Chicken noodle soup
The soup you want when you feel run down: clear golden broth, soft vegetables, tender chicken and plenty of noodles.
- 60 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 6
- About $2.49 a serving
- 330 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 carrots, sliced into thin coins
- 3 stalks celery, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1½ lb chicken breasts, about 2 large
- 6 oz egg noodles
- ½ lemon, juiced (optional)
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 330 calories, 32 g protein, 29 g carbs and 9 g fat, and costs about $2.49 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No egg noodles? Fettuccine or penne works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, the carrots into thin coins and the celery into thin half-moons, and the garlic.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft, about 7 minutes.
Medium heatTimer: 7 min
Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook for 30 seconds, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 30 sec
Pour in the broth, add the bay leaves, salt and pepper, and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Lay the chicken breasts in whole, to low and with the for 18 to 20 minutes.
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Lid ajar. Lid ajar means resting the lid on the pot slightly off-center, leaving a small gap. Some steam escapes, so the sauce thickens and doesn’t boil over, while most of the heat stays in.
How you’ll know: A thin wisp of steam drifts out of the gap, and the pot bubbles gently without spilling.
Low heatTimer: 19 min
Dolly’s tip: You want lazy bubbles, not a hard boil. Boiling hard makes chicken stringy and tough.Lift the chicken onto a cutting board and check the thickest part: it should read 165°F, or be white with no pink all the way through.
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
the chicken into bite-size pieces with two forks.
Shred. Shredding means making thin strips, either on the big holes of a grater or by pulling cooked meat apart with two forks. Shreds soak up sauce and mix evenly through a dish.
How you’ll know: Cooked chicken pulls apart into strands with little effort, and cheese comes off in long, loose strips.
Turn the heat up to medium-high, add the noodles and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring once or twice, until tender.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Dolly’s tip: Noodles keep drinking broth as they sit. If you want leftovers, cook the noodles in a separate pot and add them to each bowl.Stir the chicken back in, pull out the bay leaves and squeeze in the lemon if you’re using it. Taste and add salt until it tastes bright, then ladle into bowls with parsley.
Low heat
Dolly’s tip: Chicken soup that tastes flat almost always needs more salt, added a pinch at a time.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Crockpot chicken noodle soup
490 min
Slow cooker chicken wild rice soup
450 min
Crockpot chicken taco soup
380 min
Slow cooker chicken enchilada soup
400 min
One-pan dinners ›High-protein dinners ›What to make with chicken and carrots ›