During the cold winter months, there is nothing better than a hot bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup! I don’t always make it from scratch, in fact, I honestly rarely do. But when I have the ingredients and the time, it really does make a difference!
To make the homemade stock, you need some veggies and the bones of a whole chicken (or turkey). A store-bought rotisserie chicken is perfect for this, too. You’ll just take all the meat off (and use it in the soup later) and add the bones to the stock pot along with roughly chopped vegetables. If you don’t have the time or ingredients to make homemade stock, just buy low-sodium broth or stock at the store and it will work just fine!
For the full recipe, keep reading!
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe:
3 Tablespoons butter1 white onion – minced
3 peeled carrots – chopped
2 cloves garlic – minced
3 celery stalks – chopped
2 cups shredded or diced chicken
5-6 cups homemade chicken stock – Recipe below
3 cups water
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 Tablespoon ground sage
Egg noodles – Homemade egg noodle recipe
Salt
Pepper
Chicken Stock Recipe:
14 cups water
5 lb. roster chicken + giblets – roasted meat removed, set aside
3 garlic cloves – peeled
1 white onion
3 unpeeled carrots
5 stalks of flat leaf parsley
3 celery stalks
4 Thyme sprigs
1-1/2 Tablespoon salt
Get all your veggies chopped up into large, rough pieces.
Then, you’ll just put your meatless chicken body (that made me laugh out loud) in a large soup pot along with your rough chopped vegetables and your thyme and parsley.
Next, you’ll cover everything with water. I ended up using 14 cups total. Add about 1-1/2 Tablespoons of salt.
You’ll let this simmer on medium heat (you want bubbles, but small ones. No big bubbles!) for about 3-4 hours until everything has reduced by about half.
Next, you’ll want to strain everything. I removed all the big pieces of chicken and vegetables with a slotted spoon and then I poured the stock into a bowl through a small mesh strainer and it was all ready!
Note:
If you’re not going to use it right away, which I didn’t, you’ll want to cool it down as quickly as possible to store in the fridge. I emptied my ice bin into the sink and then set my bowl with all of my delicious chicken stock in the ice. I added water until it was nearly to the top of the bowl and when the broth was cool, I stored it in the fridge overnight.
When you’re ready to use it, you’ll just scrape off the fat at the surface.
Now it’s time for soup! Melt the 3 Tablespoons of butter in a large soup pot, add your diced carrots, celery and onion.
Cook until they become slightly tender, about 7 minutes. Add your minced garlic and cook until it becomes fragrant, another minute.
Pour in your 5-1/2 cups chicken stock and 3 cups of water and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add your chicken and noodles and keep it on a low boil for another 10-20 minutes until your noodles are cooked. If you’re using homemade, thick egg noodles, you may need the full 20 minutes. Here’s my recipe for homemade egg noodles.
Stir in more fresh parsley, thyme and your ground sage and enjoy!
