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.
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!
Tips for Making Chicken Noodle Soup More Flavorful
Use these simple suggestions to ensure that your homemade chicken noodle soup has the greatest flavor possible:
- Use bone-in chicken, not boneless. The bones give the broth a TON of flavor.
- Make sure your dried herbs are fresh. Keep an eye on those expiration dates because dried herbs lose flavor over time!
- Don’t rush it. For the chicken, veggies, and herbs to give this soup their full flavor, it must simmer for a considerable amount of time. But don’t worry, as it simmers away, it doesn’t need much attention.
- Don’t forget the salt. Not only does salt give food a “salty” taste, but it also aids in the tongue’s ability to detect various flavors. To fully experience all of those delectable flavors, make sure to season the soup to taste at the very end.
