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5 from 4 votes

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Here’s how to make simple, rich, hearty, and flavorful chicken soup—from scratch!—in about one hour—start to finish.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Servings: 8 1-cup servings
Calories: 280kcal
Cost: varies

Equipment

  • Large pot, also called stock or soup pot
  • large bowl
  • Small skillet

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
  • 1 whole chicken, about 3 ½ pounds
  • 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 quarts boiling water, 8 cups
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cups dry wide egg noodles, 3 ounces
  • 1 carrot, roughly chopped
  • 1 rib celery, roughly chopped

Instructions

Prepare the chicken

  • Discard giblets and neck from the cavity. With a cleaver, knife, or poultry shears, hack off the legs, wings, and thighs. Don’t worry about being neat. Cut each of these pieces into two or three smaller pieces. Set aside.
  • Cut the back away from the breast. Hack the back into several pieces.
  • Cut the breast into two halves and set aside.

Cook the chicken

  • Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large stockpot or other large pot on high. Once very hot, drop in half of the chicken pieces—all of the chicken pieces EXCEPT the two breast halves which are still set aside until Step 2 below—and sauté until brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove pieces to a large bowl. Repeat with the rest of the chicken pieces until all chicken is browned, out of the stockpot, and in the bowl.

Prepare the soup

  • Add onion to the pot and sauté over medium-high heat until lightly colored and soft, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes.  
  • Find those two breast halves in the bowl of chicken, and set them aside. Return the rest of the chicken to the pot including any juice that has accumulated in the bowl.
  • Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken releases its juices, about 20 minutes. 
  • In the meantime, set a kettle or pot of water to boil.
  • Increase heat under the stockpot to high, add boiling water, the two chicken breasts you've set aside; salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Bring back to barely simmer, cover until breasts are cooked, about 20 minutes. By now the dark broth will be extra rich and flavorful. 
  • Remove the breasts from the pot and set aside. When cool enough to handle, remove the skin and shred the breast meat from the bones. Discard breast skin and bones.
  • Strain broth into a separate pot and discard the solids. All of the goodness has been cooked from the rest of the chicken (dark meat, skin and bones), so you are not being wasteful. Skim fat for later use in other recipes or discard. Return the clear broth to the pot with the shredded chicken. Bring back to boil.
  • In a small skillet, sauté the chopped carrot and chopped celery in 1 tablespoon of oil. Add to the pot along with the egg noodles and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Adjust with salt and pepper as necessary and serve. Serves 6 to 8. 
  • To your health!

Notes

  1. This recipe does not convert well for Instant Pot. 
  2. The secret to success with this recipe is to really brown the chicken during the saute process. You need high heat to accomplish this. In fact, you want to get this as hot and brown as possible without burning. Consider a splatter guard for the pot to prevent splattering your entire cooktop or kitchen with chicken fat!
  3. Great Reader Tip: You can skip all the sauteing and browning when you pick up a rotisserie chicken from Costco, Walmart, or other supermarkets. Follow instructions otherwise for cutting it up, simmering, and so forth. Adjust seasonings as desired. Thank you, Linda R.

Nutrition

Calories: 280kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 79mg | Sodium: 668mg | Potassium: 248mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1407IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 1mg