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
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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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This was so good and your instructions so easy to follow. I recently broke my arm so can’t really cook. I gave my husband this recipe and he had no trouble with it at all.
Super simple and easy to make if you need a quick, hearty meal! However, if you like added flavor from seasoning or just more potent flavor this recipe doesn’t really give that. The flavor is pretty bland as most of it comes from the veggies and chicken. The thyme is potent and good, but I used to soups with more spice so this was a little on the bland side for me.
Question: The vegetable oil is in the ingredients but not in the instructions. Is it for the veggies or cooking the chicken or???
Hi Clare, You use the oil to cook the chicken. See the second sentence of the first paragraph. Hope that clarifies and that you enjoy the soup! 🙂
I made this for the second time tonight for a family gathering. It’s an easy recipe with outstanding flavor. Thanks so much for posting it for us!
Hi, I really enjoyed this! I used thighs as that’s what the grocery store had in a reasonable quantity. I have eaten this all week long, making it on Sunday night and just finishing it for lunch today (Thursday). Keeping the noodles separate from the soup made it totally doable. (I tossed the noodles with just a tiny bit of olive oil so they wouldn’t stick together in the fridge.) When I ate it on Sunday night, I was a little underwhelmed but as the days went on and the flavors melded, it just got better and better! So…if you can, I’d suggest making it a night or two before serving and then adding the cooked noodles when you’re ready to serve. I will definitely make again!
When I came into the kitchen this morning, the wonderful smell still lingered! Midway through prep, I realized that I didn’t have a pot big enough, so I used 2 thighs and half the mirepoix, etc., and froze the other 2 and other half, so now I have an instant soup ready to make. I stuck to the recipe (halved) and left out garlic and ginger, which I often add to chicken soup. It was perfect as it was.
I’ve made this soup over and over–it’s a standard in my house. Here are my changes: I sprinkle the thighs with Montreal Grill Mates chicken seasoning before browning, and use 1 tsp. herbes de provence instead of thyme. I can’t help but think the Montreal spice adds to the flavor.
Best chicken soup ever. I have tried many different recipes for this classic meal, and this one wins. From now on this will be the only way how I make it. Thank you!
Loved this recipe! The dill was such an unexpected and delicious touch. Thanks for sharing recipes that are easy for busy moms to execute, but taste like so much more than the sum of their parts.
Hi Jenn: I will be making this tonight, but bought skinless thighs instead, by mistake. Do they have to have the skin to add flavor to the soup? I am adding a few extra pieces since we are having a few people over. Hopefully adding the few extras pieces will be enough. Thank you so much for sharing your never-fail recipes. They are all so delicious!
Hi Frances, The skin and bones do add wonderful flavor (and fat) to the soup, but it should still work. How did it turn out?
Absolutely delicious! Using store bought broth was a great shortcut. The vegetables and chicken really made a flavorful soup. I’ll definitely make it again! I love so many of your recipes.