Chicken Noodle Soup is easy to make from scratch with few ingredients.
In this recipe, a whole chicken is simmered with vegetables to create a flavorful broth and tender meat. Remove the meat from the bones, stir in some egg noodles and a handful of veggies for a cozy homemade soup.
Chicken soup really is a good wholesome meal with fresh ingredients and has never been so easy!
A Perfect Homemade Soup
This chicken noodle soup recipe is made with homemade broth and either store-bought or homemade egg noodles! Bonus, the whole kitchen will smell heavenly as the family comes home after a long day!
- Simple ingredients with a real homemade flavor.
- Easy to make and prepare. Let it simmer while you go about your day.
- A great way to stretch a meal, a whole chicken creates broth and meat for soup.
- Use any veggie you’d like and rice or pasta of your choice.
Chicken Noodle Soup Ingredients
Chicken (of course), along with carrots, celery, onions, noodles, and fresh herbs are slow-cooked to savory goodness.
CHICKEN & BROTH
A whole chicken makes a flavorful stock and tender meat for the soup.
Homemade: Simmering a whole chicken with some vegetables, seasonings, and water makes a flavorful broth (and I leave the skin on the onion for color). Strain the broth well through cheesecloth and discard the veggies as they become too mushy to add to the soup (I usually snack on them anyhow because they have lots of flavor). If you don’t have a whole chicken, use 8 bone-in chicken thighs.
Store Bought: If you are using store-bought broth (or if you already have homemade stock to use), you can simmer chicken breasts or boneless chicken thighs in low sodium chicken broth for about 12-14 minutes (for boneless) or use leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken.
VEGETABLES Onion adds flavor while carrots and celery ribs are traditional additions. Any kind of vegetables can be added and frozen vegetables work well too. A few cloves garlic, some diced potatoes, spinach, or other favorites can be added.
NOODLES Egg noodles are my favorite choice for chicken noodle soup but any pasta will work. We also love homemade egg noodles in this recipe which can be made well ahead of time and frozen.
Homemade Chicken Broth
It is super easy to make homemade broth and since this recipe uses a whole chicken it’s incredibly flavorful. Boiled chicken may not sound special but I can assure you it is one of life’s simple pleasures.
Placing a chicken to simmer in water with a few veggies as you go about your other tasks results in a flavorful broth and tender meat to make great meals throughout the whole week!
Add fresh or dried herbs like parsley, bay leaves, thyme, or a bit of rosemary.
How to Make Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
This soup is as easy as 1, 2, 3, and while it takes a bit of time, most of the time is hands-off while it simmers away!
- Simmer a whole chicken with onions and carrot/celery per the recipe below.
- Strain broth and remove meat from the bones.
- Cook the broth and carrots and celery. Stir in chicken and cooked noodles.
Remove from heat and season with pepper (add fresh parsley and if you’d like a little squeeze of lemon juice). For a classic soup and sandwich combination serve with a grilled cheese or club sandwich.
Cooking Variations
- Instant Pot Chicken Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken Soup
- 20 Minute Stove Top (weeknight version)
Plan for Leftovers
If you plan on having leftovers, cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl when serving. It will get mushy if left in the broth overnight (or frozen in the broth).
Leftovers?
Chicken noodle soup is so delicious we rarely have leftovers, but it can easily be stored in the fridge or freezer until ready to eat for meal prep. Remember to cook and store the egg noodles separately as they do not hold up well.
- To Store: Be sure it is fully cooled before putting it in the fridge. Make sure it’s in a tightly sealed container. It should last about a week if it lasts that long! Keep noodles in a separate sandwich bag or container.
- To Freeze: Chicken noodle soup can be frozen as long as it is fully cooled first (without the noodles). Chill it overnight in the fridge and then either ladle it into freezer bags with the date on them or in a freezer-safe container. It should keep about 4 months.
- To Reheat: Ladle the soup into a bowl and pop it in the microwave or into a stockpot on the stove. Easy enough!
Homemade Soups You’ll Love
- Beef Stew Recipe – reader favorite!
- Weight Loss Vegetable Soup Recipe – loaded with fresh veggies & flavor
- Fresh Tomato Soup – just a few fresh ingredients!
- Cream of Mushroom Soup – rich and creamy with fresh mushroom!
- Beef Barley Soup – 30 min soup
- Baked Potato Soup – rich & creamy soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 cups chicken broth or chicken stock, see notes
- 1 ½ cups sliced carrot
- 1 cup sliced celery
- 3 cups cooked chopped chicken see chicken below
- 2 cups egg noodles measured dry
- salt and black pepper to taste
Homemade Chicken Broth
- 1 whole chicken 3 to 4 pounds
- 1 ½ yellow onions divided, see notes
- 3 carrots include tops if you have them
- 2 ribs celery
- 4 sprigs fresh herbs rosemary, parsley, sage, or any combination
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 10 cups water
Instructions
Homemade Chicken Broth
- Cut 1 onion, carrots, and celery into quarters (include the tops of the carrots and celery if you have them). Place the remaining ½ onion into the cavity of the chicken.
- Place chicken in a large pot and add vegetables from step 1, fresh herbs, bay leaves, peppercorns, salt, and poultry seasoning. Cover with water.
- Cover pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, turn heat down and simmer partially covered for 1 ½ – 2 hours.
- Remove chicken, shred meat and discard bones. Strain broth through cheesecloth. Discard the vegetables in the strainer (*see note 1).
Soup
- Bring 8 cups of the strained broth to a boil and add carrots and celery. Cook 5 minutes.
- While carrots are cooking, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook egg noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. *see note 2
- Stir in chicken and simmer until heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Place noodles in the bottom of each bowl. Ladle soup over top and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Lunch, Soup
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
My entire family is sick. This recipe was the perfect comfort food we needed. I subbed the egg noodles for gf rice noodles, it was so delicious. SWP Employee
Love your recipes!!!!
Thank you Janis!
everything looks delicious
Hi Holly,
I’ve made couple of your recipes and my family has loved them. How long will the egg noodles last in the soup, will they turn to mush after 24 hours?
If you’ll be saving some of the soup, it’s best to cook the pasta separately and store it on the side.
Really good recipe! Followed mostly but just made the following adjustment: after removing the chicken I removed the skin and roasted it for crispy skin garnish. I also noticed people commenting that it was missing something and I think it was apple cider vinegar (I always use this when making homemade stocks, broths or bone broths). I added 2tbls in the beginning and a dash right before straining. I only had fresh parsley on hand but used dried thyme and basil as well and I didn’t think it made a huge difference. I also only had pink whole peppercorns (I bought them awhile back without realizing they do not work in a pepper mill!) so I added fresh black pepper before serving since pink aren’t as potent. All in all a great recipe (even though my husband thought I was insane to boil a whole chicken)!
Happy to hear that you love the soup Courtney! Thank you for sharing.
I made the soup exactly as written and used fresh herbs and I also mashed up the cooked veggies from making the broth and added back into broth. I have to agree with Debbies post from Dec. 15,2020– something seemed to be missing even after letting mine sit overnight after making. I was hoping for that WOW taste. Like Debbie, I’ll be making again as this was so super easy to put together. But I’ll try making turkey noodle soup too!
Love your recipes Holly
So glad you enjoyed it Claire!
I haven’t yet made this soup but looking forward to making it. After the broth is made and veggies are strained, can the cooked veggies be puréed and added back into the broth?
I haven’t tried it but I love that idea! Let us know how it goes!
Tried this recipe for the first time the other night and made almost as is. I didn’t have fresh spices only ground. It was good but seemed to be lacking something to me. Not exactly sure what though. It was a little better the 2nd day after it had sat in the refrigerator overnight. Added more salt and that helped too, but I feel like it’s not quite there yet for me. I will try tweaking it on future attempts. But all-in-all a solid base recipe.
Thanks for the nutritional info… but what is the serving size?
The nutritional information is an estimate as the chicken and veggies can vary slightly in size. The serving size is ⅙th of the recipe based on average sized ingredients, approximately 1½ cups.
Just ready to make this soup but realized I don’t have Bay Leaves ~. Will it suffer?
It should be fine Betsi! Hope you enjoyed it :)
Your recipes are great but there are several sites with great recipes. I keep coming back to this site because of the way the recipes print out. Usually one page WITH notes and nutrition. If I find and recipe I like I want to save it to my recipes book. Some sites print out as much as 4 or 5 pages with ads and junk I don’t need. Thanks again for your recipes and your site style.
Recipes look yummy
Looks soooo good!
Holly : your recipes are wonderful with great photos & clear instructions. Bravo, Sue :)
So happy you enjoy them Sue!
Love this recipe
Your recipes are fantastic. I specially like the chicken noodle soup and the beef stew.
Hi likd your recips!! Really cool.
I would like to have the recipe..I love all kinds of soup..
I noticed in the recipe it states to discard the veggies, did you mean but aside or discard them and place fresh uncooked veggies in the broth?
Hi Lisa, the veggies used initially to make the broth tend to be too mushy to use in the soup so we strain them out and discard them or snack on them. Feel free to leave in if you prefer, but we do add fresh uncooked veggies back in when making the soup portion.
Thank you so much for including nutritional information for your recipes.
You are very welcome Nancy! Glad we could help.