Two days ago, I received a call from a friend who had requested my homemade chicken noodle soup. Honestly, I didn’t think it was that special when I came up with it. I just wanted to make a simple chicken soup that my kids would like. Thus no visible onions or bits of celery because we hide those in the broth!
I hit on something though because every time I mention making it I get an enthusiastic “YES!” from my son and that raised eyebrow grin from my husband. Even Katy, who is currently vying for the record of the world’s pickiest eater, loves this soup. I try to always make plenty because it seems the family lines up at my door with soup bowls in hand so I just send it around to all of the houses! It’s really very simple by design because y’all know how I like to keep things good and easy!
So, what can you expect to find in my homestyle chicken noodle soup recipe? Besides the mandatory chicken and noodles, it’s also filled with carrots, celery, onion, and poultry seasoning. It may be simple, but it’s truly flavorful and fortunately, easy to make.
Now, cut all of the tops and ends off of your carrots and SAVE THEM, we’re going to use them to make our chicken broth. Then take one carrot and cut it into sections to add to the tops.
Cover with water and bring to a boil. Once it’s brought to a boil, lower the heat a bit and cook until it cries “uncle!”. Seriously, cook this for SEVERAL hours. This is going to make a good, rich broth. I cooked mine for four hours.
Now, take that chicken out and set it aside. I just put mine in a 9×13 pan and let it cool a bit so I can get the chicken off and shred it to add back.
Discard all vegetables and reserve the chicken stock.
Shred the cooked chicken and place the shredded chicken meat back in the broth/chicken stock. If you want a great way to shred the chicken check out my video tutorial here about shredding meat.
You can store chicken soup leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave or on low heat. Alternatively, freeze portions for up to 3 months and thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating as instructed.
Recipe Notes
I like to get the whole carrots and whole celery stalks if I can because they just taste better in my broth!
For the noodles, you can get whatever you like. While most people and most homemade chicken noodle soup recipes opt for egg noodles (some even go one step further and make homemade egg noodles), I generally buy the pasta brand at Walmart that has teeny tiny shapes and I usually get the alphabet ones because the kids really like those. But today just used these small noodles called Ditalini. The great thing about them, too, is that they don’t get all mushy in your soup. they just kind of get cooked and then stay wonderful.
Poultry seasoning is a lovely combination of thyme, sage, marjoram, nutmeg, pepper, and rosemary. So if you don’t have any poultry seasoning on hand, feel free to use a combination of these herbs and spices instead (whatever you have on hand).
Serve your soup with garlic bread, fresh bread rolls, or even cornbread.
Here are some fun variations to add more flavor to this classic chicken noodle soup:
For a creamy chicken noodle soup, stir in 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or half-and-half before serving.
When you add the chopped carrots to the broth, add in up to four lemon slices to make a lemon chicken soup recipe.
If you want to add more vegetables, stir in some spinach or kale before serving. You could also add green beans, corn kernels, chopped zucchini, cabbage, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, or peas when you add the chopped carrots. The options are endless!
Instead of noodles, you can add potatoes, rice, or quinoa instead for something different.
Stir in half a cup of chopped fresh herbs like parsley or fresh dill at the end.
Add three cloves of garlic to the chicken broth.
Want to add more flavor with a little heat? Add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes when you add the poultry seasoning.
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