Must Try ::: Chicken Noodle Soup

All Photos and Recipe by and copyright of {accordingtoame} 

Please obtain my written permission prior to using images or recipe elsewhere.

I actually had another post planned for today that I rescheduled after getting an enormous amount of requests via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and email for the recipe I use for my semi-homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.  

It's very popular with my husband and with the rest of my family, my sister has said she "lives for my soup."  She's even been known to eat it cold, in a bind, and still proclaims it amazing, which I take as pretty high praise. 

It is incredibly filling, usually just one bowl with maybe a biscuit or some roasted garlic baguette (costco bakery!) is a hearty meal that isn't too harsh on the waistline.  It also tops any store-bought soup out there.  That's a full on brag right there. 

Please bear in mind that this recipe makes a LOT of soup, so before you start, make sure you have enough containers to contain it and enough space in your fridge and freezer for storage, or a plan for who you're inviting over to serve it to.   Also, plan on making an evening or afternoon of it, because if it rolls a little longer, the flavors get better.  Magnifiqué!

Ingredients*:::

-1 Large Can Chicken Broth (~30oz?--I usually purchase "Sweet Sue" brand)

-1 regular sized can Chicken Broth (~15 oz)

-3 32 oz containers of Chicken Stock (I use Kirkland Organic, from Costco)

-3/4 cup of chicken soup base -- start with about 1/4 cup and work up to taste (I like L.B. Jamisons)

-2 cups water -- start with one, add second ONLY if needed

-1 whole rotisserie chicken, (fresh and hot works best) all meat removed and skin removed, shredded up and cut up.  Pitch the carcass and skin in the garbage.  (For those who aren't interested in dismantling the chicken--Costco sells a package of rotisserie chicken breast already taken apart, just the meat, in a shrinkwrapped package in their premade food area. I used it this time around and found it significantly easier.)

-2 celery hearts, chopped (I cut the bottom of the stalk thing off, and the leaves off, use most of the stalks)

-1 whole large yellow onion

-1 whole small yellow onion

-2 lbs carrots, peeled and cleaned then sliced into smaller coin style slices

-1 large bag No Yolks Egg noodles, dumpling size (I think its 15oz, if you prefer more noodles use up to 1/2 bag more)

-2 tbsp butter

-1 tsp pepper -- I warn you to not go too crazy on the pepper as it will intensify with cooking and over time while it's frozen. I've actually had one batch that I made when we were ill that I overdid the pepper because I couldn't "taste" it, and I ended up tossing it all out, because even without the broth in that batch, it was just firey!

-1/2 tsp salt

-1 1/2 tsp celery salt

-1 tsp paprika

-1 tsp tarragon

-1 tbsp garlic powder

-1 1/2 tbsp minced garlic, plus an additional 1/2 tbsp of just the oil from the jar (I believe the brand is Spice World and it's usually in the produce section.  I use this because it has the oil in it already and it works the best for this recipe vs fresh peeled and chopped.) 

Directions:::

Put minced garlic and garlic oil in stock pot. Add butter.

Cut head and tail off each onion.  Then cut each in quarters then cut into slices.  Peel out inside core. 

Toss onions into stock pot (at LEAST 8qt, bigger the better, I usually make mine in a 16qt and will often add more veggie and broth to account for the size*), with butter and minced garlic.  Sauté until onions are clearish and are soft and caramelized.** 

Meanwhile, chop carrots and celery--works well if you have a large Cuisinart and slicing blade--don't use baby carrots, they don't slice as well in a Cuisinart and take forever by hand! (I just learned how poorly they slice in the Cuisinart making this batch...)   

Pour in carrots, celery and broth, stir in half of soup base, and half of water. 

Add most of seasonings (I often put in half of each seasoning to start and add as I taste). Stir well.  Add in stock, and stir again.  Add in chicken.

Bring to a rolling boil and let boil for at least another 60 minutes, stirring occasionally, to soften veggies and marry flavors, testing after 30 minutes for seasonings.   Add remaining soup base and water, or in place of water, additional stock. Tinker with adding soup base, seasonings and water to taste. 

I have had batches where I use less, some where I use more, not exact science. 

When veggies are soft to the chew and you're happy with the broth, add entire bag of Egg Noodles (and if you like a lot of noodle, up to half a bag more) and stir occasionally. When noodles are soft, soup is ready to serve (around 30ish minutes or so for noodles to soften fully and start absorbing flavors.)

Serve with fresh hot biscuits, rolls or roasted garlic french bread from Costco. Believe me, that last one is amazing.

*Like most of my recipes, there's a fair amount of doctoring that goes into this. I keep a small ramekin sized Pyrex and a tasting spoon near me and make frequent taste tests throughout the cooking to make sure no seasonings are requiring tweaking.  I use a 16Q stock pot, but it can be made in a crock pot or smaller stock pot. Prior to getting this 16Q, I used an 8Q I believe, and really all I did was package some of it up, then add the rest of the liquid to the pot and boil it once more and then I was good.  I have only tried this in the crock pot a few times, as I find it works better in the stock pot due to easier tinkering and better overall cooking. 

**I do recommend that you caramelize/sauté the onions in the garlic and butter before you add anything to the pot. Not only does it make them softer and easier to eat later, it also makes the whole batch richer and more flavorful overall, without that oniony flavor. 



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