Chicken soup is such a wonderful comfort food. There’s nothing wrong with canned chicken soup, but there’s just something about homemade chicken soup that screams “I love you!” to yourself and your family. Give this Easy Homemade Chicken Soup recipe a try the next time you need some comfort food.
Easy Homemade Chicken Soup
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This soup was made with Homemade Chicken Broth. You can use the homemade stuff, or you can buy broth, no judgement from me either way! When I made the chicken broth, I used the backbones from 2 chickens (find out how to separate the backbones from a whole chicken here). When the broth was finished, I pulled all the meat off the bones, and used that for the soup.
If you don’t have time to make Homemade Chicken Broth and Homemade Chicken Soup at the same time (well, really one right after the other), you can always freeze the chicken broth and save it for later. (Get some tips here on freezing chicken broth.)
Make sure that you start with a big enough pot. You’ll use about 5 cups of broth, plus 3 cups of veggies, about 2-3 cups of chicken, and about 2 cups of noodles. I use this stockpot for all my stove top soups, and I just love it!
I love these Amish homestyle noodles. I used the long, wide ones in my soup. Use shorter noodles, use egg noodles, or use whatever pasta shape is your favorite. You only need to add the noodles in the last 5-10 minutes before you’re ready to serve the soup. Add them too soon, and they will cook too long and you’ll end up with noodle mush. Nobody likes noodle mush.
Soups are a great place to add extra vegetables in your family’s meals. Do they like carrots? Add some extra! Celery not a big hit? Leave it out, and add some sweet corn. Leeks can be a good substitution for onion, or just a fun addition to try something new. Got extra zucchini in your garden? Chop one and add it when you add the noodles. Really, the sky is the limit!
With the noodles, I wouldn’t usually put potato in this soup. But we had a pretty good crop of potatoes from our garden this year, and I’m looking for ways to use them. I hate when I forget about them and they go bad! (Which reminds me… there’s a whole pallet of sweet potatoes that need to get used… and a few butternut squash, too!)
What do you make to tell you family that you love them?
Enjoy!
Free Printable for Should I Use Chicken Breasts or Chicken Thighs?
Not sure if you should choose chicken breasts or chicken thighs for this recipe? Click here to find out why you might choose one over the other.
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Easy Homemade Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 2 carrots sliced
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 stalk celery sliced
- 1 medium potato peeled and chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 5 cups chicken broth or enough to cover all vegetables
- 1 pound chicken
- 4 ounces wide noodles uncooked
Instructions
- In a large stockpot, combine carrots, onion, celery, potato, bay leaf, thyme, salt, and pepper.
- **If you are using uncooked chicken, add it now. If your chicken is already cooked, refrigerate it until later.
- Add chicken broth. Cover, and bring the soup to a boil.
- When boiling, lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 30-40 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
- **If you put your chicken in earlier, remove it now. Let it rest until it is cool enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bones, and chop into bite-sized pieces.
- Remove the bay leaf and discard.
- Return the soup to boiling. Add noodles, and add cooked chicken to the soup.
- Cook for 5-7 minutes, until noodles are tender.
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