How to Make the Best Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Once I started college I had to start making my own food. With that came trying out new recipes that I could then modify as I saw fit. One recipe I wished to master was chicken noodle soup, and I happened to find a recipe online that was almost exactly what I wanted. I have now modified the recipe several times (small changes here and there) and have cooked this meal dozens of times. I see no more room for improvement, I love where I got with the recipe and everyone else has so far agreed. To see the original recipe I worked off of, visit this link: https://www.averiecooks.com/easy-30-minute-homemade-chicken-noodle-soup/

Materials:

Large pot (such as a 4 qt Dutch oven for cooking in)

Garlic mincer (for mincing garlic)

Carrot peeler (for peeling carrots)

Knife (for cutting celery, carrots, and onion)

Cutting board (for cutting vegetables on)

Measuring utensils (1/2 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon, and 1 tablespoon and measuring seasonings)

Measuring cup (for measuring vegetables and chicken quantities)

Large Spoon (many possible utensils would work for stirring and serving the soup)

Ziploc bag (optional for prep work, 1 quart should work)

Ingredients:

Celery (1 cup cut thinly)

Carrots (1 cup peeled and cut thinly)

Yellow/Sweet Onion (1 cup peeled and diced small)

Chicken (2-4 cups of shredded or cut chicken already cooked)

Oil (2 tablespoons, olive oil recommended)

Garlic (2 cloves minced)

Low Sodium Chicken Broth (64 ounces)

Dried Oregano (1/2 teaspoon)

Pepper (1 teaspoon)

Dried Thyme (1/2 teaspoon)

Wide Egg Noodles (12 ounces)

Dried Parsley (4 tablespoons)

Salt (optional)

You will need to wash and thinly slice celery until you have 1 cups worth. Normally this is about 2 large stalks, but could be more depending on size.

You will need to wash, peel, and slice thin 1 cup worth of carrots. I use anywhere from 1 carrot (if very large) to 5 carrots (if medium sized).

You will also need to peel and dice up about 1 cup of onion (yellow or sweet) which amounts to about 1/2 of a medium onion. If you, or your eyes, are more sensitive to onion like myself then I would recommend wearing something over your eyes like a pair of chemistry goggles (sounds stupid but my eyes never water or burn).

If you are using a store-bought rotisserie chicken, you will need to take about 2-4 cups of chicken off the bone and set aside for the soup. You could do this while completing other steps since there would be time while things are boiling. If you bought shredded chicken (already cooked) then you need not worry about this step. You could also cook the chicken yourself and cut it up. Either way, the chicken pieces need to be made small enough to fit on a spoon with the other ingredients, so I would recommend them to be no larger than the end of your thumb.

If you aren't going to cook soon after doing the prep work then you should put the 3 cups of vegetables in a Ziploc bag and store in the fridge until you plan to cook. If you prepped the chicken then it should also be refrigerated until use.

To start cooking, add 2 tablespoons of oil (I use olive oil) into a large pot (such as a 4 qt Dutch oven) and turn the heat up to medium-high (I do setting 6).

Once warmed, add the 3 cups of prepped vegetables into the pot. Stir every 1-2 minutes for about 6-7 minutes.

Add 2 cloves worth (preferably larger cloves) of minced garlic and sauté an additional 1-2 minutes stirring once or twice during that time.

Add 64 ounces of low sodium chicken broth (any brand) to the pot (too much salt will ruin the soup so I try to minimize salt concentration whenever I can). This would be two containers of what I buy, which are each 32 ounces.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano, 1 teaspoon of pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme to the pot and stir.

Bring to a boil and let sit for 5 minutes.

Add 12 ounces of wide egg noodles (1 bag) and boil for 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes.

Add the chicken into the pot and stir. The more chicken you add the more you should stir to make sure it gets heated quicker.

Add 4 tablespoons of dried parsley and stir until distributed evenly throughout soup. This may seem like a lot of parsley, but this step is actually what makes my soup so good.

Feel free to add salt to your soup (I choose not to since the brand of chicken broth and rotisserie chicken I use vary in salt content which makes it hard to know how much to add). If adding straight to the pot I wouldn't recommend more than a tablespoon.

Turn off burner and serve immediately. Soup will be hot. Enjoy!