Grandma’s Chicken Noodle Soup

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Old-fashioned grandma's chicken noodle soup recipe — and homemade egg noodles too!

Prep Time20

Cook Time40

Course: Soup

Cuisine: International

Servings:

Calories: 114kcal

Author: Jana Dziak

Ingredients

For The Chicken Soup:

2 quarts chicken stock or broth homemade preferred, low-sodium store bought.
2 cups chicken meat shredded or cubed
1 large onion diced.
2 large carrots sliced diagonally.
2 ribs celery diced.
1 batch homemade egg noodles or package of store-bought egg noodles or pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
3 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped.
3 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried.
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste.

For The Egg Noodles

¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour or 00 flour.
1 large egg
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon olive oil

Instructions

Make The Egg Noodles

Whisk flour and salt together and then make a mound. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the egg and oil. Using a fork, stir the egg, gradually bringing in some of the flour until all of the flour is incorporated. You may need to knead it with your hands towards the end to capture all the flour.
Knead the ball of dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Dust the dough lightly with more flour and enclose it in plastic wrap. Set aside to relax for 30-45 minutes.
After it has had time to relax, roll out the dough into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Cut the circle in half. Cut across the halves to make noodles ¼ inch wide. Let the noodles air dry for 30 minutes as you start to prepare the soup. See my detailed article with step-by-photos: homemade egg noodles.

Make The Soup

Wash and prep your vegetables. Gather your ingredients and have them on hand.
Sauté onions, carrots, and celery until translucent in butter, lard, or olive oil on low heat. This should take 5-8 minutes. You don't want them golden brown.
Add stock and bring to a boil before quickly lowering heat to a simmer. Taste for salt and adjust. Add a bay leaf. Add pepper to taste. Add thyme if using. Simmer until vegetables are nearly softened, which should take 15-20 minutes.
When vegetables are nearly done after 20 minutes, add the shredded or cubed cooked chicken and the homemade egg noodles. Cook for 7 more minutes until noodles are al dente.
Taste again and adjust the salt and pepper. Take off the heat, add parsley, and serve hot.

Notes

If poaching raw chicken breast to shred, add it after the stock comes to a boil. It will need about 10-12 minutes to cook thoroughly.

Hint: lemon thyme or a squeeze of fresh lemon work well in soup, so do a couple of drops of tabasco sauce in each bowl.

Homemade egg noodles cooked directly in the broth will give the soup broth a lovely fullness and texture, but if you want a thicker broth, you can make a cornstarch slurry: start by mixing 1 tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons of water, add it towards the end of cooking and add more if needed.

Storage, Freezing, & Reheating

If you plan to store the soup, consider cooking noodles separately for best texture.

This soup will stay fresh and tasty for up to 5 days, covered, in the refrigerator. Because of the noodles, the broth may become thicker once reheated.

To reheat soup: ladle your desired portion into a medium pot and heat it on low until it reaches the desired temperature. Stay close by and stir, adding a splash of water or stock as needed in case the soup has thickened too much in storage.

To freeze soup: soups make great freezer meals and they can be heated directly from their frozen state too. Ladle soup into plastic freezer-safe heavy-duty bags, silicone bags, or large silicone souper cube trays (my favorite; they're amazing). If using plastic, let the soup come down to room temperature first.

I do not recommend freezing noodles with the broth but it can be done, just let it thaw in the refrigerator and reheat it gently without too much stirring.

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