This Chicken Noodle Soup with juicy chicken, tender noodles and fresh dill is my grandma’s recipe. As a Ukrainian who grew up eating soup every single day, you better trust me when I say “this soup is good!”.
Meatball soup and this chicken stew recipe grandma made all the time!
Easy Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
Good chicken noodle soup takes hours to make. It begins with a whole bird and ends with a tired housewife. JK. But that is how my, and I am sure your, grandma used to make chicken noodle soup.
And it is good! Don’t get me wrong. That is why I have slow cooker chicken noodle soup and Instant Pot chicken noodle soup recipes on the blog.
But in 21st century we need everything quick. Or if you are sick, this easy and quick chicken noodle soup just “fits the bill”.
Ingredients for Chicken Noodle Soup
- Boneless or bone in chicken thighs: I recommend to use skinless thighs or remove skin to avoid very fatty soup. You can leave skin on a few if you wish. Chicken breasts do not have enough flavor for quick soup.
- Veggies: Onion, garlic, carrots and potatoes. Truth be told, you can use what you have on hand and like. Celery would be great too!
- Chicken broth: Use low sodium chicken broth from a carton or bouillon cubes.
- Fresh herbs: Parsley, dill, onion or chives add a lot of flavour at the end with little calories. Just try!
How to Make Chicken Noodle Soup
Detailed recipe card is located below.
- Make soup base: Cook chicken thighs with chicken broth, bay leaves, peppercorns, whole onion and 2 garlic cloves for 20 minutes. Keep lid on while bringing broth to a boil and then move to the side for all further cooking.
- Skim foam: As broth is cooking, foam will rise to the top. You will want to skim it a few times with a mesh strainer. Also this is the time I dice carrots, potatoes, and chop dill and grate garlic. No idle or waste time.
- Cook veggies: Add diced carrots and potatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Smaller pieces – faster cooking.
- Cook pasta: Add pasta and you want to stir a few times to make sure pasta is not sticking to the bottom of the pot or each other. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Discard onion, peppercorns and bay leaves with a mesh strainer.
- Add garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and dill. This last step makes this soup recipe the best chicken noodle soup in the world.
Slow cooker: If you would like to start soup in the morning and come back to ready dinner check out my slow cooker chicken noodle soup.
Instant Pot: Got magic pot? I absolutely love making soup in it. Here is my grandma’s Instant Pot chicken noodle soup.
Tips for Best Chicken Noodle Soup
- Do not use chicken breasts: Breasts are lean and your chicken soup will lack major flavor.
- Keep onion whole: To keep onion whole, peel it but do not trim off the ends.
- Make sure broth stays clear: Cooking chicken noodle soup covered will make it more murky. Instead, cook soup with lid half open and pot not completely covered.
- For more flavour: Keep bay leaves, peppercorns and onion cooking till the end to make broth flavorful.
- Pasta that works: Use any short pasta like corkscrew, elbow, orzo or penne. Or broken up spaghetti, linguine or even soba noodles.
- Make low carb: Use zucchini noodles instead of regular pasta.
- Budget friendly broth: I use organic bouillon cubes mixed with water. Cheaper and I always have stock on hand.
How to Serve, Store and Freeze
Serving soup: If you have time, let soup sit for 5-10 minutes. Flavors develop more and pasta absorbs liquid and makes soup more hearty. In Ukraine, we traditionally serve chicken soup with fresh rye bread. Here, in Canada we toast a slice of whole grain bread.
You can serve soup with whole chicken thighs: Frankly, I always do that. Or for the looks, shred meat right in the pot or on a cutting board. I hold a piece of meat with a spoon on a side of the pot and shred with a fork in my other hand. Kids love chicken noodle soup!!! Your dinner will go so well.
Storing and reheating soup: Chicken noodle soup lasts for up to 5 days if refrigerated. It is normal for noodles to expand with each day. Reheat in a small pot by simmering and stirring on low heat.
Freezing soup with pasta: If you want to make this recipe for freezing, do not add pasta. It just doesn’t freeze well. Add cooked pasta after thawing and warming up. Or even cooked rice would be so good.
More Favorite Soup Recipes
Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 1 - 1.5 lbs chicken thighs bone in or boneless (skinless)
- 3 bay leaves
- 5 peppercorns whole
- 1 small whole onion peeled, hairy end intact
- 3 large garlic cloves
- 12 cups chicken stock low sodium
- 2 large carrots diced
- 2 cups potatoes diced
- 1 1/2 cups egg noodles or any short pasta
- 1 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp fresh dill, parsley or green onion finely chopped
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven or pot, add chicken thighs, bay leaves, peppercorns, onion, 2 garlic cloves and stock.
- On high heat, bring soup to a boil covered and then move lid to the side a bit to keep soup clear. Cook for 20 minutes, removing foam as it rises to the top with a mesh strainer, occasionally.
- Meanwhile dice potatoes and carrots. Chop dill and grate garlic.
- Add potatoes and carrots, stir and reduce heat to medium. Cook with half lid open for 5 minutes.
- Add pasta, stir and cook for another 5 minutes. I would stir a few more times to prevent pasta from sticking.
- Discard onion, bay leaves and peppercorns with a mesh strainer.
- Add salt, olive oil, grated garlic clove, dill and ground black pepper to taste. You can also shred chicken right in the pot now.
- Stir and adjust any seasonings to taste. If you have time, let chicken noodle soup sit covered for 5 minutes.
- Serve hot with a slice of toasted bread.
Storing and reheating soup: Chicken noodle soup lasts for up to 5 days if refrigerated. It is normal for noodles to expand with each day. Reheat in a small pot by simmering and stirring on low heat.
Freezing soup with pasta: If you want to make this recipe for freezing, do not add pasta. It just doesn't freeze well. Add cooked pasta after thawing and warming up. Or even cooked rice would be so good.
Video
Notes
- Do not use chicken breasts: Breasts are lean and your chicken soup will lack major flavor.
- Keep onion whole: To keep onion whole, peel it but do not trim off the ends.
- Make sure broth stays clear: Cooking chicken noodle soup covered will make it more murky. Instead, cook soup with lid half open and pot not completely covered.
- For more flavour: Keep bay leaves, peppercorns and onion cooking till the end to make broth flavorful.
- Pasta that works: Use any short pasta like corkscrew, elbow, orzo, penne or broken up spaghetti or linguine.
- Budget friendly broth: I use organic bouillon cubes mixed with water. Cheaper and I always have stock on hand.
- Serving soup: If you have time, let soup sit for 5-10 minutes. Flavors develop more and pasta absorbs liquid and makes soup more hearty. In Ukraine, we traditionally serve chicken soup with fresh rye bread. Here, in Canada we toast a slice of whole grain bread.
- You can serve soup with whole chicken thighs: Frankly, I always do that. Or for the looks, shred meat right in the pot or on a cutting board. I hold a piece of meat with a spoon on a side of the pot and shred with a fork in my other hand. Kids love chicken noodle soup!!! Your dinner will go so well.
Nutrition
Recipes and images are a copyright of ifoodreal.com. It is against the law to republish recipes anywhere including social media, print and all world wide web. Nutritional info is provided for informational purposes only and to the best knowledge.
Did you try this recipe?
Follow @ifoodreal on Instagram, snap a photo, and tag it #ifoodreal. Show me what you are making!
Hello and welcome to iFOODreal.
My name is Olena Osipov. I'm a mom to 2 boys, a wife to Alex and we reside on magical Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. This is our healthy family recipes blog. Originally from Ukraine, I grew up on real food. As an adult, I struggled with diets for years because none worked long-term. Now for over 10 years, I cook easy healthy meals for my family. I can help you with “What’s for dinner?” too.