Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup is a hearty, healthy, and comforting meal that everyone should know how to make from scratch.
This recipe starts with homemade chicken broth, veggies to add flavor and vitamins, and egg noodles to make in an old fashioned favorite! This chicken soup is the perfect remedy if you're sick!
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup is not only downright delicious, but it's (mostly) super healthy and it's really easy to make.
Now, my version of easy might be different from your version of easy, but I'll break it down for you in terms of different levels of easy.
How to make easy chicken noodle soup:
Okay, let's brake down the different levels of easy here...
- Start with the broth. If you want super easy, buy boxed or canned broth from the store. No judgement here - I do it all the time. If you're going to use this method, I promise buying organic bone broth is worth the cost versus non-organic non-bone broth, both in taste and in health. My Costco even sells it now. Second easiest option would be to make your own homemade chicken broth ahead of time and freeze it in quart sized containers. That way you always have some on hand. I have recipes on how to make it either in your Instant Pot or in the crockpot.
- Next comes the chicken. Easiest method is to buy pre-cooked chicken at the store. My recommendation is to pick up a rotisserie chicken, eat it for dinner, and then scrape off every last bit to use in this soup. Next option would be to cook your own chicken and do the same thing. You can either use the shredded meat if you make your own broth, or you can grill up an amazing chicken on the grill for dinner and use the leftovers in this soup. You can even cook an entire chicken dinner in a dutch oven and use some of the meat in this soup!
- Once you have the chicken and the broth situation figured out, this soup only takes about 20 minutes to put together!
How to make this recipe in the crockpot:
Seriously, what's better than walking into your home after work and having dinner ready to go? I make this recipe on my stove top because it really takes such a short amount of time, but if you want to have it ready to go when you get home, it's really easy to adjust for the slow cooker.
Simply omit the butter and toss the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and chicken broth into the slow cooker and set it to low. It can cook all day like that. Then, when you get home, add in all the other ingredients. It's done when the noodles are tender. If you keep it on the low setting, this might take 20-30 minutes.
If you're in a rush, crank it up to high but pay close attention to the noodles as you don't want them to get mushy.
You can freeze homemade chicken noodle soup!
Seriously, make a huge batch of it to keep on hand for when someone is sick.
But beware - the noodles will get mushy. My husband happens to love the mushy noodles, so I freeze the chicken soup with the cooked noodles.
If you're like me and like the noodles to have a bit of a bite, freeze the soup without the noodles and toss them in when you reheat. Just remember they really expand when you cook them, so a small handful goes a long way.
I buy these quart sized containers in bulk to freeze my soups. I freeze nearly every soup recipe I make so that I always have some on hand for an easy dinner. They work great for freezing and wash well so I use them over and over again!
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium onion (diced)
- 2 stalks celery (diced)
- 2 carrots (peeled and diced)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 12 cups chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 8 ounces egg noodle
- ¼ cup fresh parsley (minced)
- ½ lemon
- 1 cup cooked chicken (shredded)
- generous amount of salt and pepper
Instructions
- In a large stock pot or dutch oven, melt butter over medium high heat. Add onion, celery, and carrot. Stir occasionally and saute until they start to brown and are fragrant. Add garlic, stir, and cook for another couple of minutes.
- Add chicken broth, bay leaves, and thyme. Continue to heat to bring the soup to a simmer. Just before it boils, remove from heat and add noodles, parsley, lemon, and cooked chicken. Noodles will cook in the hot broth. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
Katie
Made it for the family and it was a hit!
Heather
We have been making this recipe a lot around here. Everyone seems to have a cold and this soup is so comforting.
Chelsea
This soup is amazing!! We're obsessed!! Thanks for sharing!