Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
The absolute perfect way to get through those cold wintery nights. Paired with a nice crusty bread, this will be literal chicken soup for your soul.
Servings 8
Ingredients
Stock
- 1 each - Fryer Chicken 2 1/2 - 3 pound, cut up
- 3 1/2 quarts - Water
- 1 each - Onion peeled and diced
- 3/4 teaspoon - Oregano dried
- 1/2 teaspoon - Basil dried
- 1/4 teaspoon - Thyme dried
- 1 teaspoon - Lemon Pepper
- 4 or 13 Garlic Cloves minced
- 4 Bay Leaves
- 3 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
- Salt and Pepper
Soup
- 2 cups Carrots sliced
- 2 cups Celery and Leafy Greens sliced
- 2 1/2 cups or 1 bag Egg Noodles uncooked
- 1 cup Mushrooms sliced
- 3 tablespoons Parsley fresh
- 2 teaspoons Rosemary fresh (or dried)
- 1 1/2 cups Parmesan grated
- 1 quart Heavy Cream
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Find yourself a nice big pot. Biggest I have is 8 quarts and it works fine. Cut up the chicken like you would, and then plop it inside the pot along with everything else that goes in the stock.
- Turn up the heat and let it simmer for about 45 minutes. Once it's done, get a plate and put the chicken on it, then skim out the onion and bay leaves with a strainer or perforated utensil.
- I really hope you're reading ahead and see that in the 45 minutes to make the stock, it'll be the perfect time to prep everything else that needs cutting...
- 45 minutes later, If all went well, you should have about 3 quarts of stock which smells mighty fine.
- If for some insane reason you didn't prep yet, looks like you're stuck with it now! While waiting for the chicken to cool, get your celery and clean it all nice to get the dirt out. Cut up your carrots, slice your mushrooms, do all that fun stuff. Remember to try and keep everything uniform and bite sized.
- By the time you're done, you should be able to handle the chicken. Start peeling off the skin and set it aside to discard it. You're also discarding the cartilage and the bones. Pick the meat off the bones as much as you can and put it on a plate. I tear it off in chunks then tear it apart till it's small. By the time you go through it all, you should have a nice mountain of skin/bone/cartilage-free chicken meat.
- See notes for other tips regarding the chicken.
- Now let's get this soup going! This is all going to be non-stop from here so have everything ready to go.
- Get the stock heated up to a good boil again. Add the carrots and cook them for 3 minutes.
- Then add the celery and cook for about 8 minutes.
- Next, add the egg noodles and cook them for about 1-2 minutes less than the directions on the bag say they should be cooked.
- Once that timer goes off, add the mushrooms, chicken, parsley, and rosemary.
- There's a lot going on in the pot right now so don't be afraid to give it a good stir.
- Add the ever important parmesan and cream. Give it a good stir and cook for another 2 minutes. DON'T SKIP THE PARM! Respect it. Thank it for its delicious sacrifice and make whatever promises you have to to make sure it goes peacefully.
- Stir it again and taste it.
- Odds are good you're going to need to add some more salt and pepper.
- So after the seasoning is adjusted, you are done!
Notes
- This is a very straight forward recipe and nothing crazy so it should be a cinch to make.
- You'll want to use a whole chicken because you're making a stock as the base for the soup. I just cut it up by separating the legs and thighs as well as the wings from the rest of the chicken.
- Alternatively though, if you really didn't want to deal with it, you could totally just use chicken breasts. I would use store bought chicken broth/stock instead of the water though.
- Yes, I've done this plenty of times with chicken breasts. You're fine.
- The onion doesn't have to be cut a certain way. Just rough chop it into the pot because you're only using it for flavor. The bigger the pieces, the easier it is to extract when you're done with it.
- I used baby carrots and sliced them the same size I sliced the celery. It's always good to try and keep everything the same size in a soup.
- If you don't like mushrooms, don't use them. If you love them, add more.
- I unfortunately forgot to get parsley, in case you realize there isn't any green in the soup. Which you should because it looks like it's missing it.
- This soup is best buds with parmesan cheese. I don't know what it is, but I just love pouring it on there. So if you're a fan of parmesan, go ahead and bring it to the table when you're ready to dig in.
- I'm sure you can use half & half instead of the heavy cream.Don't be afraid!
- I've said before: If you don't use the salt you need to, whatever it is you're making will come out bland and blah. It can make something extremely disappointing when it could've been extraordinary. So salt it up! Something to keep in mind though - you can always add, but you can never take away. So while it's important to use salt, remember to add it slowly, stir, taste, and repeat. It's better to take your time than mess up a whole pot of soup.
