Chicken Noodle Soup

• servings: 8
• active time: 20 min
• total time: 40 min

Ingredients

1/2 Tablespoon butter

2 ribs celery (, diced)

3-4 large carrots (diced)

1 clove garlic (, minced)

10 cups chicken stock or broth*

1 teaspoon salt (, to taste)

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (, to taste)

1/8 teaspoon dried rosemary (,or more, to taste)

1/8 teaspoon dried sage

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 batch homemade egg noodles* (, or 5 cups dry egg noodles, farfalle or other bite-size pasta)

3 cups rotisserie chicken*

1 teaspoon Better than Bouillon chicken base (or more, as needed) (, or chicken bouillon granules)

Directions

Add butter, diced celery and carrots to a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Saute for 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.

Add chicken stock and season the broth with rosemary, sage, crushed red pepper, and salt (definitely TASTE the broth before adding more salt), and pepper. Taste and add a spoonful of “better than bullion” chicken or chicken bouillon cubes or granules as needed.

Bring broth to a boil. Add noodles (either uncooked homemade egg noodles, or dry store-bought pasta) and cook just until noodles are al dente.

If using store-bought noodles, be cautious not to overcook them! Remove pot from heat as soon as they are just barely tender. The noodles will continue to cook once you remove the pot from the heat, and you don’t want them mushy.

Add chicken meat from the rotisserie chicken. Taste the broth again and add more seasonings, if needed.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days, depending on the freshness of the chicken you used.

Notes

Stock: I HIGHLY recommend making this soup with homemade stock! It’s very easy to do if you buy a rotisserie chicken, and you can even make it ahead of time and freeze it. That way you can use the rotisserie chicken meat for the soup and the bones for the broth.

If using store-bought broth I recommend adding Better than Bullion chicken base to it to give it more depth of flavor.

Chicken: Using a rotisserie chicken is my recommended method because you can use the meat for the soup and the bones to make homemade chicken stock. To use raw chicken meat, add raw chicken thighs, breasts, or tenders right to the boiling broth in step 3 (before adding the noodles). Cooking time will differ depending on the chicken you use but cook for about 5 minutes before adding the noodles.

Make ahead: This soup is best made ahead of time when you are using homemade egg noodles (they don’t get soggy like regular store bought noodles). If using regular dry noodles I recommend making the broth (steps 1-2) first, and then the day of serving boiling the broth and noodles and adding the chicken.

Freezing Instructions: Allow the soup to cool completely and store it in a freezer safe container for 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, or over medium heat on the stove. If using store bought noodles I would suggest undercooking the noodles before freezing the soup, to avoid them getting soggy upon reheating.