Chicken Noodle Soup
Homestyle chicken noodle soup with bone-in thighs simmered into the broth, plenty of vegetables, wide egg noodles and fresh dill and lemon at the end.
- Everyday Classics
- Cast iron / Dutch oven
- Chicken
- Dinner
- 75 min total
- Serves 6
Ingredients
Ingredients for servings
Enter a number of at least ½, in steps of ½.
Original recipe serves 6. Ingredient amounts adjust automatically. Cooking times and pan size may need adjusting separately.
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 carrots, sliced into coins
- 3 ribs celery, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 10 cups chicken broth
- 2 lb bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 8 oz wide egg noodles
- 2 tbsp fresh dill or parsley, chopped
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Steps
Step 1: Melt the butter in a large pot over medium. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook 6 to 8 minutes until the onion is soft. Add the garlic for 1 minute.
Step 2: Add the broth, chicken thighs, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower to a gentle simmer. Skim off any foam.
Step 3: Simmer partly covered 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is very tender.
Step 4: Move the chicken to a cutting board. Pull off and throw away the skin and bones, and shred the meat. Fish out the bay leaves.
Step 5: Bring the soup back to a boil. Add the noodles and cook according to the package, usually 6 to 8 minutes.
Step 6: Stir the chicken back in. Add the dill and lemon juice. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Swaps
- Chicken: Use 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken; add it with the noodles.
- Noodles: Swap in rice, small pasta or frozen homestyle noodles.
- Extra flavor: Drop in a Parmesan rind while the soup simmers.
Tips
- Bone-in thighs give you richer broth and juicier meat than breasts.
- A squeeze of lemon at the end makes the whole pot taste brighter.
The story
HAM Cooking. Let’s fire it up.
Chicken noodle soup is the one food every doctor, parent and grandparent agrees on. Got a cold? Soup. Bad day? Soup. Wednesday? Sure, soup.
Store-bought broth is the shortcut here, but bone-in thighs are the upgrade. Simmering them right in the soup adds extra flavor and body from the bones and skin, and thighs stay juicy where breasts would turn dry and stringy. Pull them out once they’re tender, shred the meat, and stir it back in at the end so it doesn’t overcook.
The final squeeze of lemon and fresh herbs is the part most people skip. Long-simmered soups can taste a little dull, and a hit of acid wakes everything up, the same way a splash of vinegar finishes a chili. It won’t taste lemony. It’ll just taste better.
HAM out.
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