Homemade chicken noodle soup

The best chicken for chicken noodle soup

Boneless, skinless thighs. They stay juicy after 20 minutes in simmering broth, where breasts turn dry and stringy, and they give the broth more flavor. Cook them whole and shred them at the end: whole pieces lose less juice than cubes, and shredded chicken holds more broth than diced. Thighs are done at 165°F but are much more tender at 175 to 185°F, because the connective tissue softens. If you prefer white meat, use breasts and take them out at 165°F, about 15 minutes in.

For a richer homemade broth, use 2 1/2 lb of bone-in, skin-on thighs instead. Simmer them 35 to 40 minutes, then pull off and discard the skin and bones. Skim the fat from the surface before the noodles go in.

Broth: boxed or homemade

A good low-sodium boxed broth makes a perfectly good soup in an hour, because the chicken and vegetables simmered in it add their own flavor. Low-sodium matters: regular broth plus the salt the soup needs can come to over 1,200 mg of sodium a bowl. Start with the salt in the recipe and add more at the end, once you can taste the finished soup.

Homemade broth is better and costs almost nothing. Save the carcass of a roast or rotisserie chicken, cover it with about 12 cups of water, add an onion, a carrot and a bay leaf, and simmer gently, uncovered, for 2 to 3 hours. Strain it and use it in place of the boxed broth. Chilled overnight, good homemade broth sets to a soft jelly, and that gelatin gives the soup a fuller body.

Which noodles, and when to add them

Dried wide egg noodles are the classic: they are quick, hold their shape and taste of egg. Any short pasta works too, such as rotini, ditalini or broken spaghetti; cook it a minute or two longer than egg noodles.

The one rule is about leftovers. Noodles keep drinking broth after they are cooked, and by the next day they are soft and the soup is thick. If you are eating it all tonight, cook the noodles in the pot as written. If you are making it ahead, boil the noodles separately in salted water, keep them in their own container, and add them to each bowl as you serve.

Homemade noodles for chicken soup

Thick, chewy homemade noodles take 15 minutes of work. Mix 1 1/2 cups (190 g) all-purpose flour with 1/2 tsp salt, then work in 2 large eggs and 1 to 2 tbsp of water to a firm dough. Knead 3 minutes, rest it 20 minutes covered, then roll it 1/8 inch thick on a floured counter and cut it into 1/4-inch strips. Leave them to dry for 30 minutes, then simmer them in the soup for 8 to 10 minutes. Fresh noodles release more flour into the broth, so the soup comes out slightly thicker.

Slow cooker chicken noodle soup

Put everything except the noodles, parsley and lemon in a 6-quart slow cooker, with the chicken thighs whole. Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or on high for 3 to 4. You can skip softening the vegetables first; the soup is a little less sweet, but it works. Shred the chicken, then turn the cooker to high and add the noodles. Egg noodles take 20 to 30 minutes in a slow cooker, longer than on the stove, because the broth only barely simmers. Taste them, then add the chicken back with the parsley and lemon.

Instant Pot chicken noodle soup

Soften the vegetables on Sauté for 5 minutes. Add the broth, herbs, salt, pepper and whole thighs, lock the lid and cook at high pressure for 8 minutes, then let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Lift out and shred the chicken, switch back to Sauté and boil the noodles in the soup, uncovered, for 6 to 7 minutes. Cooking the noodles under pressure is possible, but they come out soft and the timing is unforgiving.

With a rotisserie chicken

Skip the raw chicken entirely. Soften the vegetables, add the broth and herbs and simmer 15 minutes, until the carrots are tender. Add the noodles, and when they are done, stir in 3 to 4 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken, skin removed, just long enough to warm it through. The whole soup takes about 35 minutes. Store-bought rotisserie chicken is seasoned and often brined, so taste before you add any more salt.

Creamy chicken noodle soup

Whisk 2 tbsp cornstarch into 1 cup of cold 2% milk. Stir it into the finished soup and let it bubble gently for 2 minutes, until it thickens slightly. This adds about 30 kcal a bowl. Using half-and-half instead of milk makes it richer, at about 60 kcal a bowl more than the plain soup. Stir the dairy in after the noodles have cooked, and do not boil the soup hard afterward.

Gluten-free chicken noodle soup

Use a gluten-free pasta made from rice, corn or a blend; brown rice pasta tends to hold its shape well. Cook it separately and add it to each bowl, because gluten-free pasta goes soft in broth much faster than wheat noodles. Check the broth label too: most are gluten-free, but not all.

Keeping it

Four days in the fridge, with the noodles stored separately if you can. The soup without noodles freezes well for 3 months; boil fresh noodles when you reheat it. Frozen with the noodles in, they turn mushy.

What it is worth nutritionally

A bowl of about 2 cups has about 305 kcal, with 29 g of protein, 9 g of fat and 27 g of carbohydrate. That much protein makes it a real meal rather than a starter. For more vegetables, double the carrots and celery or stir in a handful of spinach at the end. For a lower-carb bowl, our keto ramen trades the egg noodles for shirataki, and much the same chicken and vegetables go under a crust in our chicken pot pie.