# Classic Chicken Noodle Soup

Classic Chicken Noodle Soup — a medium recipe with 7 main ingredients, ready in about 45 min and serving 6. Check which of its ingredients are on sale at grocery stores near you.

- **Time:** 45 min
- **Serves:** 6
- **Difficulty:** medium
- **Tags:** dinner, lunch, chicken, soup, american
- **Source:** https://savingrecipes.com/recipes/chicken-noodle-soup

## Ingredients

- 1 lb chicken breast or thighs
- 3 carrots
- 3 celery stalks
- 1 onion
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups egg noodles
- Fresh dill or parsley
- Salt & pepper _(pantry staple)_
- 2 tbsp olive oil _(pantry staple)_

## Instructions

1. Sweat diced onion, carrot, and celery in oil 5 min.
2. Add broth and chicken; simmer 20 min, then shred the chicken.
3. Add noodles, cook until tender; season and finish with herbs.

## Tips

- Cook the noodles separately if you want leftovers. Left in the broth they keep absorbing and turn to mush overnight.
- Simmer, never boil, once the chicken is in. A hard boil makes the meat stringy and clouds the broth.
- Salt at the end, not the start. The broth reduces as it simmers, and what tasted right initially becomes too salty.

## Substitutions

- **Chicken breast:** Thighs stay juicier and cost less. A leftover roast chicken carcass makes a better broth than anything else — simmer it an hour first.
- **Egg noodles:** Any small pasta, rice (add 20 minutes), or orzo. Rice noodles for gluten-free, added at the very end.
- **Chicken broth:** Water plus a bouillon cube works. Homemade stock is noticeably better if you have it.
- **Dill or parsley:** Dill is traditional and tastes distinctly different from parsley. Both work — use whichever you like.

## Storage & reheating

Keeps 4 days refrigerated and freezes 3 months, but freeze it without the noodles — they disintegrate. Add fresh noodles when reheating; they take 6 minutes.

## Common questions

### Why is my broth bland?

Under-salted, or not enough aromatics. Sweat the onion, carrot and celery properly first — 5 minutes of real softening builds a base that chicken and water alone won't.

### Can I use rotisserie chicken?

Yes, and it's a good shortcut. Add the shredded meat in the last 5 minutes so it doesn't overcook, and use a good broth since you're not building flavour from raw chicken.

### Does chicken soup actually help a cold?

There's modest evidence that steam and warm fluid ease congestion, and the hydration helps. It won't shorten the illness, but it isn't purely folklore either.


_Photo: Andy Li — CC0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicken_with_Noodles_Soup_-_Noodles_Soup_2023-10-24.jpg)_