Hi Everyone,
Today I have for you a recipe that my Mom used to make when I was a kid. It is one of my all time favorite recipes ever, and I don’t think I could ever get sick of it. It is a family favorite. My Husband just loves when I make it and when the kids were at home, they loved it too. It is my homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.
This soup has the perfect chicken flavor and is so full of vegetables. I am partial to carrots, so I always sneak a few more in. It is seasoned with thyme, parsley, bay leaf and dill. I love adding dill to chicken dishes, and it goes perfect in the soup.
The soup is a broth based soup, and an easy one to make too. It takes about 3 hours to make, but doesn’t require much work on your part. However, it is hard to keep the spoon out of the soup, after-all you have to test the seasonings. I burnt my tongue, but well worth it. The smell of the soup will go throughout your home and it is such a comforting smell.
To make the soup, I added everything, but the noodles into the pot. I used bone-in chicken breasts. I placed the breasts in at the beginning and let cook to make the broth. Once the chicken was falling apart I took it out of the soup. Let it cool, and shred it and place it back in the soup. You have an amazing chicken broth, no need to strain. Most chicken soups with homemade broth has fat on the top. When you use chicken breasts, you don’t really get any fat to skim. Since you have skin on the chicken breasts, the fat from the skin adds the flavor to the broth. For a little help, I did use a couple chicken bouillon cubes.
For the noodles, I used Egg Noodles. Actually, I bought No Yolk Egg Noodles. Just be sure to cook them on the side and add them to your bowl of soup. Don’t cook it in with the soup because the noodle will absorb the liquid and give it a starchy taste. I did this once and OMG, the pot of soup became a pure noodle. Meaning all you saw was noodles, no broth, it simply took all of the liquid. It was so gross. Now, every time I add noodles to a soup, I cook it on the side and then add it in. Trust me on this one.
This is the perfect soup to make on a cold winters day. I find Sunday’s is the best time to make it. It’s just so warm and comforting. The soup will easily feed 10 -12 people. It makes a big pot, perfect for a family Sunday dinner. Since it was just my Husband and I, we have leftovers for the week, which makes for a great dinner.
- 2 lbs chicken breasts with skin & bone
- 2 cups onion, peeled, diced
- 2 cups celery, diced
- 2 cups carrots, peeled, diced small
- 12 cups water
- 2 bay leaf
- 1 tsp. thyme
- 1 tsp. dill
- 1 tsp. parsley
- 1 tsp. ground pepper
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 chicken bouillon cube
- 8 oz. pkg. egg noodles
- In a large pot add vegetables, chicken, water and seasoning. Stir together. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 1 hour, or until chicken falls apart and looks like it’s splitting. Skim any fat off the top (Normally with chicken breasts you won't have fat on top).
- Take the chicken out of the pot and place to the side until cool enough to handle (It is really hot). Shred the chicken (discard skin and bones). Place shredded chicken back into the pot. Give a good stir and taste. This is the point where you need to decide if you should add a little more pepper or bouillon cubes ( I used 1 bouillon). Simmer for another hour.
- Meanwhile, in a separate pot, cook egg noodles according to package. Once cooked, add a little bit of olive oil to prevent them from sticking.
- Place some noodles in your serving bowl and top with soup.
If you have time this weekend, you should try to make this soup. it’s so easy. The only work you have to do is cut the vegetables and shred the chicken when it is ready. The rest is pretty much done. We served this a small loaf of sour dough bread. A side salad would be perfect too.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Toodles,
Jennifer
