This homestyle chicken noodle soup recipe is the best flavorful soup you will ever try. It's made with a homemade chicken broth, store-bought rotisserie chicken, and lots of tasty garden vegetables for a full-on hearty soup perfect for lunch or dinner.
Chicken soup is a classic comfort food everyone enjoys. If you love this soup, try my Greek lemon chicken soup and my chicken vegetable soup which adds a bit more flavor and depth.
Contents
🥣 Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
The cold weather is now upon us, and this homemade chicken noodle soup is the perfect way to start the winter season in style. It's super easy to prepare for any home cook and requires little to no food knowledge.
Although it takes over 2 hours to make the delicious soup, it is well worth it! And 2 hours of the time required needs no supervision, as the classic chicken noodle soup is left to simmer to infuse all those natural flavors.
It is not as thick and creamy as most soups I make at home, as this soup focuses more on chunky vegetables and shredded chicken in flavorsome chicken bone broth with noodles, but it is far by the best chicken noodle soup I have ever tried.
🍽 What you need
Homestyle chicken noodle soup requires staple pantry ingredients for the homemade broth and soup and basic kitchen cooking utensils to make it. I use rotisserie chicken for this recipe to speed up the prep time and the carcass for the chicken stock.
Equipment
- Large stockpot or dutch oven
- Skillet
- Sieve
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Wooden spoon
Ingredients
For the broth:
- 16 cups water
- 8 ounces chicken bouillon good quality chicken bouillon
- 1 large leek
- 1 large rotisserie chicken
- 2 carrots unpeeled and quartered
- 1 large onion roughly chopped
- 2 stalks celery roughly chopped
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme fresh
- 1 bay leaf
For the soup:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice fresh squeezed
- 2 large carrots peeled and diced
- 1 large parsnip peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery finely diced
- 9 ounces of egg noodles
Substitutions
Like all soups, you can adjust the ingredients according to your needs and what's in the pantry.
Chicken
Since we are making homestyle chicken stock with the carcass of the chicken, I recommend using pre-cooked chicken from the shop or cooking a whole chicken at home the night before and using the leftovers for this soup. Alternatively, you can use cooked skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs and shred them into the soup.
Herbs & spices
Use what herbs you have at home. Fresh parsley or fresh rosemary work best for chicken noodle soup recipes, while chili powder and cayenne pepper give it some heat.
Vegetables
The veggies are very versatile in this soup. If you have any fragrant fennel hanging around, be sure to add some of that and a few potatoes if you want to. The more veggies you add, the heartier it becomes.
🔪 How to make
Homestyle chicken noodle soup takes 2 and a half hours to make, but it doesn't involve much work from you, as the majority of the cooking process is simmering the chicken stock. You will soon see how easy is it to make with my step-by-step instruction.
Preparations
Chop all the vegetables as instructed for the broth and for adding to the soup.
Cooking Instructions
For the broth:
- Heat the water in a large stockpot and stir in the chicken bouillon until dissolved. Separate the green part of the leek, then thinly slice the white part and reserve.
- Pull the meat off the rotisserie chicken, and reserve for later. Add the carcass to the pot, along with the green part of the leek, the carrots, onion, celery, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then allow to simmer for about 2 hours.
For the soup:
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the mushrooms. Cook for about 3 minutes, then increase the heat to high and add the lemon juice. Continue to cook until most of the liquid has left the mushrooms, then drain them and set them aside.
- Strain the chicken stock through a fine sieve and remove chicken carcass and veggies. Put the strained chicken stock back in the stockpot and add the bite-sized pieces of carrots, parsnip, celery, and white part of the leek. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the veggies begin to just soften.
- Add chicken and mushrooms to the pot, and cook for another 10 minutes on medium-high heat until boiling before adding the egg noodles for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Cooking Tips
- The longer you leave the broth simmering, the stronger the flavor becomes. Simmer it for a minimum of 2 hours and overnight for best results.
🥗 What to serve with
Homestyle chicken noodle soup is pretty filling on its own without adding side dishes. That being said, a bit of crusty bread or a salad pairs well.
Bread
A nice crusty loaf is always a good shout to soak up the delicious juices. Try these super easy yeast biscuits that take 45 minutes and only use 5 ingredients.
Salad
5-minute summer salads are great as a light side dish for this hearty soup or one of my absolute go-to healthy flavorful salads is quinoa with black beans.
Quiche
I am an absolute quiche lover and will have it with almost anything. Check out these tasty quiches with spinach & mushroom or bacon & cheese to pair with chicken noodle soup.
🙋 Frequently Asked Questions
What can I add to my chicken soup to give it flavor?
The soup is ever-so flavorsome as it is, but if you want to add extra layers of flavor to it, feel free to add some Asian-inspired ingredients like chiles, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce.
Should I thicken chicken noodle soup?
While the original chicken noodle soup is thinner than most soups, you can thicken it with the aid of cornstarch. Mix one tablespoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water and stir into the soup. It will thicken instantly.
🧊 Storing and ♨️ Reheating
Homestyle chicken noodle soup is great for storing and tastes even better as each day goes by.
In the Fridge
Transfer the leftovers to an airtight container once it cools down and place the container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
In the Freezer
You can freeze chicken noodle soup in freezer bags or an airtight container for up to 4 months.
How to Reheat
To eat leftovers, simply transfer them into a pot and heat it for 15 minutes over high heat until boiling.
🍳 Related Soup Recipes
Check out our hearty collection of healthy comfort food recipes.
- 35 Easy Soup Recipes with Few Ingredients
- Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
- Cabbage Roll Soup
- Chicken Pot Pie Soup
- Hungarian Mushroom Soup
👪 Serving Size
This homestyle chicken noodle soup will fill 6-8 large bowls and is easily scalable. I usually make more to freeze some for another week and share some out with friends.
It is my favorite recipe to make during the fall, and my family loves it because it is irresistible comfort food. Let me know if you make it and if you love it as much as I do!
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page.
Try one of my comfort dinner recipes for your next family meal! And if you have any questions, I'm here to help!
📋 Recipe
Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
for the broth:
- 16 cups water
- 8 ounces chicken bouillon - good quality chicken bouillon
- 1 large leek
- 1 large rotisserie chicken
- 2 carrots - unpeeled and quartered
- 1 large onion - roughly chopped
- 2 stalks celery - roughly chopped
- 2 sprigs thyme - fresh
- 1 bay leaf
for the soup:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 ounces mushrooms - sliced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice - fresh squeezed
- 2 large carrot - peeled and diced
- 1 large parsnip - peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery - finely diced
- 9 ounces egg noodles
Instructions
for the broth:
- Heat the water in a large stock pot and stir in the chicken bouillon until dissolved. Separate the green part of the leek, then thinly slice the white part and reserve.
- Pull the meat off the rotisserie chicken, and reserve the meat. Add the carcass to the broth, along with the green part of the leek, the carrots, onion, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then allow to simmer for about 2 hours.
for the soup:
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the mushrooms. Cook for about 3 minutes, then increase the heat to high and add the lemon juice. Continue to cook until most of the liquid has left the mushrooms, then drain them and set aside.
- Strain the broth through a fine sieve and discard the vegetables and chicken carcass. Put the strained broth back in the stock pot and add the carrots, parsnip, celery and white part of the leek. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to just soften.
- Add the reserved chicken from the rotisserie and the mushrooms and cook for about 10 minutes more. At this point you can reserve the soup until you are ready to serve it. Heat to almost boiling, add the egg noodles and cook for about 1 minute under the package recommendation.
Notes
- The longer you leave the broth simmering, the stronger the flavor becomes. Simmer it for a minimum of 2 hours and overnight for best results.
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