A homemade Chicken Noodle Soup recipe made from scratch using a whole chicken. With a beautifully flavoured golden chicken broth, this is a classic everyone should know!
Made the old fashioned way by boiling a whole chicken, you can toss in any vegetables, noodles or pasta and it’s going to be amazing. And everybody knowns Chicken Soup is the best soup for a cold!
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup – from scratch!
Simmering a whole chicken with root vegetables and herbs creates a delicious homemade stock for the soup, into which the chicken meat is shredded alongside chopped and sauteed vegetables. This is a Chicken Noodle Soup made the old fashioned way!
Regular readers know that “cool” is certainly not my middle name. I’m not one for following food trends. I just like good food done right. I’ll give foam and cauliflower crust pizza a miss thanks! 😂
The BEST soup for a cold??
“Everyone” knows that when you’re struck down with Man Flu*, the only thing that will nurse you back to health is Chicken soup….
While it’s questionable whether it’s been conclusively scientifically proven that Chicken soup is even better than medicine, here’s 3 reasons why Chicken soup (noodle or otherwise) is a great remedy for a cold:
- Hydration from the natural salt in chicken;
- Warm non-creamy soup broth and steam helps clear nasal and throat passageways; and
- Immune boosting antioxidants and nutrition from carrots, celery, onion and garlic.
From a practical perspective, it’s light so it’s easy to stomach, doesn’t require much effort to chew or (heaven forbid!) the effort of a knife and fork. And even when you’re sick, you can still appreciate the tastiness of a beautiful Chicken Noodle soup!
* Man Flu official definition according to Dictionary.com: “a case of the common cold as suffered by a man, implying that he is exaggerating the debilitating effects of the illness” Just saying’…..
How to make this good old fashioned chicken noodle soup
Yes there’s more steps than quick and easy chicken noodle soup recipes, but it is so worth it because this broth is something money can’t buy!
Simmer (don’t boil!) a whole chicken with broth flavourings (celery, carrot, garlic, peppercorns, herbs) for 1.5 hours to 2 hours until the flesh is tender enough to shred without effort;
Remove scum that floats to the surface once or twice;
Remove the chicken and the carrot etc;
Shred the chicken. You’ll need just under half for this recipe, save the rest for other uses;
Make it even healthier – and the broth even clearer! Refrigerate the broth so the fat hardens on the surface, then scoop it off.
Sauté onion, garlic, carrot and celery slowly – The slower, the better! The vegetables become sweeter with a more intense flavour;
Add homemade broth and noodles. Once the noodles are almost cooked, toss the chicken back in just to heat up;
Serve!
Best pasta for Chicken Noodle Soup
You can use any type of noodles or pasta for Chicken Noodle Soup. Short twisted egg noodles and pasta shapes are ideal – for ease of eating.
I tend to use whatever I have. For long straight pastas like fettuccine (which is what I used because I had it), just break them into 3 or 4 pieces for ease of eating.
How to ensure your soup broth is clear
One of the things we all love about a great chicken noodle soup is how clear the broth is. Transparent – yet full of flavour! There’s a few tricks to the clear broth:
Simmer the chicken really gently. Harder boil gets the chicken jiggling around = murkier broth
Scoop the scum off the surface (#2 in photo below);
Let the broth settle (or refrigerate overnight). You’ll find that the bottom of the broth becomes darker as “stuff” settles on the base of the pot. Then gently pour the broth into the soup pot, leaving behind the darker broth that settled to the bottom of the pot;
Don’t brown the sautéed onion, carrots and celery. Brown veggies = brown broth!
Don’t stir the pasta while it boils. That activates the starch in the pasta, making the broth cloudier.
What to do with leftover chicken
You probably won’t even use half the meat on the chicken for this Chicken Noodle Soup. So here’s a few ideas for things to make with the leftover cooked chicken:
White Chicken Enchiladas or Quesadillas (just pan fry shredded chicken briefly with Quesadilla seasoning)
Make a Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup!
I kept the veggies in the soup fairly classic, using just onion, carrots and celery. But don’t let my lack of imagination deter you – add whatever you want! – Nagi xx
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup – from scratch!
Watch how to make it
Homemade chicken noodle soup recipe video!
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Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup (from scratch!)
Ingredients
Homemade Broth:
- 1.8 kg / 3.5 lb whole chicken , rinsed and cleaned, the best quality you can afford (Note 1)
- 1 head of garlic , cut in half horiztonally
- 2 carrots , cut into chunks
- 2 celery ribs , cut into chunks
- 2 onions , peeled and cut into quarters
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves , fresh or dried
- 4 thyme sprigs (or 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves)
- 9 – 10 cups water (enough to just cover chicken)
Soup:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion , diced
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 medium carrots , cut in quarters lengthwise then chopped
- 2 celery ribs , cut into 1 cm/ 1/2″ thick pieces
- 2 cups shredded chicken (from homemade broth)
- 2 litres / 2 quarts homemade chicken broth (above)
- 200 g/ 6 oz egg noodles or pasta of choice (Note 3)
- 2 – 3 tsp Vegeta or other stock powder (Note 4)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 4 thyme sprigs , optional
- 1 bay leaf , optional
- Finely chopped parsley , for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Broth:
- Place the chicken in a large pot. Add remaining Broth ingredients, then add enough water so the chicken is just covered (too much water = weak broth).
- Cover with lid, bring the water to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Then adjust heat so it’s simmering GENTLY with the lid on. Simmer 1.5 hours until chicken is tender and easily comes off the bone. (Or 8 hours on low in a slow cooker)
- Scoop scum off surface once or twice during first 30 minutes.
- Transfer chicken to pan. Shred meat and discard bones. You'll only need half the chicken meat, save the rest for another purpose.
- Remove carrots, celery etc from broth, and discard. Optional: Chop carrot and celery, add back into soup with chicken. (Note 5)
- Optional: Refrigerate soup for a few hours until the fat sets, then scoop the fat off the surface (I do this, healthier & makes soup clearer).
Soup:
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium meat. Add onion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes. Add celery and carrots, cook for 5 minutes until softened and a bit sweet, don’t let them brown.
- Turn heat up to medium high. Gently pour 8 cups broth in (top up with water if necessary), leaving behind residue settled in the bottom of the broth pot.
- Add Vegeta (stock powder), thyme, bay leaf and pepper. Stir.
- When it starts bubbling, add noodles/pasta. Cook for time per packet MINUS 2 minutes. Stir gently only once or twice (Note 6).
- Add half the chicken, stir (it warms quickly), then season with salt and pepper to taste – season well!
- Serve soup immediately, garnished with fresh parsley.
Recipe Notes:
1. Chicken size: This recipe will work fine for any chicken larger than 1.5kg/3lb. Any smaller and the broth flavour may be slightly lacking but you can just top up flavour with Vegeta, or chicken or vegetable stock powder/crumbled bouillon cube. Will also work with: drumsticks, bone in skin on thighs. 3. Noodles: Any pasta or noodles work perfectly here. Short, wide twisted noodles/pasta are ideal for ease of eating. Break Lon strand pasta into 3 or 4. I typically use whatever I have – I used fettuccine in the photos/video. 4. Vegeta – Vegeta is a brand of vegetable stock powder, labelled “Gourmet Seasoning” and “All Purpose Seasoning” in the US & Canada. See here for a photo, video, and here it is on Amazon US. Read in this post about Vegeta and MSG misconceptions! It’s my favourite stock powder to use in soup broths because of the flavour, colour, clarity and that you get little “bits” in the soup. It’s sold in the herb & spice aisle of supermarkets here in Australia. You can use stock powder (same amount)or crumbled bouillon cube (1 for each teaspoon) – use chicken or vegetable. 5. Cooked carrots & celery – I tend to discard because stove simmering for this long makes them extremely soft, bordering on mushy. If using slow cooker, they tend to have a better texture so I chop and toss them in (like in Slow Cooker Ham Bone Soup). But you can add them if you want – extra veg! 6. Stirring lots = activates pasta starch = cloudy broth 7. How to store Chicken Noodle Soup: Noodles bloat! So best to separate the noodles and veggies from the soup, then store separately. Will keep for 3 – 4 days in the fridge. Broth will freeze for months. Things to make with Leftover Chicken: You’ll only use 1/2 the chicken, if that. See in post for a list of suggestions of things to make! 8. Nutrition per serving.
Nutrition Information:
Originally published May 2017. Updated with new words, new photos, a better video. Very minor changes to recipe to streamline / improve flavour slightly!
Life of Dozer
When I take him to a park, all I have to do is find a bird in a tree. Then he exercises himself.
Forgot to tell you in my previous post.
Those with clear broth have strained their broth through multiple layers of cheese cloth
There is nothing wrong with your method
Mine is cloudy also. I like it that way!
I figured it was real! 🙂 N xx
Hi Nagi
I enjoy your take on food and being a grandmother “cook” often forget how confusing some of our recipes can be for the young cook. Thank you for reminding me. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for the kind words Nadine! N xx
FYI, your printed recipe has left out actually adding the chicken to the soup, or how much. This has happened in a couple of your recipes; the ingredient list has more items in it than the instructions. Maybe you could have someone check your recipes for that as it’s pretty difficult to edit your own writing becaus we have everything in our heads, so often don’t “see” errors or omissions in our “finished” writing.
YIKES – nope, I LEFT OUT THAT STEP!!!! DUH!!! But I will check, that is quite scary if they aren’t printing out properly. Thank you for the heads up!
My grandmother would cook the noodles (or rice) separately, then put drained noodles in each serving bowl and add the soup on top of that. This way you never get soggy, bloated noodles in your leftover soup, because they will not be stored in the soup.
YES what a great idea. Thank you for that Cheri, I will update that as a tip in the recipe! The other added benefit is that when you cook the noodles in the broth, it sucks up broth. So cooking the noodles separately means the soup goes further! N xx
This soup looks so good. It seems like a good soup to eat in any kind of weather
Agree 100%% ❤️
How funny, that I am eating my home made chicken noodle soup while reading this post. NO KIDDING!!! I make mine almost the exact same way-I don’t cook the veggies in oil in the soup step, I just add chopped carrots and celery to the broth and bring to a boil, and I use the same onion from the broth step in the soup step. It cooks to a “melt in your mouth ” stage that my husband likes. I get many compliments on my soup, and I always tell people that they can make delicious soup too-thanks for sharing the recipe!!!! And thanks for sharing the pictures of Dozier!!!
I LOVE HEARING THAT!!! And I really love that you use the same onion from the broth, what a great idea!!! N xx
Hold on, you aren’t a professional chef? I’m shocked, to be honest you are incredible!
Going back to the soup, very similar to the one we do when anyone in the family gets sick, that’s the only kind of soup it’s ok to consume in my home no matter if it’s 100F or 35F.
Oh no, I’m just a normal cook! But I figure that is kind of helpful when I’m sharing recipes with normal people, not hardcore gourmet foodies, because I shop at normal stores and use normal ingredients!!! 🙂 PS I love that you have chicken noodle soup whether it’s snowing or a heat wave. ME TOO!
Just hold it, Madam!! Just hold it 🙂 !! I am not old enough to be your ‘great-great’, or your ‘great’ and just barely that ‘grand’ but THIS is the way to make proper chicken soup and those who have never tasted nor ever bothered to try and make – well, buddy, your loss!! Yes, I skim repeatedly in the beginning and, oh horrors, mine sometimes includes rice! How the hell does one get thru’ the winter season without a single cold without eons of this – well, I have for over 30 years!!
How is that horrors to add rice?? 🙂 I love that!
Well, thought Dozer would ‘urgh’ at me since this was meant to be a chicken ‘noodle’ soup 🙂 ! Take a bite outa me if there was nought forthcoming from the kitchen in the next half-hour 😉 !!
I also make mine in the pressure cooker – tremendous amount of flavor. I peel my garlic first though to avoid papery bits floating around. Then I put some of the hot broth into a pan and cook some spoon sized homemade dumplings or some fresh homemade egg noodles (I find that store bought noodles tend to overcook in the pressure cooker anyway so may as well cook the well deserved yummy homemade stuff.)
Hmm! Interest – the 2nd person to suggest using a pressure cooker, I will try it next time. And the broth comes out clear??
Since the broth cannot boil, due to the pressure, I find the broth to be quite clear…not full of the scum caused by the bubbles from boiling. And the pressure cooker makes it go so much faster. I can make a pot of tasty chicken soup in roughly an hour, and that includes all of the prep work.
OK THIS I have to try!
I use an instant pressure cooker … and the flavour is so much deeper
Woah. You find you get enough flavour by pressure cooking?? I always assumed the time was needed!
What do you think about the same recipe in a slow-cooker?
YES to that! I will update the recipe with slow cooker directions for the broth 🙂
Oh yes Please. From now on am having countless soups- chicken, beer bones and use that for pumpkin, mushrooms, vege, potato soup. On w/ End given Neighbour pumpkin soup for her Mum 92 B’ day. No doubt we ALL have Family receipt. Thank YOU Nagi and here is to health!! Cheering! Vera.
ME TOO!!!!!
The best use of left over chicken is chicken pie – I use the leftover carrot and chicken plus some stock to make it and add peas, corn, leek, and top with mashed potato. Mmmm!
Oh YES TO THAT!!!!
Perfect! And just the right weather for it too….Thanks Nagi, your writing & your stories are always warming :)) xx
It’s gotten cooooold here!!!
I simply love homemade chicken noodle soup. It is a certain cure for all that ails. I’ve roasted the bones before simmering them like Robert suggests and I’ve just made the whole chicken in the water. Now, if you’re getting milky broth it could be that you are using too high of heat. The water needs to simmer slowly and not boil. The milkiness doesn’t affect the taste. Try that next time and see iif it makes a difference. I think my mamma was the queen of chicken broth. She’d make it every week. In my humble opinion — your soup looks fantastic!! xoxo
THANK YOU Marisa!! I know my stove can run hot so I bet that is the problem because I get clear broth when I make Hainanese Chicken which sits in hot water off the stove. 🙂 I am going to make this again soon and reshoot it – maybe even part of the video. You know me, it bugs me when I can’t get things 100% the way I want! N xx
Mmmm, chicken soup! I also save the carcass from roasted chicken in the freezer until I get a hankering for soup. My solution to soggy second-day noodles is to cook the noodles separately and store them in the fridge. If I know I’m not going to need all the soup in one sitting, I ladle out as much as I need into a saucepan, adding however many noodles I want, and heat them together. That way, the noodles don’t sit in the soup in the fridge getting mushy.
I do the same if I know I’m not going to eat it all! Otherwise I scoop the “stuff” out and store separately too 🙂 N xx
That is very similar to how I have been making my chicken soup for decades now. I do make one significant change however in that I always roast the chicken first. I find that gives the broth a much richer, fuller flavor. I usually strip the breast meat from the roasted bird before starting the broth as the meat will retain it’s flavor much better than boiled meat and this has little to no effect on the flavor of the broth in the end. Then you can use the breast meat in any sandwich you want or even whip up some mashed potatoes and have a nice dinner while making your soup from the carcass,
I will also add some canned tomatoes to the soup along with the carrots and celery and onions to add a bit of extra flavor to the soup. Just open a can and crush a few tomatoes into the soup by hand, do not add the juice in the can as that will dilute the soup. I will then freeze the rest of the can and toss it into my next spaghetti sauce. You could also use a pre-spiced can of stewed tomatoes if you want to add even more flavor to the soup to change things up.
Another tip… whenever I roast a chicken or even if I order out from a local restaurant, I will always save the carcass in the freezer. When I have a few accumulated, I will make a broth with them and either make a soup or freeze the broth for future use and some in an ice cube tray to have some nice homemade broth to add to other recipes when needed. Much better than bouillon cubes or bottled concentrate which tends to be overly salty. Just pop the cubes into a zip lock freezer bag once frozen to keep them fresh. One ice cube is about two tablespoons of broth, depending on your tray size, and you can add the amount you need to sauces or stir fries very easily. Great to add a cube or two when making rice as well!
One very important thing to note!!! NEVER, and I mean NEVER, bring your broth to a full boil!! This will cause the fat to emulsify into the broth and you will end up with a very cloudy, oily tasting broth in the end. A slow simmer is the way to go, even if you let it simmer for the entire afternoon to get all the taste out of the bones.
And you will notice that as the broth simmers, you will lose volume as it naturally evaporates during the cooking process. You can add water along the way to maintain the level or what I do is wait until the end, once I have strained the bones and veggies from the broth. At that time, I will add a quantity of ice water to the broth which will cool it down rapidly and cause the fat to rise and congeal on the surface, making it easy to remove. Then you can continue with finishing the soup instead of waiting for it to cool down in the fridge overnight. 🙂
WOW! Just realized how long this post was! Hope I haven’t droned on too much and that you will find it useful!
Not too long at all and YES it is so useful!!! I bet that is my problem – my stove is a bit strong and I bet the broth boils a bit! THAT is what would explain the difference in the clarity of the broth between this and Hainanese chicken which sits in water off the stove. And I love your roasting tip! N xx
The clearest broth I ever made was when I just let the chicken simmer at extremely low temp for a good 8 hours. Low to the point there were just a few bubbles coming up. Another thing to avoid is over stirring it while cooking. I will just give it a very gentle stir about once or twice an hour, no more than that. Stirring too much will also make it cloudy. You know you have gotten all the flavor out of the bones when your broth becomes a jelly after a night in the fridge.
But there is nothing wrong with having it a bit cloudy as long as you do not let it boil for too long. Over boiling a broth will change the taste and make it greasy but if it comes to a boil before you have a chance to turn it down, there is nothing to worry about.
And I agree with tossing in a bouillon cube or two can really enhance the flavor because some birds simply are very mild tasting.
Oh yeah… one last tip for a nice golden broth… if using regular yellow onions, cut it in quarters and toss them in with the skin intact. It will not change the taste at all and the skins will give it a nice color. 🙂
I definitely didn’t stir it, all I can think is that my stove is too strong. And I’m glad you agree re: bouillon cube! And I love the onion tip!! Thanks Robert! N xx
It’s interesting to see different recipes for this classic. My grandmother would make this soup every Sunday, using homemade strand pasta 🙂 and veggies from her garden. I cook my own version adding anything I have on hand at that very moment + the chicken :). I had never thought of adding garlic or thyme but like the idea. Will do the next time I am cooking it!
It’s definitely the sort of recipe that is a family recipe! I love seeing how others make it too 🙂 N xx
{1] Why on earth would you need a bouillon cube with all that real chicken around?
[2] If available use a hen rather than a cockerel – it tastes much better
[3] Add turnip, swede and flat-leaf parsley – including the root is available to enrich the flavour.
[4] Use coarse [Kosher] salt in preference to table salt when seasoning. Table salt contains other ingredients unnecessary to a good broth.
Thank you for the tips Stanley! The bouillon cube was an optional extra for those using a smaller than ideal chicken or if it lacked flavour – because this is one of those recipes where the quality of chicken makes a difference to the tastiness of the broth 🙂
this looks yummy — will definitely make it. As for Dozer — it’s always amazing how the instincts are just bred into them — a retriever going after a bird —- go figure. and he looks like he’s having a grand old time doing it!
He just prances around that tree until he exhausts himself. I don’t get it – it’s not like he’s ever going to catch it!!!