How To Make Chicken Noodle Soup

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Warm up with this simple but tasty homemade chicken noodle soup recipe. It couldn’t be easier to make and the seasoning makes the flavors POP!

Bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup.

Two days ago, I received a call from a friend who had requested my homemade chicken noodle soup. Honestly, I didn’t think it was that special when I came up with it. I just wanted to make a simple chicken soup that my kids would like. Thus no visible onions or bits of celery because we hide those in the broth!

I hit on something though because every time I mention making it I get an enthusiastic “YES!” from my son and that raised eyebrow grin from my husband. Even Katy, who is currently vying for the record of the world’s pickiest eater, loves this soup. I try to always make plenty because it seems the family lines up at my door with soup bowls in hand so I just send it around to all of the houses! It’s really very simple by design because y’all know how I like to keep things good and easy!

So, what can you expect to find in my homestyle chicken noodle soup recipe? Besides the mandatory chicken and noodles, it’s also filled with carrots, celery, onion, and poultry seasoning. It may be simple, but it’s truly flavorful and fortunately, easy to make.

Ingredients for Chicken Noodle soup

Recipe Ingredients

  • Chicken
  • Carrots
  • Celery
  • Onion
  • Poultry seasoning
  • Noodles
  • A fryer

How To Make My Easy Chicken Noodle Soup Step By Step

cut up carrots and save for broth

Now, cut all of the tops and ends off of your carrots and SAVE THEM, we’re going to use them to make our chicken broth. Then take one carrot and cut it into sections to add to the tops.

cut up celery and keep for broth

Cut up your celery just a bit, this is going in the chicken broth as well.

My celery was actually partially frozen and about ready to be thrown out due to that, so it was perfect for recycling into soup!

quarter your onion

Quarter your onion. There is just no need to put a lot of attention into these because they are only for the broth.

add ingredients into pot with whole chicken

Toss your carrot tops and ends, celery, and onion into a large pot with your chicken.

cover with water and bring to a boil

Cover with water and bring to a boil. Once it’s brought to a boil, lower the heat a bit and cook until it cries “uncle!”. Seriously, cook this for SEVERAL hours. This is going to make a good, rich broth. I cooked mine for four hours.

cook this for 4 hours to create thick broth

See? That chicken and those veggies have given up the ghost!

take chicken out and set it aside

Now, take that chicken out and set it aside. I just put mine in a 9×13 pan and let it cool a bit so I can get the chicken off and shred it to add back.

Discard all vegetables and reserve the chicken stock.

peel and chop up carrots and add to broth

Peel and chop up carrots and add to the chicken stock. Cook until tender, but not mushy.

add two tablespoons of poultry seasoning

Add two tablespoons of poultry seasoning.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Stir.

shred chicken and add

Shred the cooked chicken and place the shredded chicken meat back in the broth/chicken stock. If you want a great way to shred the chicken check out my video tutorial here about shredding meat.

add pasta and cook til tender

Add pasta. Cook until pasta is tender.

serve chicken noodle soup

Then serve a big bowl of chicken noodle soup to your happy family!

spoonful of Chicken Noodle soup

So good y’all, so good!

This is EXCELLENT The next day!

Storage

You can store chicken soup leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave or on low heat. Alternatively, freeze portions for up to 3 months and thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating as instructed.

Recipe Notes

  • I like to get the whole carrots and whole celery stalks if I can because they just taste better in my broth!
  • For the noodles, you can get whatever you like. While most people and most homemade chicken noodle soup recipes opt for egg noodles (some even go one step further and make homemade egg noodles), I generally buy the pasta brand at Walmart that has teeny tiny shapes and I usually get the alphabet ones because the kids really like those. But today just used these small noodles called Ditalini. The great thing about them, too, is that they don’t get all mushy in your soup. they just kind of get cooked and then stay wonderful.
  • Poultry seasoning is a lovely combination of thyme, sage, marjoram, nutmeg, pepper, and rosemary. So if you don’t have any poultry seasoning on hand, feel free to use a combination of these herbs and spices instead (whatever you have on hand).
  • Serve your soup with garlic bread, fresh bread rolls, or even cornbread.
  • Here are some fun variations to add more flavor to this classic chicken noodle soup:
    • For a creamy chicken noodle soup, stir in 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or half-and-half before serving.
    • When you add the chopped carrots to the broth, add in up to four lemon slices to make a lemon chicken soup recipe.
    • If you want to add more vegetables, stir in some spinach or kale before serving. You could also add green beans, corn kernels, chopped zucchini, cabbage, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, or peas when you add the chopped carrots. The options are endless!
    • Instead of noodles, you can add potatoes, rice, or quinoa instead for something different.
    • Stir in half a cup of chopped fresh herbs like parsley or fresh dill at the end.
    • Add three cloves of garlic to the chicken broth.
    • Want to add more flavor with a little heat? Add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes when you add the poultry seasoning.
spoonful of Chicken Noodle soup

Chicken Noodle Soup

Warm up with this simple but tasty chicken noodle soup recipe. It couldn't be easier to make and the seasoning makes the flavors POP!
Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chicken, noodles, soup
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken
  • 5-6 carrots with tops
  • 5-6 stalks celery
  • 1 onion
  • 1 bag small pasta shapes
  • 2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
  • salt and pepper to taste I use about two tsp salt, no pepper

Instructions

  • Cut the tops and ends off of the carrots and toss them in the stock pot. Coarsely cut up celery and add to the stock pot as well. Cut onion in fourths and add as well. Top with chicken and cover in water. Bring to a boil and lower heat, simmering for several hours.
    1 whole chicken, 5-6 carrots with tops, 5-6 stalks celery, 1 onion
  • Remove the chicken and discard the vegetables, reserving the broth in the pot. Peel and chop up the remaining carrots and add to the broth, simmering until tender. Add seasonings.
    5-6 carrots with tops, 2 tablespoons poultry seasoning, salt and pepper to taste
  • Shred the cooked chicken and add the shredded chicken meat back into the broth once the carrots are tender. Add pasta and cook until done. Serve!
    1 bag small pasta shapes
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

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81 Comments

  1. Went to Wal-Mart last night specifically for the ABCs for this soup…and my Wal-Mart doesn’t carry them any more 🙁

    1. The Dollar Store, Save-A-Lot and Winn-Dixie carry this little pasta’s. Try Walmart again, I have seen them recently.

  2. I can’t believe how easy this looks!! I’ve been looking for a chicken soup recipe for years!! I can’t wait to try it!!

  3. I made the “mistake” one night of making my mother-in-law’s homemade egg noodles for chicken noodle soup instead of anything out of the pasta aisle–now I have to continue! My husband took the leftovers to work the next day, and one of the women in the office swore she smelled fried chicken! It took him forever to convince her that it was the homemade chicken noodle soup!

    1. Would love a recipe for the homemade egg noodles…. I can remember helping my grandmother on the farm making them, but i was so young have no clue how she made them but they were so very very good…any one have the recipie please send ….thanks

  4. We love homemade chicken noodle soup so much that whenever chicken leg quarters go on sale I always buy the big 10 lb bag (when I get lucky, 39cents a lb) and cook them up all at once, depending on how I am feeling, I may slow cook them, roast them or stew them, but however I fix them, I then just shred up all the meat and fill quart freezer bags. The broth gets cooled, de-fatted and Then also frozen in bags in the freezer. Whenever we want soup I chop up the veges, no kids to hide them from anymore, sometimes I add fresh mushrooms or fresh bell peppers if I have them on hand. Boiling the veges in the frozen broth (thaws really quickly) only takes maybe 20 minutes here. Then I throw in the frozen chicken, heat it through and add whatever noodles or leftover rice we have on hand. Always so yummy! and so fast that we can even make it after working late1

  5. Hubby is not feeling great and he always talks about how his Grandma makes homemade soup. So I have this cooking as I type. The broth already smells so good and it has only been on for about an hr!! I hope my picky kids will eat it!

  6. A really great tip for thought… next time you buy a rotisserie (sorry if that is misspelled) chicken, save the carcass, put it in a 350 oven with onion, carrot and celery pieces for about 35 mins. Then cover with water in a pot and boil the heck out of it… makes GREAT broth that is wonderful to freeze and pull out for recipes on the quick. Once again Christy, thanks for these wonderfully homey looking recipes!

  7. Oh Goddess Of Goodness… I have another question for you! Do you think a frozen fryer would cook okay, or should it be thawed first? I’ve got one itching to be used 🙂
    I found the little noodles in Wal-Mart last night! I got a bag of stars and a bag of alphabet shapes. You must have much better selections at your local Wal-Mart… I couldn’t find their brand poultry seasoning, so I had to splurge and get McCormick….
    Now this soup AND your pot roast will be made this week (unless I have to thaw the bird…)
    ~Kim

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