Easy Chicken Noodle Soup
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This homemade chicken noodle soup recipe is everything you need—comforting, flavorful, and ready in no time. Perfect for cozying up on a chilly day.
Is there anything more comforting than a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup? The golden broth filled with tender chicken, egg noodles, and veggies is the ultimate comfort food—a cure-all for whatever ails you. While traditional chicken noodle soup recipes require hours of simmering homemade broth, this version (adapted from America’s Test Kitchen) brings that same warmth to your table in no time.
The secret is using a high-quality store-bought chicken broth that delivers rich flavor with minimal effort. Serve the soup with some saltine crackers, a slice of artisan bread, or buttermilk biscuits for a satisfying meal.
“This soup takes SO much less time than the traditional chicken broth that needs to cook all day long, and it is SO good!!”
What You’ll Need To Make Chicken Noodle Soup
- Chicken Pieces: Bone-in, skin-on chicken adds richness to the broth, and the shredded meat makes the soup hearty and satisfying. I prefer thighs because they stay juicy and are more forgiving, but breasts work too—just don’t overcook them.
- Chicken Broth: The flavorful base of the soup. Using broth instead of water gives you a savory, complex taste in less time. Good brands include Swanson or Better Than Bouillon.
- Onion, Carrots & Celery: The classic trio that builds aroma, color, and substance.
- Fresh Thyme & Bay Leaf: Infuse the broth with earthy, fragrant notes that elevate the flavor.
- Egg Noodles: A must-have in chicken noodle soup—they soak up the broth and make the soup extra comforting.
- Fresh Dill: A classic with chicken noodle that brightens the soup with fresh flavor and a pop of color.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Season the chicken. Begin by seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper. You may need to add more salt later, but it’s best to season at the beginning and build the flavor as you go.
Step 2: Brown the chicken. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium-high heat until it’s hot and shimmering. Add the chicken, skin-side down, and cook until nicely browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Flip and cook for another 4 minutes, until golden on the other side.
Step 3: Build the broth. Add the broth, onion, carrots, celery, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf to the pot. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom (that’s where all the flavor is!). Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to low. Let it simmer until the chicken is fully cooked.
Step 4: Shred the chicken. When the chicken is cooked through, remove and discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Use tongs to lift the chicken from the pot and set it on a cutting board. Shred it into bite-sized pieces with two forks, discarding the skin and bones—they’ve already done their job flavoring the broth.
Step 5: Add the noodles. Bring the soup back to a gentle boil over medium-high heat, then stir in the noodles. Cook, uncovered, until they’re just al dente—check the package for timing, but keep in mind they’ll continue to soften a bit once the chicken goes back in.
Step 6: Finish the soup. Add the shredded chicken back to the pot and let it simmer for a few minutes until warmed through. Season with salt and pepper to taste—I usually add a bit more salt, but it depends on your broth. Stir in the dill, ladle into bowls, and serve.
You can make this chicken noodle soup partly ahead of time—just up to the point of adding the noodles. Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months, storing the broth and chicken separately.
Video Tutorial
More COmforting Soup Recipes You May Like
Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 2 lbs skin-on bone-in chicken breasts and/or thighs, trimmed of excess skin or fat
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 8 cups chicken broth, preferably not low-sodium, best quality such as Swanson
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into ½-in (13-mm) pieces
- 2 celery ribs cut into ¼-in (6-mm) pieces
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 oz (3 cups) wide egg noodles
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
Instructions
- Season the chicken with the salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place the chicken in the pot, skin-side down, and cook until browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Flip the chicken and cook 4 minutes more.
- Add the broth, onion, carrots, celery, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf, and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through (15 to 17 minutes for breasts and about 20 minutes for thighs).
- Discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Using tongs, remove the chicken from the soup and transfer to a cutting board. Using 2 forks, shred the chicken into bite-size pieces; discard the skin and bones.
- Return the soup to a boil over medium-high heat and add the noodles. Cook, uncovered, until the noodles are al dente (check the package instructions for timing, and keep in mind that the noodles will continue to cook for a few minutes while you warm the chicken). Add the shredded chicken and cook over medium heat until chicken is warmed through, a few minutes. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste (I usually add about ¼ teaspoon more salt, but it depends on the saltiness of the chicken broth you used). Stir in the dill and serve.
Notes
Pair with
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Comments
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Anyone have success making this with gluten free noodles, and if so- what kind? I usually make chicken and rice soup as gf noodles can be tricky, in general, but especially in soup.
I don’t even try cooking or storing GF noodles in water-based foods. My favorite noodles (Thrive brown rice organic) need to be rinsed once cooked. Furthermore, I’ve never had a GF noodle that will hold up in soup. So I cook my noodles in a separate pot and add them to personal soup bowls as needed. Leftover soup is stored separately from the noodles and reheated the same way. It’s less convenient but preferable to having mushy/disintegrated noodles.
By the by, I have found that my rice noodles will hold up to being stored in some dishes with more of an oil/heavy cream-based sauce. So I will mix them into a prepared creamy pesto tomato dish, baked macaroni… I try to see this as a positive rather than dwell on the limitations of GF noodles.
Maybe Barilla noodles would hold up better to liquids? I have wondered about them. Personally I hardly use them because I try to avoid conventionally grown corn.
I was thinking why not just use rice or quinoa?
Delicious and simple! I really missed the rice wine vinegar I normally use for seasoning, and added a splash at the end. We also prefer barley, hominy, or spoon-sized pasta like starts or wagon wheels. Thanks for another great recipe for fall and winter.
I made it this morning – it’s everything you want chicken noodle soup to be.
Delicious!
I made this for dinner tonight. It was GLORIOUS! Thank you for such a great recipe.
Could a person use the whole cooked chickens, then shred it from Costco or other stores instead?
Thank you
Hi Cheryl, Unfortunately, I think you really need to cook the chicken in the soup to flavor the broth, otherwise it won’t have that homemade chicken soup taste. Sorry!
We do! I pull the meat and then simmer the bones for several hours, usually on my woodstove. However, the flavor profile of this recipe is an improvement and takes less time.
This looks delicious, and is almost identical to the soup we’ve always made. This week we saw that ATK now recommends “Better Than Bouillon” (which I have used for a few years) over the boxed broths for flavor, cost, convenience, much longer time that it stays good after opening, and lower sodium. Also, since we prefer “homemade” noodles, we now use the Reames frozen egg noodles for their similar-to-homemade texture and flavor. They take a bit longer to cook than dried noodles.
Since finding your cookbooks and website I use them so frequently/constantly that I can’t even remember what recipes we used to like. Thank you!
Hi Judy, I agree, Better Than Bouillon is a great product. So glad you enjoy the recipes!
Hello. I am a total and complete fan and have made countless of your recipes because they emerge just as the recipe says. I am having trouble with this one – I appreciate that the intent is to get this on the table quickly. I use my chicken to create the tasty broth – adding 8 cups of chicken broth just seems over the top, especially with the rising prices of food.
Thanks for all your recipes! Joanne
Hi Joanne, You could definitely use bouillon here to cut down on cost.
Perfection!!!!!
Hi Jenn! Looks great! Is there a reason you just throw the veggies in to simmer instead of browning them first as with other soups? Thanks!
Hi Alana, It avoids having to remove the chicken from the pan while the veggies cook, so one less step, and they cook long enough in the broth that it’s really not necessary to cook them in oil or chicken fat first.
I can attest to how easy and delicious this soup is! I’ve been making it since I watched an America’s Test Kitchen episode on PBS a year or so ago and wrote down the recipe. Just made it again a week ago, using a 2 1/2 lb package of chicken legs with back attached (good bones) and usually use about 4 to 5 oz of spaghetti that I break up into about 2 to 3 in pieces. It’s a winner! Thanks Jenn for including this in your recipes!