With cold weather and storms on the horizon, I think it is fair to say that we could all use a little comfort right now. What's more comforting than a big bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup? Today, I will share my Classic Chicken Noodle Soup recipe with you to hopefully help get you through winter.
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What I love about this recipe is how few ingredients there are and how few steps there are to making it. Anyone, regardless of skill level, can make this soup, and I hope you all do. Let's get to it.
Chicken Stock
Because chicken noodle soup is typically so stripped down, the ingredients really need to speak for themselves. The main ingredient, i.e. the most important, is the broth or stock that makes the soup base. Today, it is common to use the terms broth and stock interchangeably, but there is one significant difference between them. Let's take a look at both.
Broth vs Stock
I'm sure you've heard the term "bone-broth" used in the last couple of years. I despise that term because it doesn't make any sense. Bone-broth is a contradiction because if it is made with bones, it is a stock. For it to be a broth, it has to be made with meat.
For example, Chicken Stock is made with the leftover carcass of a chicken, cooked or raw. On the other hand, chicken broth is made with a whole raw chicken or raw chicken pieces like legs and thighs. Besides bones or meat, broth and stock are made the same way. If you'd like to learn more about the fundamentals, check out my post on understanding soup.
Using Chicken Stock vs. Chicken Broth for Chicken Noodle Soup
All this stock versus broth talk is probably leading you to wonder which one is better for making soup. Generally, you are going to get more chicken flavour from broth than you will from stock. Having said that, one of the best parts about making chicken noodle soup is using the chicken carcass, which otherwise would be thrown away.
So, even though you will get more flavour by making a broth, it is much more cost-effective and useful to make stock as the base for your soup. However, if you want to buy a chicken specifically to make broth for soup, go for it. It will be the best chicken soup you've ever had. I had a leftover chicken carcass, so the base of my soup is stock.
Making Chicken Stock
To make the chicken stock, break a chicken carcass into pieces (separate the leg and wing bones, break the rib cage away from the back) and put it in a medium-sized pot. Add in one diced medium-sized onion, half a diced carrot, and half a celery stalk diced. To flavour the stock, add two to three bay leaves, a teaspoon of peppercorns, and four to five sprigs of fresh thyme. Cover the ingredients with cold water, about two litres in total, then bring to a boil. Once the stock starts to boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for an hour.
After the stock has simmered, it is time to strain it. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a large heat-proof bowl and pour the stock into it. Save the liquid and discard the carcass and vegetables. The stock can be used right away to make soup or gravy, or you can store it in the fridge for up to five days or in the freezer for up to six months. Extra chicken stock can be used to flavour mashed potatoes, cook rice, or add to sauces.
Vegetables
Now that the stock is made, strained, and ready to go, we can make our soup. For that, we need some more vegetables. For the soup, as for the stock, we will be using carrot, onion, and celery in the same amounts. The difference is that the soup vegetables are thinly sliced, where the stock vegetables were cut into fairly large chunks. Along with the vegetables, slice two cloves of garlic.
Noodles
Obviously, you can't have chicken noodle soup without noodles. I use rice noodles in my soup for two reasons. First of all, they are gluten-free, and as someone who can't eat gluten, that is obviously crucial for me. Also, rice noodles hold up in the soup better than most wheat noodles. If you would prefer wheat noodles, go for it. Either way, precook the noodles and have them ready to go. You want about two cups of cooked noodles in total.
One recommendation I will make, no matter what noodles you use, is to not add them directly into the soup. Keep the noodles separate. When you are ready to eat, put the noodles in a bowl, and pour the hot soup over them. If you put the noodles directly in the soup, they will continue to absorb liquid and eventually totally fall apart. This will be really bad for any leftovers.
Making The Chicken Noodle Soup
Everything is ready to go. It's just a matter of putting it all together. So, to make the chicken noodle soup, put the stock in a medium-sized pot, along with the vegetables and one and a half teaspoons of kosher salt (or three-quarters of a teaspoon of table salt). Bring the stock to a boil on high heat, turn the temperature down to medium and simmer it for fifteen minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
Add one teaspoon of fresh chopped thyme into the soup along with two cups of cooked, cubed chicken and half a teaspoon of black pepper. Simmer the soup for another five minutes, then take it off the heat and adjust the seasoning to taste.
Finishing Up
Divide the noodles among four bowls and ladle the hot soup over them. Then serve the soup with buttered crackers, biscuits, or bread and enjoy!
Recipe
Ingredients
Stock
- 1 Chicken Carcass
- 1 cup Onions, large diced
- ½ cup Carrot, large diced
- ½ cup Celery, large dice
- 2 bay Leaves
- 4-5 sprigs Fresh Thyme or Parsley
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper Corns
- Enough water to cover about 2 L
Soup
- 1 Batch Chicken Stock about 1 ½ L
- 1 cup Onions, thinly sliced
- ½ cup Carrot, thinly sliced
- ½ cup Celery, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon Garlic, thinly sliced about 2 large cloves
- 2 cups Chicken, cooked and diced
- 1 ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Fresh Thyme, Chopped
- 2 cups Rice Noodles, cooked and cooled
Instructions
Stock
- Put all the ingredients for the stock in a pot and cover with cold water.
- Bring the pot to a boil on high heat. Once the pot starts to boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer the stock for one hour.
- Strain the stock reserving the liquid and discarding the carcass and vegetables.
Soup
- Return the stock to the pot along with the sliced onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Bring the stock back to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium. Season the soup with salt and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through.
- Add the diced chicken and thyme into the soup and let it simmer for 5 more minutes. Taste the soup and adjust the season as desired.
- Divide the cooked rice noodles among four bowls. Ladle the hot soup over the noodles and serve.
Final Thoughts
This chicken noodle soup is pure comfort in a bowl -- simple ingredients, straightforward technique, and a result that warms you from the inside out. I make a batch every time the weather turns cold, and I hope it becomes a winter staple in your kitchen too.
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