sautéing, wash and chop the celery and carrots. After adding them to the pot, sauté them for an additional few minutes.
- Remove any extra fat and skin from the chicken breasts. Add 8 cups of water, the bay leaf, basil, parsley, thyme, and some freshly cracked pepper to the pot with the breasts. After covering the pot and increasing the heat to a boil on high, simmer it for an hour on low. Ensure that the pot simmers for the full hour. The chicken will not shred easily if the heat is turned down too low and it is not bubbling away.
- Once the chicken has simmered for an hour, take it out of the pot. Pull the meat from the bone with two forks and shred it just a little. Season the broth with salt. Begin with one teaspoon and add more to your liking. I used 2-3 teaspoons. Once the salt is added, the flavor of the broth will really come through.
- After adding the noodles to the pot, increase the heat to high and boil the noodles for about 7 minutes, or until they are tender. Return the shredded chicken to the pot. If necessary, taste and add more salt (I didn’t need to). Serve hot!.
Love chicken soup? Then you’ll LOVE my Chicken Stew. It’s like chicken noodle soup’s heartier, more rustic cousin!.
Can I Use Rotisserie Chicken?
You can use shredded rotisserie chicken instead of raw chicken in this homemade chicken noodle soup recipe if you want to cut corners. Before starting to make the soup, remove the chicken meat from the bones. Then, add the leftover carcass to the soup pot and simmer it with the vegetables rather than the entire chicken breast. Before reserving the shredded chicken at the end, remove the bones.
Alternatively, you can use a pre-made chicken broth in place of simmering the bones and then just add the shredded rotisserie chicken at the end. While this is a very quick way to make chicken soup, creating your own broth will yield a much better flavor!
