Chicken Noodle Soup

$9.10 recipe / $1.14 serving
by Beth - Budget Bytes
4.92 from 192 votes
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When my body is tired and achy, or I’m feeling a bit under the weather, I always throw together a big pot of this Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. The aroma that fills my house as it cooks is absolutely soothing to the soul, and the “from scratch” flavor make it the ultimate comfort food. There’s no bouillon or canned broth here folks, because this chicken broth is the real deal. But don’t worry, despite being made from scratch, this surprisingly simple and easy recipe makes the BEST homemade chicken noodle soup with very little hands-on time!

Close up overhead view of a bowl of chicken noodle soup.

What’s in Chicken Noodle Soup?

Making chicken noodle soup from scratch doesn’t require a lot of ingredients or any complicated ingredients. Just chicken, a few simple vegetables, herbs, and spices, and you’re good to go! Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make chicken noodle soup:

  • Vegetables: I use a simple mirepoix (onion, carrot, and celery), plus a little garlic for extra depth. This medley of vegetables simmer with the chicken to create an incredible homemade broth for the soup. The vegetables also add a lot of color and texture to the soup.
  • Bone-in Chicken: Using bone-in chicken is critical to creating the most flavorful chicken noodle soup. I use skinless chicken breast (bone-in) so my soup has delicious pieces of white meat throughout. If you’re more of a dark meat person, feel free to use thighs or drumsticks. I like to remove the skin to reduce the extra fat, but you can leave the skin on while simmering and remove it later if you want an extra-rich soup.
  • Herbs and Spices: A combination of basil, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, and pepper give this soup its classic warm flavor. And of course, we add some salt to really help the natural flavors pop!
  • Water: The chicken, vegetables, and seasoning simmer in water to create a truly amazing homemade broth.
  • Noodles: I use wide egg noodles for chicken noodle soup because I love their light texture, but you can use just about any pasta shape you like! Try using stars, alphabet pasta, fideo, or ditalini.

Tips for Making Chicken Noodle Soup More Flavorful

To make sure your homemade chicken noodle soup has the most flavor possible, follow these easy tips:

  • Use bone-in chicken, not boneless. The bones give the broth a TON of flavor.
  • Make sure your dried herbs are fresh. Dried herbs lose flavor over time, so check those expiration dates!
  • Don’t rush it. This soup needs to simmer for quite a while to get the most flavor out of the chicken, vegetables, and herbs. But don’t worry, it doesn’t require much attention as it simmers away.
  • Don’t forget the salt. Salt doesn’t just make food taste “salty,” it actually helps our tongue distinguish different flavors. So make sure you salt the soup to taste at the end to get the full effect of all of those delicious flavors.

Can I Use Rotisserie Chicken?

To take a short cut with this homemade chicken noodle soup recipe, you can swap out the raw chicken with shredded rotisserie chicken. Pull the chicken meat from the bones before you begin making the soup, then add the leftover carcass to the soup pot and simmer that with the vegetables instead of the whole chicken breast. Remove the bones before adding the shredded chicken back at the end.

Or, instead of simmering the bones, you can use a pre-made chicken broth and simply add the shredded rotisserie chicken at the end. This is a super fast method for making chicken soup, but the flavor won’t be quite as amazing as making your own broth!

Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

This recipe adapts very easily to the slow cooker. Click here to see the instructions for my Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup recipe (with step by step photos).

Freeze the Leftovers!

This recipe makes a big batch, so I always freeze about half of it for those days when I’m really under the weather. A quick reheat in the microwave or in a pot and this soup instantly makes me feel better. To freeze this soup, first divide it into single portions, make sure it is chilled completely in the refrigerator, then transfer it to the freezer, for up to about three months.

A ladle full of chicken noodle soup held over the pot.

Pairs perfectly with homemade No-Knead Focaccia Rolls!

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The Best Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

4.92 from 192 votes
This Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup is made 100% from scratch, with plenty of chunky vegetables, herbs, and a homemade broth, just like Grandma used to make! 
Close up overhead view of a bowl of chicken noodle soup.
Servings 8 1.5 cups each
Prep 15 minutes
Cook 1 hour 30 minutes
Total 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
  • 1 medium yellow onion ($0.37)
  • 3 cloves garlic ($0.24)
  • 1/2 lb. carrots ($0.49)
  • 1/2 bunch celery ($0.83)
  • 2 split chicken breasts, bone-in ($6.64)
  • 1 tsp dried basil ($0.10)
  • 1 Tbsp dried parsley ($0.15)
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme ($0.05)
  • 1 bay leaf ($0.15)
  • 1/4 tsp Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
  • 2-3 tsp salt ($0.05)
  • 6 oz. egg noodles ($1.00)
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Instructions 

  • Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion, garlic, and olive oil to a large pot and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft and transparent.
  • While the onion and garlic are sautéing, wash and slice the carrots and celery. Add them to the pot and continue to sauté for a few minutes more.
  • Pull the skin and any excess fat from the chicken breasts. Add the breasts to the pot along with the bay leaf, basil, parsley, thyme, some freshly cracked pepper, and 8 cups of water. Cover the pot, bring it to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for one hour. Make sure the pot continues to simmer for the whole hour. If the heat is turned down too low and it is not bubbling away, the chicken will not shred easily.
  • After an hour of simmering, remove the chicken from the pot. Using two forks, pull the meat from the bone and shred it slightly. Season the broth with salt. Begin with one teaspoon and add more to your liking. I used 2-3 teaspoons. The flavor of the broth will really pop once the salt is added.
  • Add the noodles to the pot, turn the heat up to high, and boil the noodles until tender (about 7 minutes). Return the shredded chicken to the pot. Taste and season again with salt if needed (I didn’t need to). Serve hot!

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Nutrition

Serving: 1ServingCalories: 211kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 13gFat: 9gSodium: 638mgFiber: 2g
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Video

Love chicken soup? Then you’ll LOVE my Chicken Stew. It’s like chicken noodle soup’s heartier, more rustic cousin!

Close up overhead view of a bowl of chicken noodle soup.

How to Make Chicken Noodle Soup From Scratch – Step By Step Photos

Sautéed onion and garlic in a soup pot with a wooden spoon.

Begin by dicing one onion and mincing three cloves of garlic. Place them in a large pot with 2 Tbsp olive oil and sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent.

Carrot and celery added to the soup pot.

While the onion and garlic are cooking, clean and slice 1/2 lb. carrots and 1/2 bunch celery (3-4 stalks). Add them to the pot. Continue to sauté the onions, carrots, and celery together. You’ll only use half of a one-pound bag of carrots and half of a bunch of celery, but the rest doesn’t need to go to waste. You can clean and slice the rest and freeze them to make another batch of soup later. I do it every (other) time. It takes just a few more minutes and is super convenient later!

Two split chicken breasts on a cutting board.

Remove the skin from two split chicken breasts (2.5-3 lbs. total). Split chicken breasts come with bones and rib meat, both of which add a LOT of flavor to the broth. They will also sometimes be labeled “bone-in chicken breast with rib meat”.

Chicken and herbs added to the soup pot.

Add the chicken breasts to the pot along with 1 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1 Tbsp dried or fresh parsley, 1 bay leaf, and about ¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper.

Water added to the soup pot.

Add eight cups of water, cover, and bring up to a boil over high heat. As soon as it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low and let simmer for one hour. Make sure that you don’t turn the heat down so low that it stops simmering. It needs to simmer the whole time.

Simmered chicken soup in the pot.

After an hour, it will look something like this. Pull the chicken out of the pot…

Shredded chicken with two forks on a cutting board.

Use two forks to pull the chicken from the bone and shred it into bite-sized pieces.

A bag of egg noodles.

Add 6oz. egg noodles to the pot while you’re working on the chicken, turn the heat up to a boil, and cook until tender (about 7-10 minutes). You can use any noodle that you like, but I really like egg noodles for this soup. They have a nice firm texture and they don’t disintegrate in the soup. Season the broth with salt, beginning with one teaspoon and adding more until the flavor of the broth really pops (2-3 teaspoons).

Chicken and noodles added to the soup pot.

Add the shredded chicken back to the soup, stir to combine, and you’re ready to eat! It’s never a bad idea to give it one last taste and adjust the salt if needed.

Overhead view of a bowl of chicken noodle soup with a gold spoon on the side.

This chicken noodle soup recipe makes about 12 cups, so it’s not a bad idea to freeze some for later. Always refrigerate the soup fully before transferring it to the freezer. When making big batches, it’s a good idea to divide it up into smaller portions before refrigerating. This helps the hot liquid to cool down faster once in the refrigerator. 

Side view of a bowl of chicken noodle soup.
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Comments

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  1. Great soup, and it found me at just the right moment. Story time: I prepped the celery, carrots, onions and peeled some garlic cloves ready to make your lentil & sausage stew, but came down with covid the day I was going to cook, and lost all momentum for cooking. By the time I was better, the sausage had taken a turn 🤢 But I had some chicken drumsticks and a little homemade stock in my freezer, added in some more carrots and celery, and this soup came together with wonderfully little effort (just some time for that broth to get excellent). Only other change I made was using baby shells instead of egg noodles because it’s what I had with a similar cook time. Thank you for making completely-from-scratch chicken soup so easy and tasty!

  2. Loved it. I did use chicken stock instead of water which gave it a rich chicken flavor.

  3. Absolutely delicious. I made using rotisserie chicken. I’m not a big fan of soups in general, but I found myself craving this. And lucky for me, I got sick recently and had leftovers in the freezer. I did notice 8 cups of water isn’t enough though. The noodles seem to absorb the broth tremendously. Any solve for that?

    1. I cooked the noodles separately, strained it and just added to the soup at the end.

  4. This was delicious! Tasted like my favorite chicken noodle soup from the deli! I added tomato paste and omitted celery. Also added adobo and greek seasoning and veggie broth for more flavor. Perfection!

    1. This soup is delicious!! The seasonings are balanced perfectly as written, and I love how simple the ingredient list is. We like dark meat, so I used a pack of 8 drumsticks in place of the breasts. This site is so great for easy, healthy recipes!!

  5. I made this with rotisserie chicken and homemade pasta. Five stars, changed nothing. Thank you.

  6. With noodle soups, if I know there will be leftovers, I like to cook the noodles separate and drop them in when serving. Keeps them from blowing up and soaking up all the broth in the fridge.