A month after my beautiful Bookworm Beth 📚🐛 was born, a church friend gave me a big container of creamy chicken noodle soup. We quickly devoured it all up, and I had to have the recipe. Over the years, I have done some tweaking to it, by changing up some of the spices, omitting the bouillon cubes, adding minced garlic, and sauteing the vegetables. I also prefer to cook the noodles separately, as they tend to swell up in the soup.
If you like your soup extra creamy, just double the evaporated milk. If you have a sick child in the house, or you are just craving something homemade, make up a big batch. This soup pairs well with our rustic cob loaf and our hearty multigrain bread.
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
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Prep Time: 35 minutes -
Cook Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
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Total Time: 2 hours 50 minutes
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Yield: 12 servings
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Pin RecipeDescription
Creamy chicken noodle soup is a delicious medley of homemade chicken stock, four vegetables, spices, evaporated milk, noodles, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Ingredients
For the Chicken Stock
- 1 whole chicken, 4 to 5 pounds
- 9 cups filtered water
- 1 1/2 yellow onions, quartered with skin on
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
- 2 celery stalks, cut into large chunks with leaves still on
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs of parsley
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
For the Soup
- 4 1/2 cups chicken, shredded (from the whole chicken)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped
- 2 cups celery, chopped
- 3 jumbo garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons of lemon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon basil
- 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon rosemary
- 1/4 teaspoon thyme
- 1 can evaporated milk (use 2 cans if you like it extra creamy)
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (reserve two tablespoons for garnish)
- 2 1/2 cups wide egg noodles
Instructions
Making the Stock
- Rinse the chicken and remove the giblets. Place it in a large soup pot and cover with about 9 cups of filtered water.
- Add the yellow onions, carrots, celery and bay leaves, then cover and bring to a boil.
- Let the stock simmer for 2 hours. Remove the chicken. Let cool, discard the skin and bones.
- Strain the broth by pouring it through a sieve lined with cheesecloth. Discard the carrots, onion, and celery.
- Skim the fat off.
Making the Soup
- In a medium saucepan, saute the carrots, onion, celery and garlic with a sprinkle of salt until soft. Add the cooked vegetables to the soup pot of homemade chicken stock.
- Shred the meat from the chicken to get 4 1/2 cups of chicken for 9 cups of broth. Add the chicken to the broth.
- Add the spices, bring the soup to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste.
- Remove the soup from the heat. Add the evaporated milk (1 or 2 cans) and Parmesan cheese.
Cooking the Noodles & Serving
- In a medium pot of salted boiling water, cook 2 1/2 cups of wide egg noodles for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the noodles, then toss them in a bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil to prevent sticking.
- To serve, place cooked noodles in the bottom of an empty bowl then ladle the soup on top.
- Serve the soup warm with a garnish of freshly ground black pepper and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.