How do you make good chicken noodle soup?

I can't help there but I can say Whole Foods has great Chicken Noodle and Chicken Penne soups.

No, just find the thick noodles in a good store. The secret is a good broth, and a good broth comes from chicken parts. Bones and necks and honestly, feet.

Or get yourself a good stock - no powders, and cook some chick bits in it, and mirepoix, or could. Garlic is also good for the immune system. So is parsley.

Do you live in Bumfuck Idaho? Call up the local Chinese restaurant and get a quart delivered.

Dill. Lots of dill.

And matzo balls.

Well here we go again. This will end in tears.

My grandmother made the best when I was a kid. She would cook the chicken for hours to make the stock then add the noodles (thick, flat) and carrots and onions.

I've been vegetarian for 15 years, but I'd still like to have her soup one more time.

Here's a recipe from Cook's Illustrated, OP. I haven't tried it yet but most of the recipes from Cooks are really good.

Why this recipe works:

For a full-flavored chicken soup recipe that could be made in less than 90 minutes, we borrowed an idea from an Edna Lewis recipe, beginning by sautéing a chicken, minus the breast (which we used later as meat for the soup), hacked into small pieces, rather than by simmering chicken bones, aromatic vegetables, and herbs for hours. The pot was then covered and the chicken and onion cooked over low heat until they released their rich, flavorful juices, 15 to 20 minutes. Only at that point was water added, and the broth was simmered just 20 minutes longer. Cutting the chicken into small pieces was the most difficult step in this quick chicken soup recipe. A meat cleaver, a heavy-duty chef's knife, or a pair of heavy-duty kitchen shears made the task fairly simple.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds), breast removed and split, remaining chicken cut into 2-inch pieces

2 medium onions, cut into medium dice

2 quarts boiling water

Table salt

2 bay leaves

1 large carrot, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick

1 medium rib celery, sliced 1/4-inch thick

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

2 cups egg noodles (3 ounces), preferably wide

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

Ground black pepper

1. Heat oil in large soup kettle. When oil shimmers and starts to smoke, add chicken breast halves; sauté until brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside. Add half of chopped onions to kettle; sauté until colored and softened slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl; set aside. Add half of chicken pieces; sauté until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl with onions. Sauté remaining chicken pieces. Return onions and chicken pieces (excluding breasts) to kettle. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until chicken releases its juices, about 20 minutes. Increase heat to high; add boiling water along with both breast halves, 2 teaspoons salt, and bay leaves. Return to simmer, then cover and barely simmer until chicken breasts are cooked and broth is rich and flavorful, about 20 minutes.

2. Remove chicken breasts from kettle; set aside. When cool enough to handle, remove skin from breasts, then remove meat from bones and shred into bite-size pieces; discard skin and bone. Strain broth; discard bones. Skim fat from broth, reserving 2 tablespoons. (Broth and meat can be covered and refrigerated up to 2 days.)

3. Return soup kettle to medium-high heat. Add reserved chicken fat. Add remaining onions, along with carrot and celery; sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add thyme, along with broth and chicken; simmer until vegetables are tender and flavors meld, 10 to 15 minutes. Add noodles and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings, stir in parsley, and serve.

What's an alternative to egg noodles? Egg noodles are thin and chewy. I prefer a doughyer noodle.

[quote]What's an alternative to egg noodles? Egg noodles are thin and chewy. I prefer a doughyer noodle

Matzo balls, you putz. It doesn't get any doughier!

I hear that over on "Pioneer Woman Cooks", there is an amazing recipe that allows the cook to refresh and renew the soul...

Chicken and rice is better.

I add whole onions and celery rib cut in half, and then fish them out when the soup is ready.

Also, skim the fat off as you are cooking, and once the broth starts boiling, only allow it to boil for about five minutes, so that your broth is clear.

If you want a quick and easy, but flavorful option. Stop by a local grocery store and buy a roasted chicken from the deli counter. Put it in your pot and let it simmer for awhile to create a broth. The meat will eventually separate from the bones. Take out the skin and bones,use the meat for the soup,and add in your veggies and noodles to your liking.

[quote] Matzo balls, you putz

YAAAAAAWN. Jewish soup is so boring. So, you found a use for left over chicken fat, and crackers, good for you.

Try Avgolemeno its a traditional Greek chicken soup with lemon and rice. Very easy and tasty. Looks creamy but there is no cream needed.

Make roast chicken, adding extra carrots, potatoes, onions, and chopped garlic to the bottom of the olive oil greased pan. Make sure you cover the chicken with spices, such as you'd add to stuffing, and garlic. Turn chicken over ever 45 min, until well done.

Eat chicken, saving all bones. Take everything that you don't eat, the raw kidney and heart, but not the liver, and add to crock pot. You will skim the fat off when you're done. Add more chopped carrots, onions, celery, and my special trick, either part of a small finely chopped rutabaga or turnip. It really adds to the flavor, and is what Campbells puts in all of their soups. Pepper, garlic, chicken seasoning, and at the end salt.

Precooking the chicken gives you extra meals to eat, and cuts down on the cooking time. Overcooked bones taste terrible. Noodles should be added during the last 45 min of cooking time, depending on how soft you want them. Matzoh balls or dumplings, made with soy milk, are an alternative.

When I'm sick I just order a gallon of Hot and Sour Soup from my favorite Chinese place.

Ever heard of Google or the internet ?

Salt, much more than you think you would need.

r20, yes, and this is the internet. OP's question is legit—nothing like asking people to give their own personal take on a recipe.

You should just fuck off and die, I reckon.

I hope you have a large stockpot, OP. If not, get one.

Here's my recipe:

One whole chicken. Wash and put it in the pot. Turn on the heat. Add 1/2 gallon water. Dice & add 1 yellow onion. 3-4 sliced carrots. 3-4 sliced celery. 2 tbsp parsley. 1tbsp salt. 1 tbsp pepper. Fresh mushrooms are good if you like them. If you're not using noodles, a handful of small red or yellow potatoes, cut in fours. Raise the heat until it boils a few minutes, then lower to simmer. Cook about 1 1/2 - 2 hours until chicken falls apart. If you are using noodles, omit the potatoes and put in egg noodles at the end per instructions on the package.

I prefer to do a chicken vegetable soup instead: add 1/2 red bell pepper, diced, a handful of fresh green beans, sliced into pieces about an inch or two long, fresh diced ginger, a piece or two fresh diced garlic (don't overdo it), 1 or 2 tbsp Italian seasoning to taste. At the last five - ten minutes, a handful or two of fresh or frozen corn, just enough to heat it up. By then the water's boiling and it just sweetens the pot up. You can also use Brussels sprouts or cauliflower pieces if you like them. I haven't used noodles in years. This seems to cure whatever ails you.

At the end, remove the chicken, cut it up, and put it back in the pot. It should be falling apart by then.

Frozen corn is largely GMO crap from Monsanto and should be avoided.

I never have time for scratch broth so my go- to base is College Inn...dosed liberally with sauteed carrots, celery, and garlic....I prefer the yolk free noodles ( cooked seperately and added) because they don't turn to mush in leftover( I make a big pot to last a few days)

Bones and browned skin made a fuller broth. For whatever recipe you use, substitute an equivalent weight of chicken wings. Take a cleaver and hack them into bits, brown them in the oven and THEN make the soup. I see more and more broth recipes where they add a package of plain gelatine to give more body to the broth.

Buy a couple of skinned, boned chicken breasts and when the broth is done, skim the fat, remove (strain) the crap from the broth (the seasoning veggies and the like) and poach the breasts in the broth. When cooked, shred the poached breasts, add the final serving vegetables (diced carrots, celery, parsnips are great) cook till tender and then add the shredded chicken.

It's not about the recipe, it's about the technique.

Don't use the breast in soup. Pick flavorful meat like thighs.

Simmer the chicken parts just until done. Remove, cool and then remove the meat. Throw all the bones, skin and fat back in the pot and simmer on low several hours. Strain and chill. remove fat, chop up meat and add whatever you want to make a soup. This will make a very gelatinous broth, which is the part that is good for a cold.

Get a pressure cooker. You can make stocks that taste like they have been simmering all day, in about an hour or so. Throw some bone in skin on chicken thighs in there, along with carrot, celery, onion, garlic, fresh parsley, and a bay leaf. Season with sea salt and some whole peppercorns. Cover everything with water, plus a couple inches above, then pressure cook it on high for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Reserve the chicken, and strain the broth through a mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth. Add the shredded chicken back to the broth and bring it back to a boil, to cook your noodles. If you like, you can finely dice some additional fresh carrots, celery and onion and add them back into the soup as well (the ones you used for the broth will be way too mushy) and cook them until tender.

Two words, OP: slow cooker. Delicious.

We have a lot of comments on making a good broth/chicken stock, but no one is talking about the noodles.

Egg noodles aren't good. I tried making chicken noodle soup in my slow cooker and my egg noodles absorbed all the liquid and were huge. A complete failure.

Please recommend good noodles.

skim the fat off!

r31 Make your own noodle dough, using egg whites and some of the cooking broth for the liquid. The whites will give a firmer noodle, and the broth will add mouth feel. Roll out the dough thicker(about 1/8") than the recipe says, they'll be nice and chewy.

Be careful adding salt when making stock/broth. As the liquid evaporates, what remains will become saltier. It's easy to correct the salt later on, once you decide what you'll be doing with the finished broth. A second on adding bay leaves, a very overlooked herb.

all sounds good

Am I the only one who likes the very fine egg noodles better than the fat ones? Oh and the real egg, not the no yolks, taste best.

If you want a good head start get Kitchen Basic no salt added chicken stock. Add some celery, onions, carrots and parsley, salt to taste, add some peppercorns bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. If you like meat in it by a ready made chicken and add some.

Easy and it will taste almost as good as if you started from scratch. Kitchen Basics is the best ready made stock and doesn't have a lot of crap added. I like that they don't just have a low sodium one but a totally no salt added. This way you completely control how much sodium you want it to have.

r31, you write like your noodles.

Stealth recipe thread

GINGER! It's the secret ingredient to a successful chicken soup. Also throw some spinach in there, plus loads of garlic. Hope your BF feels better soon.

Why dontcha ask Star Jones how SHE makes soup...

Ginger "secret" in chicken soup, R38? Not for long.

For yellow color and a zingy, unidentifiable taste, I add ½ cup of Cepacol.

This is poured in and given one stir just prior to serving.

Guests rave!

Ina Garten’s chicken noodle soup

R17 Nailed it

Agreed, R17 & R43, I discovered Greek Chicken Soup from a Greek friend

and now I go out of my way to order Chicken Soup at a local Greek restaurant - Pre-Covid I would order it by the quart.

There is something about the lemon and fresh dill that compliments the Chicken so well and so unexpectedly.

And with the lightness of the Lemon, I enjoy it in even in the Summer months

It's been six years. Is there an update on OP's boyfriend? I imagine things have taken a sad turn into Jane and Blanche territory by now.

[quote]I can't help there but I can say Whole Foods has great Chicken Noodle and Chicken Penne soups.

I'm glad you said this because I just got some of their Chicken Noodle yesterday and haven't tried it yet.

Here is the secret--get one of those can-openers that cuts off the top of the cans from along the sides, instead of the traditional can-openers that cuts the can open on the top. This makes all the difference in the world.

For the noodles if you just make a home made dumpling dough--like for potstickers or mandu or something, roll it out to the desired thickness and then cut into noodles, it will work. It's just a flour and water dough.