Warming chicken noodle soup. Now this is comfort food. You won’t find this soup listed on a “super foods” list. But it will make you feel good during the cold winter months. IF you just happen to live in an Arctic belt.
Why is it that soup takes me two days to make? I HATE it when someone says, “let’s do something simple like soup”. Are you kidding me? I obviously need other recipes that do not require one making their own stock, which IS delicious by the way.
I have served this soup for several years on Halloween. I started to have several friends just on Halloween. My daughter would get calls from boys asking to go trick or treating with her just so they could come over for chicken noodle soup. Last year they were all in their first year of college and still managed to be around on Halloween for soup. What will this year bring?
Remember you already have chicken stock made and in your refrigerator. If you don’t here is the link: Chicken Stock. Pull the chicken stock out of the refrigerator and make sure you skim off any fat that may have hardened on the top. Pour it into a large stock pot.
You will need one rib of celery, broken in half, an onion, 4 whole cloves, and one carrot peeled and broken in half. Of course you can cut the celery and carrot. I just break them and toss them in the pot.
Take those 4 cloves and stick them into the onion.
Toss in the celery…
…and the carrot…
…and the onion that is stuck with the cloves.
Place the stock pot over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot, turn the heat to low and let it simmer for at least 2 hours.
After two hours remove the lid and check to see if the vegetables are soft. They should be because they have been simmering for 2 hours.
Just take a look at how clear and gorgeous the stock is. Just bragging.
Here’s the weird part. Remove the carrot, celery and onion and put in a blender.
I started pureeing the vegetables is this soup because when the kids were young they didn’t like chunks in anything! So I pureed the vegetables and they didn’t know they were there. They had so idea that I even used vegetables. Oh, don’t tell the husband that never reads this blog…I don’t think that he knows my little secret yet!
Add some of the chicken stock into the blender.
Slowly turn the blender on and puree.
I make sure that the stock is now smooth. NO chunks.
We are now going to make a roux. That is a combination of flour and butter.
In a large pot melt the butter.
Whisk the two together. It’s ok if if browns a bit. I like the nutty flavor of browned butter.
Pour all of the stock into the roux including the blended vegetables.
Stir until smooth and bring to a simmer.
Add 1 cup of heavy cream.
Stir.
You are REALLY going to have to season this mixtures. If you remember, I didn’t add any salt to the stock while it was cooking. I just kind of like to wait to season my food. I hate it when I get food too salty.
You will probably need to add at least 2 teaspoons of salt.
Several grinds of black pepper. I love fresh ground pepper. I’m not fond of the canned stuff. In fact I don’t even have a can of that stuff in my kitchen. Nope! No use for that stuff…not that I have found anyway.
TASTE the soup. This is very important. You need to know if the seasonings need to be adjusted. You obviously can’t take out the salt once it’s in the soup, so start with a little and go from there.
Bring the soup to a low simmer. It’s time to add the fresh Homemade Egg Noodles. You will notice that I haven’t pre-cooked the noodles. This isn’t necessary when they are fresh. If you are using dried noodles, you will definitely need to cook them according the the package directions.
Gently stir.
Add about 2 cups of cut cooked chicken. I saved this from the chicken stock that I made.
I like to add the chicken right before serving. After adding, gently stir. I’ll tell you why. If you don’t, the chicken will break up and you will have tiny shreds of chicken throughout the soup. That doesn’t look so good. So be gentle with your chicken.
Fresh herbs. This is what makes the soup a bowl of heaven. I like to add fresh thyme, rosemary and parsley. Sometimes I use a pinch of dried thyme.
The amounts are based on preference. I had two tablespoons of parsley, two teaspoons of rosemary and thyme.
This was Tiffany’s favorite meal while growing up. I knew I had succeeded as a culinary mom when she said, “Oh I love it when I get a bite of rosemary”. YES!!!
Once again, GENTLY stir.
At this point I don’t bring the soup to a full boil. I just let it barely simmer.
This is a very rich, wholesome soup. When I hear the words “comfort food”, this immediately pops into my head.
Creamy chicken noodle soup. Worth the effort.
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
3 quarts Chicken Stock
1 carrot, peeled
1 celery rib
1 small onion
4 whole cloves
¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Homemade Egg Noodles
2 cups cooked cubed chicken
In a large pot, add chicken broth, carrot, celery and onion that has been stuck with the 4 who cloves. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer for about 2 hours or until the vegetables are soft. Remove the carrot, celery and onion and place in a blender. Add 2 cups of the chicken stock and blend until smooth. Set aside.
In a large pot, melt butter. Whisk in flour. Pour in the remaining chicken stock and the blended vegetables. Stir until smooth. Bring the mixture back to a low simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add noodles and cooked chicken. Stir very gently. Add fresh herbs right before serving. Makes 6-8 servings
The husband that never reads this blog thinks my chicken noodle soup could win awards. Ohhh, he is sweet even if he likes fake maple syrup and hates squash.
I’ll keep him.
I can see why your daughter’s friends keep coming back for this soup. Holy cow. This soup is divine. The broth is so flavorful and delicious. My husband and I have never enjoyed chicken noodle soup until we had this. My daughter often begs for chicken noodle soup and I shy away from it. Not anymore.
Made this soup recently and LOVED it! Thank you so much for all the wonderful recipes you post!!! I love getting on and seeing all your beautiful pictures and wishing I could just push a button and the yummy food would transfer through my computer onto my plate so I could eat it!
I do have a question about this soup. Have you ever added more veggies to it and blended them up? For example, double the carrots and celery? I'm just wondering if it would ruin the rich flavor you have going already?
Thanks!
Hi Helen, I'm so glad your loved the soup. It's a favorite in my house. Yes, of course, you can add more veggies. I have added more and the broth color is just a bit more orange, but no one has every noticed. Happy New Year.
Thank you for your quick reply! I think I will just use the store bought noodles for work and make the home made noodles for the family. I cannot wait! I am known as something of a perfectionist too, and so when I inevitably make a mistake in the kitchen, everyone always says "it's nice to know you're human". I hate when they say that, so I won't say it to you…..buuuttt….. 🙂
Thank you again, Janet. Your skill in the kitchen is only a small part of why your blog is so loved. Kindness, humor, and charm…that's what makes you special.
I could start a blog just about all my kitchen mistakes. Best of luck with the soup.
I just came across your blog through pinterest – I think I will be visting it often. Thank you for all you do for others!
I hope you come back. Thank you so much for commenting.
Hello, I've been following your site for quite a while. You are my official go to anytime I want to make something totally awesome. You always have the perfect recipe. I am planning on bringing this soup in for my coworkers on Tuesday (today is Sunday) and I just finished making your fantastic stock recipe. My gosh does our house smell heavenly! My son was very disappointed when he learned that what was cooking was not for dinner 🙂 Anyway, back to the soup, when I take it on Tuesday I need to keep it warm in a crock pot. Do you think I could wait to put the homemade noodles in till about 20 minutes before it is served? Do you think they will cook ok in the crock pot? I plan on waiting till closer to serving to put the chicken and herbs in as well, and I was going to just precook some store bought egg noodles and add them in right before serving, but your fresh noodles look so good!!! I am serving the soup with your recipe for crusty bread too! Sorry this is so long, I 'm just so excited with how this stock turned out! I don't want to mess up your fabulous soup recipe with mushy noodles.
Thank you so much for all you do. I'm not sure if you know how special you and your site are.
Hi Joanne, Let me just tell you how much I needed to hear your kind comments today. I came home from church hoping to have dinner perfectly cooked to find I had set the oven temp at 375 instead of 225 to slow cook some beef shortribs. They were as black and they could get. I was just thinking that maybe I needed a break from the kitchen and who was I to teach people how to cook. My family just laughed then your comment popped up. You made my day. Thank you so much.
Now about your chicken noodle soup (my husbands favorite). I have put the soup in a crockpot and let it simmer for a few hours with the noodles…bad idea. the noodles did go to mush. However I think you are spot on just adding them 20 minutes prior to serving. Just make sure the crockpot is set on high so you can get a bit of a simmer going before adding the noodles. If you are nervous, just go to your first plan of having store bought egg noodles pre cooked and adding them in right before serving. You can purchase some "homestyle" egg noodles that work just great in a pinch. However I must admit the homemade noodles are fabulous. Your coworkers are going to love you forever. I wish you the best.
I'm so excited to find a creamy chicken soup recipe! I love the flavor of cooked celery/carrots but can't stand the texture. Starting the stock here in just a few hours. Question: Do you think this would work with rice instead of noodles?
Oh my gosh I didn't see this question. I'm so sorry. Sure you could use rice. Just stir in a desired amount of cooked rice. I would use a firmer rice so it doesn't fall apart.
Thank you, Jennifer. My family thinks its the best too.
Just made this and it is BY FAR the best homemade chicken noodle soup I've ever made. Thank you so much for sharing it! SOOO GOOD!
Oh such good times! Thanks for the walk down memory lane in the good old 18th ward! Best ward EVER!!
I've had this soup and still remember the incredible vivid flavors. Never had anything like it, can't wait to make it! Thanks a million for sharing! It could win an award I'm with the hubby.