Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

February 2021 - Updating this oldie but goodie recipe with some fresh photos. Scroll to the bottom to see what my photo looked like many years ago!

If you prep your veggies beforehand, in around 30 minutes this recipe creates a delicious and hearty chicken noodle soup packed to the brim with veggies, chicken and egg noodles. Nothing soothes the chill of winter quite like a chicken noodle soup.

Now don't get mad at me, but I did not make my own broth by simmering chicken bones. My family does this, and I always find myself chewing on something I think might be chicken but is actually a chicken bone.

To avoid hazardous materials in your chicken soup, especially if you're making this for children or guests, it's best to use boneless & skinless chicken breasts, pre-cooked in the oven and then cubed to be put in the soup. Trust me on this one, nothing is worse than having to watch out for shards of pain waiting for you in your soup. Skip the pain and make this soup, it'll be sure to please even picky eaters!

I wasn't sure at first how I was going to make a broth, so I began by boiling 8 cups of water in a large stockpot. In the meantime I threw in 2.5 chicken breasts in the oven preheated to 375ºF with a little salt and pepper. (By the time these are done it's just about time to add them into the soup.)

I rummaged through the pantry and could only find a few cans of chicken broth and didn't want to use them all on a soup. Sometimes they come in handy for a recipe that calls for them..like chicken francaise or risotto.

Instead, I used the chicken base Better than Bouillon to make my broth base. It's a paste like consistency and I have the Costco sized jar in my fridge as well as the beef base for beef recipes.

Next I added the onion, celery and carrots.

After reducing the heat, add in some salt and pepper to taste. I gave the soup about four twists of the sea salt grinder--you can always add more salt later. It's much more difficult to keep adding water to dilute the salt. Instead of pre-cooking the egg noodles, I opted to just cook them in the broth. Less dishes = a happy lady.

When it came time to add the noodles into the soup, I noticed I didn't have enough liquid to cook the pasta in...oops. This can be remedied by adding more water + a little more chicken base. Cook the noodles mostly through, add in the diced (cooked!) chicken, and BAM. Chicken noodle soup, homemade as can be. This recipe is hearty, tasty, and not that salty. If you prefer more salt, add it to taste.

What's your favorite soup? Brothy or creamy?

This recipe was adapted from Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup.