When my body is tired and achy, or I’m feeling a bit under the weather, I always throw together this Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup recipe. The aroma that fills my house as it cooks is absolutely soothing to the soul, and the “from scratch” chicken soup flavor makes it the ultimate comfort food. There’s no bouillon or canned broth here folks, because this chicken soup is the real deal. But don’t worry, despite being made from scratch, this surprisingly simple and easy recipe makes the BEST homemade chicken noodle soup with very little hands-on time!
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Ingredients for Chicken Noodle Soup
Making chicken noodle soup from scratch doesn’t require a lot of complicated ingredients. All you need is chicken, a few simple vegetables, herbs, and spices, and you’re good to go! Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this easy chicken noodle soup recipe:
- Vegetables: I use a simple mirepoix (onion, carrot, and celery), plus a little garlic for extra depth. This medley of vegetables simmers with the chicken to create an incredible homemade broth for the soup. The vegetables also add a lot of color and texture to the soup.
- Bone-in Chicken: Using bone-in chicken is critical to creating the most flavorful chicken noodle soup. I use skinless chicken breast (bone-in) so my soup has delicious pieces of white meat throughout. If you’re more of a dark-meat person, feel free to use thighs or drumsticks. I like to remove the skin to reduce the extra fat, but you can leave the skin on while simmering and remove it later if you want an extra-rich soup.
- Herbs and Spices: A combination of basil, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, and pepper give this soup its classic warm flavor. And of course, we add some salt to really help the natural flavors pop!
- Water: The chicken, vegetables, and seasoning simmer in water to create a truly amazing homemade broth.
- Noodles: I use wide egg noodles for chicken noodle soup because I love their light texture, but you can use just about any pasta shape you like! Try using stars, alphabet pasta, fideo, or ditalini.
Can I Use Rotisserie Chicken?
You can make this homemade chicken noodle soup recipe even faster by swapping out the raw chicken with shredded rotisserie chicken. Pull the chicken meat from the bones before you begin making the soup, then add the leftover carcass to the soup pot and simmer that with the vegetables instead of the whole chicken breast. Remove the bones before adding the shredded chicken back at the end.
Or, instead of simmering the bones, you can use a pre-made chicken broth and simply add the shredded rotisserie chicken at the end. This is a super fast method for making chicken soup, but the flavor won’t be quite as amazing as making your own broth!
Tips for Making Chicken Noodle Soup More Flavorful
To make sure your homemade chicken noodle soup has the most flavor possible, follow these easy tips:
- Use bone-in chicken, not boneless. The bones give the broth a TON of flavor.
- Make sure your dried herbs are fresh. Dried herbs lose flavor over time, so check those expiration dates!
- Don’t rush it. This soup needs to simmer for quite a while to get the most flavor out of the chicken, vegetables, and herbs. But don’t worry, it doesn’t require much attention as it simmers away.
- Don’t forget the salt. Salt doesn’t just make food taste “salty,” it actually helps our tongue distinguish different flavors. So make sure you salt the soup to taste at the end to get the full effect of all of those delicious flavors.
Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
This recipe adapts very easily to the slow cooker. Click here for our Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup recipe (with step-by-step photos).
Freeze the Leftovers!
This recipe makes a big batch, so I always freeze about half of it for days when I’m really under the weather. A quick reheat in the microwave or in a pot and this soup instantly makes me feel better. To freeze this soup, first divide it into single portions, make sure it is chilled completely in the refrigerator, then transfer it to the freezer, for up to about three months.
Pairs perfectly with homemade No-Knead Focaccia Rolls!
The Best Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Servings 8 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 medium yellow onion ($0.37)
- 3 cloves garlic ($0.24)
- 1/2 lb. carrots ($0.49)
- 1/2 bunch celery ($0.83)
- 2 split chicken breasts, bone-in ($6.64)
- 1 tsp dried basil ($0.10)
- 1 Tbsp dried parsley ($0.15)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme ($0.05)
- 1 bay leaf ($0.15)
- 1/4 tsp Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 2-3 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 6 oz. egg noodles ($1.00)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion, garlic, and olive oil to a large pot and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft and transparent.
- While the onion and garlic are sautéing, wash and slice the carrots and celery. Add them to the pot and continue to sauté for a few minutes more.
- Pull the skin and any excess fat from the chicken breasts. Add the breasts to the pot along with the bay leaf, basil, parsley, thyme, some freshly cracked pepper, and 8 cups of water. Cover the pot, bring it to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for one hour. Make sure the pot continues to simmer for the whole hour. If the heat is turned down too low and it is not bubbling away, the chicken will not shred easily.
- After an hour of simmering, remove the chicken from the pot. Using two forks, pull the meat from the bone and shred it slightly. Season the broth with salt. Begin with one teaspoon and add more to your liking. I used 2-3 teaspoons. The flavor of the broth will really pop once the salt is added.
- Add the noodles to the pot, turn the heat up to high, and boil the noodles until tender (about 7 minutes). Return the shredded chicken to the pot. Taste and season again with salt if needed (I didn’t need to). Serve hot!
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Nutrition
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Love chicken soup? Then you’ll LOVE my Chicken Stew. It’s like chicken noodle soup’s heartier, more rustic cousin!
How to Make Easy Chicken Noodle Soup – Step By Step Photos
Begin by dicing one onion and mincing three cloves of garlic. Place them in a large pot with 2 Tbsp olive oil and sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent.
While the onion and garlic are cooking, clean and slice 1/2 lb. carrots and 1/2 bunch celery (3-4 stalks). Add them to the pot. Continue to sauté the onions, carrots, and celery together. You’ll only use half of a one-pound bag of carrots and half of a bunch of celery, but the rest doesn’t need to go to waste. You can clean and slice the rest and freeze them to make another batch of soup later. I do it every (other) time. It takes just a few more minutes and is super convenient later!
Remove the skin from two split chicken breasts (2.5-3 lbs. total). Split chicken breasts come with bones and rib meat, both of which add a LOT of flavor to the broth. They will also sometimes be labeled “bone-in chicken breast with rib meat”.
Add the chicken breasts to the pot along with 1 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1 Tbsp dried or fresh parsley, 1 bay leaf, and about ¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper.
Add eight cups of water, cover, and bring up to a boil over high heat. As soon as it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low and let simmer for one hour. Make sure that you don’t turn the heat down so low that it stops simmering. It needs to simmer the whole time.
After an hour, it will look something like this. Pull the chicken out of the pot…
Use two forks to pull the chicken from the bone and shred it into bite-sized pieces.
Add 6oz. egg noodles to the pot while you’re working on the chicken, turn the heat up to a boil, and cook until tender (about 7-10 minutes). You can use any noodle that you like, but I really like egg noodles for this soup. They have a nice firm texture and they don’t disintegrate in the soup. Season the broth with salt, beginning with one teaspoon and adding more until the flavor of the broth really pops (2-3 teaspoons).
Add the shredded chicken back to the chicken soup, stir to combine, and you’re ready to eat! It’s never a bad idea to give it one last taste and adjust the salt if needed.
This chicken noodle soup recipe makes about 12 cups, so it’s not a bad idea to freeze some for later. Always refrigerate the chicken noodle soup fully before transferring it to the freezer. When making big batches, it’s a good idea to divide it up into smaller portions before refrigerating. This helps the hot liquid to cool down faster once in the refrigerator.
Sitting here smelling the soup right now. Super stoked to try it. My first time making soup and it was pretty easy. I’m sure it’ll taste like how it smells which is deff lit. 🙌🏼🤘🏼
Hi! This soup is delicious! However I’ve never frozen chicken noodle soup before but Ive readthat freezing the soup with noodles is not a good idea. What’s your experience with the texture of the noodles after you defrost?
They definitely get softer, but that doesn’t bother me a bit. I still gobble it up. :)
I’m making this as we speak!! Smells heavenly right now!! Can’t wait to try it!! How long will it keep in the fridge?
Made this today and love it! I followed the directions as written but might have used a bit more noodles (I didn’t measure the ounces). Remember to add the salt at the very end, not with the rest of the herbs/spices. Very easy…this will be my go-to chicken noodle soup from now on. Thank you!
You mentioned that freezing the soup works well. I’ve found that freezing chicken often changes the texture of the chicken, which I’m not fond of. Does that happen with this? Or perhaps freezing chicken in a liquid is different than freezing it on its own?
Honestly I’ve never noticed a texture change with freezing chicken, which might mean that it’s just be something you’re more sensitive to than I am, so I’m not sure if that would happen here or not. :(
When I eat chicken, I save the bones and add them with my fresh chicken for stock !
Double up on the bones ! LOL
Liz
Do you have any suggestions on making a vegetarian chicken-less noodle soup?
Hmmm, I think that idea would take some development. It’s a great idea, though, and I’ll add it to my list!
Made it… loved it! Super good and easy!
Love it made it today 😍
I make this soup using a Rotisserie chicken. Sometimes I use 2 chickens for a big batch. First remove chicken from bones, chop, reserve. Then put chicken carcass into pot with 8 to 10
cups of water, carrots, celery, onions and garlic. Add parley, bay leaf, dash of poultry seasoning and tumeric. Bring to boil. Simmer at least an hour. Strain and discard bones and veggies. Chill broth, skim fat. Proceed with soup recipe.
Note: If I don’t have time to make the broth, I freeze the bones and cook several packs of bones to make a big batch of broth.
Love it!!
I’ve been sick a lot this year so I’ve been making this recipe a lot and it’s delicious every time. I make just a few tweaks based on my preferences: I add extra garlic because I always do, and I prefer a more brothy soup so typically do 10 or 11 cups or water instead of 8 and up the seasoning a bit in proportion to that. The last couple times, rather than taking the skin off, I browned the chicken a bit to carmelize the skin and get some extra flavor from that, took the chicken out to sauté the veggies, and then put the chicken back in and proceeded with the recipe. I think it adds a little more chicken flavor.
As a Jersey girl who grew up with Jewish delis surrounding her, I’ve also sometimes made this chicken noodle and matzoh ball soup with a box of matzoh ball mix and adding the balls at the end around when the noodles go in (depends on cook time).
Delicious every time. Thanks, Beth!
Can I use chicken broth instead of water?
Yes, just be sure to adjust the added salt accordingly.
Came down with a cold and needed some soup. I’m not a fan of chicken noodle but sometimes you gotta eat it to feel better. This was easy to make and came out good ( surprisingly!).
I didn’t have parsley or chicken breast but used thighs and legs as that’s what was in our inventory and went sans parsley. And I used fettuccine instead of egg noodles too. But the base soup was pretty darn good, thank you for sharing!
This is great soup. I made a mistake and added the salt first, but it turned out amazing still. I have a question, in other recipes, they talk about skimming the fat off the top, but the spices are all there as well. What do you do?
Since the herbs have already simmered in the soup, they’ve probably already released a lot of their flavor into the broth, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. :)
Got caught with strep throat and a sinus infection, made a batch of this and has been my recovery food for the week. Much more affordable than canned and easy to make as well, thank you so much Beth!