Homemade chicken noodle soup with egg noodles, savory chicken stock, carrots, celery, and onions, captures all the classic chicken soup flavors you crave in this scratch-made recipe. Made with simple ingredients and in one pot, you can have this family-favorite recipe on the table in under 45 minutes!
The soup starts with a simple mirepoix – or a mixture of onions, carrots, and celery – the perfect base for this traditional chicken soup. The whole chicken breasts are simmered with chicken stock and herbs, which locks in lots of flavors and keeps the cooking process simple and beginner-friendly. Once the chicken is cooked and cubed, just add the egg noodles and continue cooking for a few minutes more. Enjoy with chopped fresh parsley and your favorite crusty bread! For more homemade soup recipes, try my minestrone soup, easy tortellini soup, or lasagna soup recipe.
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Mirepoix – this aromatic combination of onion, celery, and carrots is sauteed with butter and garlic to create the foundation of the classic chicken noodle soup recipe flavor. Dice the veggies uniformly for an even cooking time.
Chicken – you can use boneless skinless chicken breast or boneless skinless chicken thighs for this recipe. The chicken is cooked right in the broth and then cut into smaller pieces after it is cooked, making this recipe hassle-free!
Chicken Stock – homemade or store-bought chicken stock works for this soup. I like to use a low-sodium stock and then season the soup with salt and freshly ground pepper before serving so I can adjust the seasoning to taste. Feel free to use bone broth if desired.
Egg Noodles – wide egg noodles are a comforting and familiar noodle used in chicken soup. You can also substitute any type of noodle for this recipe, including homemade egg noodles or a fun-shaped pasta for kids.
Parsley – fresh parsley is the perfect garnish for this soup because it adds a pop of color and fresh flavor.
How to Make Chicken Noodle Soup
1. In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion starts to turn translucent, about 8 minutes.
2. Add the chicken breasts and bay leaves.
3. Pour in the stock. Bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue simmering, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes.
4. Remove the chicken pieces and place on a tray to cool for a few minutes. Chop into bite-sized pieces.
5. Return the chicken to the pot and stir in the black pepper. Taste the soup and add ¾ teaspoon of salt or more to taste.
6. Increase the heat to medium or medium-high heat and stir in the noodles. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Adjust seasoning if needed. Serve immediately and garnish with fresh chopped parsley if desired.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- Don’t overcook the noodles. The noodles will continue to soften as they sit in the hot soup, so cook them in the broth until they are tender but have a little firmness left (al dente) before removing the soup from the heat.
- Remove the bay leaf before serving. Once the soup has simmered and the noodles are cooked, the bay leaves have served their purpose and released their flavor, so remove and discard them before serving.
- Add other flavorings. Stir in fresh herbs you have on hand, like chopped fresh dill, rosemary, or thyme. Add the juice and rinds from one lemon in the last few minutes of cooking. Top each serving with a generous sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese and ground black pepper.
- Hold off on cooking the noodles when making this recipe ahead of time. If you plan to make and store this recipe as meal prep for the week, I recommend not adding the noodles. Instead, when ready to serve, reheat the soup to a simmer, add the noodles, and cook them according to the recipe.
- Use cooked or leftover chicken. In this recipe, substitute 2 cups of cooked chicken, shredded from a rotisserie chicken or leftover roasted chicken, in place of the raw chicken breasts. After the stock and vegetables have simmered for about 20 minutes, add the shredded chicken and then increase the heat to medium and simmer before adding the noodles.
Frequently Asked Questions
Serve soup with French bread, dinner rolls, a slice of sourdough bread, buttery garlic bread, or some simple saltine crackers. The combination of soup and warm bread is one of the ultimate comfort foods, especially on cold nights!
This is such an easy recipe to adapt! Make lemon chicken noodle soup by stirring in the lemon juice of 1 lemon and the juiced rinds to the soup in the final few minutes of the pasta’s cooking time. Use other pasta noodles like farfalle, rotini, fusilli, and radiatore, or make it fun for kids with stelline (stars) or alphabet pasta. Try stirring in other chopped herbs such as fresh thyme or rosemary or additional vegetables like zucchini, green cabbage, or peas.
Leftover soup keeps covered in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. As the soup sits, it will naturally thicken, as the noodles absorb more broth. Add additional chicken stock as needed when reheating. The stock offers more flavor than adding water.
This is a great recipe to make ahead of time! If you plan to store it for a couple of days before serving, wait to add the noodles until you reheat the soup. Or, cook the noodles separately in a pot of salted water and add noodles to individual bowls of soup before serving. Then, refrigerate the noodles separately in an airtight container and add portions of noodles to the soup before reheating.
This homemade chicken noodle soup recipe is great for freezing. If making the soup for the freezer, skip adding the egg noodles, allow the soup to cool at room temperature, and store it in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Defrost the soup in the refrigerator overnight before transferring it to a large pot or Dutch oven. Bring the soup to a simmer, add the noodles, and cook according to the recipe. If freezing leftovers with noodles, keep in mind the noodles make break apart easily when reheating, and add extra broth as needed.
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If you’ve tried this chicken noodle soup recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Chicken Noodle Soup
Video
Equipment
- Dutch oven
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter (57g)
- 1 onion diced
- 3 carrots peeled and chopped
- 3 celery ribs chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 pounds boneless skin-less chicken breasts (or chicken thighs) (900g)
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 cups chicken stock (2 quarts/1.92ml)
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Salt to taste
- 2 cups wide egg noodles (90g)
- Chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion starts to turn translucent, about 8 minutes.
- Add the chicken breasts and bay leaves. Pour in the stock. Bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue simmering, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes.
- Remove the chicken pieces and place on a tray to cool for a few minutes. Chop into bite-sized pieces. Return the chicken to the pot and stir in the black pepper. Taste and add 3/4 teaspoon salt or more to taste.
- Increase the heat to medium and stir in the noodles. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Adjust seasoning if needed. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Notes
- Don’t overcook the noodles. The noodles will continue to soften as they sit in the hot soup, so cook them in the broth until they are tender but have a little firmness left (al dente) before removing the soup from the heat.
- Remove the bay leaf before serving. Once the soup has simmered and the noodles are cooked, the bay leaves have served their purpose and released their flavor, so remove and discard them before serving.
- Add other flavorings. Stir in fresh herbs you have on hand, like chopped fresh dill, rosemary, or thyme. Add the juice and rinds from one lemon in the last few minutes of cooking. Top each serving with a generous sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese and ground black pepper.
- Hold off on cooking the noodles when making this recipe ahead of time. If you plan to make and store this recipe as meal prep for the week, I recommend not adding the noodles. Instead, when ready to serve, reheat the soup to a simmer, add the noodles, and cook them according to the recipe.
- Use cooked or leftover chicken. In this recipe, substitute 2 cups of cooked chicken, shredded from a rotisserie chicken or leftover roasted chicken, in place of the raw chicken breasts. After the stock and vegetables have simmered for about 20 minutes, add the shredded chicken and then increase the heat to medium and simmer before adding the noodles.
Darice says
This soup is amazing! I’ve made it twice now; once following the recipe exactly, and the second using some of the suggestions. Both are amazing! I decided to forgo the noodles the second time around so I could have a lot of broth for my sick boyfriend, but I added some kale and baby bok choy for the extra healthy goodness and some mushrooms (because why not, right?) along with the fresh herbs, zucchini, and the lemon juice and rind. All the flavors melded so beautifully! Thank you, John, for creating this recipe!
Terry says
Except for the bay leaf, this is the recipe my mom made, and I now make. I have eaten this almost my whole life (a lotta years!). Not counting when I was a baby…lol My mom didn’t, but I use thyme, rosemary, sage, salt and pepper to make my stock. We’ve always called this chicken and noodles (leaving off soup), serving over mashed taters. Delicious!
ted says
I’m never buying this soup again. Recipe was divine!!!
jane says
This soup was amazing, so flavorful!