Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Now that the weather has cooled down in the Midwest, I’ve pulled out my trusty chicken noodle soup recipe. When I began this blog at the beginning of the year, I knew I wanted to feature this recipe eventually. I usually just throw things together without measuring, so it took a few tries to perfect the details. Whenever I make this soup, I make a HUGE batch even though there’s only two of us. It is just so comforting and delicious! The homemade noodles are what really puts it over the top, as well as the type of bouillon you decide to use. I’d always used cubes in the past, but last winter I stumbled upon Better Than Bouillon base which adds great flavor to this (and any!) soup.

There are a few different ways to get all of the ingredients of a chicken noodle soup into the same pot… You could boil the chicken first and then add your veggies, or some people will sauté the onion and celery alone before adding it to the pot… Many ways will get the job done, but I’ve found what I find to be the easiest process without compromising on taste. Here’s how it goes down in my kitchen.

First, dice the chicken and onion and season the chicken with salt and pepper. Prepare a deep pan or skillet to cook the chicken in, and also begin to boil a large pot of water (see recipe for details). In the deep pan, add a portion of water, the onion, and chicken and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and cook until chicken is cooked through. Preparing the chicken this way gives it more flavor than if you were to boil the meat and then shred it once cooked. Some people don’t like onion in dishes, but in this recipe it really adds flavor and as long as you dice it small enough, it almost becomes undetectable once it boils for so long.

While the chicken cooks, dice the carrots and celery and add them to the stockpot once the water begins to boil. This is when I’ll begin the noodle making process, as well! I’ll describe that process below. I actually pre-chop the celery and carrots when I know I’m making chicken noodle soup in order to speed everything up and give me more time to make the noodles, which is the most time consuming part of the process.

Once chicken is cooked through, add the contents of the pan (water and all) to the boiling pot along with the seasonings and bouillon. As everything boils, test the broth to determine if it needs more of any seasonings or bouillon.

Now for the noodles! If you’ve never made noodles before, don’t worry! They only take a few ingredients and are simple once you get the hang of it. First, mix the wet and dry ingredients separately. Next, combine them together, adding more flour if your batter is extremely wet. Mix until it is a doughy consistency. You’ll know you’ve got it right when it stops sticking to your hands, but still feels smooth (not dry). Then, separate the dough into a few manageable chunks, and roll them out into strips about 4-5 inches wide (or however long you want your noodles to be), and thin enough so that they’re not fragile, but not thick either (they’ll gain some volume once you add them to the soup). I cheat here and use my Kitchen Aid with pasta attachment, but it is not necessary. Next, I use a pizza cutter to cut the noodles to the desired width, or use tiny cookie cutters (fondant/veggie cutters) for a festive flair (check out my heart noodles I made around Valentine’s Day). Let the noodles dry a bit until all the ingredients in your pot are cooked through.

Finally, once the carrots are cooked through and the broth is to your liking, add the noodles to the boiling water and let boil for about 5 minutes. Cook time will depend on the thickness of your noodles, but just do a taste test to determine when they’re finished.

And now… enjoy! Once the soup cools you can put the leftovers right into the fridge and re-heat the whole pot the next night, or I like to put portions into mason jars to bring to work for lunch. The recipe below makes a lot of soup, so feel free to divide it in half if you’re not into leftovers.

Let me know if you try this recipe! What are some of your favorite chicken noodle soup variations?