Healthy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
March 12th, 2011 § 40 Comments
First, thank you all for the tremendous love and affection you gave on my last post. You make sharing my life worthwhile.
Next order of business: I make this chicken noodle soup nearly every weekend. Mainly because it works as an olive branch for when I’ve told Daniel, ‘You are the stupidest person in the whole wide world,‘ following an ordinary round of Jeopardy. But also, because soup is, you know, sustenance.
And making a big pot of soup will provide me with no less than five delicious and filling meals for the week ahead, which leaves me with ample time to fulfill all of my other pressing obligations. Baking cookies, thinking about Hostess cupcakes, writing letters to major companies and the city of Las Vegas, discovering pictures of myself on Daniel’s iPhone, organizing my nail polishes, finding things to dip bread into…
I’m a very busy person, as you can imagine.
Here’s how it’s done:
Start by roasting a whole chicken, rubbed completely with canola oil, for 1 hour 45 minutes at 400 degrees F.
Let the chicken cool enough so that you can handle it, then peel off all skin, discard it, and cut the chicken meat into bite sized pieces.
In a large stock pot, combine the chicken bones with 2 quarts of good quality chicken broth. Essentially, I’m doubling the flavor of traditional homemade stock by boiling the bones in it. The resulting broth will be full of rich chicken flavor and will taste as though you’ve slowly simmered it all day long.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the bones from the broth with a slotted spoon. Discard them.
Now, to that pot of stock, add 4 large carrots, chopped, 4 stalks of celery, chopped, one medium onion, chopped, 2 bay leaves, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 2 sprigs of fresh parsley, and 3 sprigs fresh thyme. Let this simmer for 30 minutes, until the veggies are soft.
Add all of the chicken meat to the pot and stir to combine. Simmer for an additional and final 30 minutes, then stir in 3 cups of your favorite cooked small shape pasta and 2 cups of thawed sweet peas.
Serve a big bowl with fresh, crusty bread, and then portion the rest of it into big glass containers to eat throughout the week!
Healthy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
serves 5
1 whole chicken, 4-5 lbs
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 quarts chicken broth
4 large carrots, roughly chopped
4 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs parsley
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 cups cooked small shape pasta, I like to use ditalini, orzo, or acini di pepe
2 cups frozen sweet peas, thawed
Start by roasting a whole chicken, rubbed completely with canola oil, for 1 hour 45 minutes at 400 degrees F. Let the chicken cool enough so that you can handle it, then peel off all skin, discard it, and cut the chicken meat into bite sized pieces.
In a large stock pot, combine the chicken bones with 2 quarts of good quality chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the bones from the broth with a slotted spoon. Discard them.
Now, to that pot of stock, add carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, salt, black pepper, and fresh thyme. Let this simmer for 30 minutes, until the veggies are soft. Add all of the chicken meat to the pot and stir to combine. Simmer for an additional and final 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and thyme. Stir in cooked pasta and peas and serve.
Nutrition info per serving: Calories: 288.7, Fat: 4.1g, Cholesterol: 89.9mg, Carb: 36.1g, Fiber: 3.5g, Sugars: 4.2g, Protein: 27.7g
what a coincidence! when grocery shopping last night, i decided that i felt like some chicken noodle soup this week, so i picked up all the stuff. i think i might go with some thick, doughy udon noodles instead of normal pasta though.
LOVE the idea of doughy udon noodles! Great one, Haya!
There’s nothing like homemade chicken noodle soup from scratch, and I say that not even sure that I’ve ever had it completely from scratch. Looks delicious.
Hope you don’t mind this question in this area…
but found your blog..and it’s written so well with SO much information.
I ‘m curious on when you were losing your weight ,how many calories did you consume…and then when it came to maintaince…how many do you consume….and do you still count calories?
thanks for answering this question..appreciate it!
Hi Britt!
Thanks for the sweet words! While losing, I did Weight Watchers for a few months and I just counted their points (maybe it was around 29? I can’t remember) but I think their point allotment is fewer calories than I’d recommend now (maybe 1300 in some cases). I started counting calories after going off of WW halfway through my weight loss, and then stuck to 1600. Once I lost all the weight, I did a slew of experimenting to find the right number for me. I have tried eating nearly every calorie number- 2800, 2400, 2000, you name it. I had absolutely no idea what my body would respond to because I had never been a normal weight before. Now, I eat between 2100 and 2400 calories a day, and am very very happy with that. And while I don’t count them up anymore, per se, I know the numbers so well now that it’s almost impossible for me to not know where I’m at. Does that make sense? I should write a big post about this, because I got another similar question! Thanks!
Andrea
Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first. ~Ernestine Ulmer
I need to get over my fear of roasting chicken so I can try this…
Bee, you will be amazed at how easy the chicken roasting is. Seriously just toss it in the oven at 400 for 1 hour 45 minutes (as long as it’s between 4 and 5 pounds), and it will be perfect!
This soup looks delicious! I’ve actually never made homemade chicken soup before so I’ll have to save this recipe:-)
I’ve always wanted to make my own chicken noodle soup. The canned just seems lacking to me.
I love homemade chicken noodle soup! Sometimes I make it with chickpeas! Still delicious!
I’m curious why you didn’t sautee or roast your veggies first? Sometimes I’ll roast them up with some added seasoning just for a bit more flavor. Although I guess that’s not traditional. I also like to add curry powder and lemon juice to my chicken soup. Love it with lemon soup.
I need to make a roast chicken one of these days.
Typically, I do saute the veggies, but this time I figured it would be so much simpler if I could just use one pot for everything- making the stock, etc. I think sauteing is wonderful though!
Nothing quite as comforting as a good homemade chicken soup. Yummy.
Mandy
I love this chicken noodle recipe. It reminds me of the way my mom makes her chicken noodle soup. I really enjoyed reading this post.
This is so close to how my mom makes her chicken stew… except it actually has measurements as apposed to stating “a pinch of this” and a “speck of that.” Ha, ha. Can’t wait to try it!! (No lie, when I make my grocery list now, I look through your website first. I’ve been making at least one of your recipes a week, and they’re SO good!!).
Love you Nicole
YUM. You are making me crave a big homemade bowl of my grandmother’s chicken noodle soup right now. Looks lovely!
Is there a reason that you add cooked pasta instead of cooking it in the soup? Also where do we gat the chicken stock for the soup base?
Hi Jan! I add cooked pasta because I don’t want the dry noodles to soak up too much of the broth as they soften and cook in the soup water. You could cook them in the soup, but then I’d recommend increasing the amount of chicken broth in the pot first by at least 2-3 cups. My favorite chicken broth is anything organic (personal choice because I like that the ingredient list is short and natural), but Kitchen Basics makes a good version too! You can use any kind you like- Swanson is OK too. Thanks!
Come cook things for me.
Just came across your site from Kevin and Amanda’s(who I love) and I am also loving yours. Congrats on your weight loss, what an accomplishment!! Was considering trying this soup this week, but was wondering if you can use smaller “pieces” of chicken? Like quarters, breasts, legs, etc. I have a large pack of legs and a large pack of quarters, taking up far too much room in my freezer, Ive been wanting to use for a while now! Cant wait to try!
Hi Ashley! Thank you! Of course- you can absolutely use another form of chicken. Just saute them in olive oil or roast them with olive oil (with the skin on if you can), then remove the skin and cut into chunks!
[...] shout out to Andrea’s blog, Can You Stay for Dinner? where she did a post of a equally yummy looking [...]
Thank you for this recipe! I substituted baby portobello mushrooms for the peas and loved it! Also, I used whole wheat pasta, so it is an extremely healthy dish. Overall, this soup has so much flavor, so thanks for posting the recipe.
I found your blog last night and have been on it ever since! I am in love! Your recipes look amazing! I love to cook but i dont know how to cook healthy. So i am so excited to start my weight lose journey with your blog and great recipes!
This sounds delicious! I am so inspired by you! One question though, how much is a serving of this soup? Just a cup?
I just stumbled across your blog and am so excited to try some of these recipes. One question-with other chicken noodle soup recipes I’ve used I’ve cooked the noodles right in the broth. Can you do this or do you recommend cooking them separate?
[...] image via can you stay for dinner [...]
Hi, Andie! Just want to say I LOVE your blog and you are such an inspiration! Keep on keepin’ on!
This was my first attempt at Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup and I knocked it out of the park! Other soup recipes I’ve tried are sometimes bland, but this one is spot on. I’m looking forward to trying more of your soup recipes or whatever else you recommend to help keep warm on a chilly day. Thanks again!
i found your website because someone i knew on pintrest retagged your recipe, i took one look and now im hooked! im making this recipe as i write, cant wait to try it!
this may be a silly question, but how much do you consider a serving?
Hi!
I was wondering if this freezes well – I have a small family, but LOVE LOVE LOVE chicken noodle soup!
Thanks!
Well I know what I’m making for dinner!!!
Great pictures. I hope mine looks as good!
Just beginning weight watchers so I am excited to see your recipes! I will add Napa cabbage to soup…Soups delicious!
Love this! My new fav. Thank u!
[...] chicken-noodle-soup and ginger-ale Valentines Day will be just what the doctor ordered. Spread the artsdevivre [...]
Just made it! My anti-soup husband even admitted it was good! Nothing like soup for lunch on winter days. Thanks for the recipe!
[...] Adapted from from Can You Stay for Dinner [...]
Making this soup right now… just waiting on the chicken. I have always been so afraid of cooking and so afraid of messing up, but since finding your blog I have tried about 5 of your recipes and they were all hits. Thank you for giving me the confidence to cook and courage to try in the first place. THANKS A BUNCH!!