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Take the time to make Chicken Noodle Soup from scratch and you'll never be able to make it another way again! My mom's version is a step above the rest, made with homemade stock and egg noodles that take just minutes to make. The end result is the BEST Chicken Noodle Soup you'll ever have!
My kids literally jump up and down with excitement whenever homemade Chicken Noodle Soup is on the menu, and rightfully so, because it is AMAZING! This is one of my go-to recipes to bring to friends or neighbors (along with a loaf of Artisan Bread) during the cooler seasons and it's always a hit. If you love homemade soups, try my Baked Potato Soup too!
What Type of Noodles?
My mom always made chicken noodle soup with homemade egg noodles, but the great thing about this soup is that any kind of noodles will work!
- Homemade Egg noodles : all you need is flour, salt, milk and eggs and they're ready in 5 minutes!
- Farfalle pasta
- Elbow macaroni
- Rotini
About the Chicken Stock:
If your questioning whether you should use homemade chicken stock, or store-bought for this recipe, homemade is definitely the way to go! The secret is to use a rotisserie chicken so that you can use the meat in the soup and make chicken broth with the leftover carcass and bones. You wont believe how easy it is and it really takes the soup over top in terms of depth of flavor.
How to Make Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup:
Make Homemade Chicken Stock ahead of time using a rotisserie chicken, or choose a good brand of store-bought chicken stock.
Sauté veggies. Add butter, diced celery and carrots to a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Sauté for 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
Add chicken stock or broth. Season the broth with salt (definitely TASTE the broth before adding more salt), pepper, and a tiny pinch of rosemary, thyme, and crushed red pepper. I may add another small spoonful of “better than bullion” chicken or chicken bouillon powder as well, if needed, to taste.
Add noodles and boil. Once boiling, add noodles (either the uncooked homemade egg noodles, or dry store-bought pasta) and cook just until noodles are al dente. If using store-bought noodles, be cautious not to overcook them! Remove the soup pot from heat as soon as the noodles are just barely tender, as they will continue to cook off of the heat.
Add chicken. Add chicken meat from the rotisserie chicken. Taste the broth again and add more seasonings, if needed.
Serve. I love to serve this healthy soup with this easy No Knead Bread or homemade rolls! If you love this recipe, try my new Chicken and Dumpling Soup!
Is chicken noodle soup healthy?
Yes, homemade chicken noodle soup is healthy, and much healthier than store-bought soups which are usually loaded with sodium and other artificial flavors and preservatives. Chicken broth or stock (especially when homemade) are loaded with vitamins and minerals, and soothing for the body. Even if you use store bought chicken broth and noodles, it's still healthier in every way!
Make ahead and freezing instructions:
To make ahead: This soup is best made ahead of time when you are using homemade egg noodles, since they don't get soggy and overcooked like regular store bought noodles. If you wanted to use regular noodles, I recommend making the broth (steps 1-2) first, and then boiling it with the noodles, and adding the chicken, the day of serving.
To store: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days, depending on the freshness of the chicken used.
To freeze: Allow the soup to cool completely and store it in a freezer safe container for 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, or over medium heat on the stove. If using store bought noodles I would suggest undercooking the noodles before freezing the soup, to avoid them getting soggy upon reheating.
Chicken Noodle Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Soup:
- 1/2 Tablespoon butter
- 2 ribs celery, , diced
- 3-4 large carrots, diced
- 1 clove garlic, , minced
- 10 cups chicken stock, , or broth*
- 1 teaspoon salt, , to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, , to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon dried rosemary, ,or more, to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 batch homemade egg noodles, , or 4 cups dry egg noodles, farfalle or other bite-size pasta
- 3 cups rotisserie chicken, *
- 1 teaspoon better than bouillon chicken flavor, , (or more, as needed), or chicken bouillon granules
Instructions
- Add butter, diced celery and carrots to a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Saute for 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Add chicken stock and season the broth with rosemary, thyme, crushed red pepper, and salt (definitely TASTE the broth before adding more salt), and pepper. Taste and add a spoonful of “better than bullion” chicken or chicken bouillon cubes or granules as needed.
- Bring broth to a boil. Add noodles (either uncooked homemade egg noodles, or dry store-bought pasta) and cook just until noodles are al dente.
- If using store-bought noodles, be cautious not to overcook them! Remove pot from heat as soon as they are just barely tender. The noodles will continue to cook once you remove the pot from the heat, and you don’t want them mushy.
- Add chicken meat from the rotisserie chicken. Taste the broth again and add more seasonings, if needed.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days, depending on the freshness of the chicken you used.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe October 2017. Updated September 2021.
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Wow this was SO good – I made it with the homemade noodles. My kids and foodies and said this was the best chicken noodle soup they’ve ever had!
Amazing recipe!! Inspired me to make homemade egg noodles for the first time. Absolutely the best chicken noodle soup recipe ever!! Highly recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Five stars!! Easily!!
Best chicken noodle soup I’ve ever tasted. I added frozen peas and carrots. DELICIOUS!
To date, this is my favorite chicken noodle soup! And I followed the recipe to the letter.
This was sooo good! Definitely a keeper for cold winter nights. Even won over my picky eaters. I have been on the hunt for a good chicken noodle soup for a while and this one is the winner 🌟
This was fantastic! I’m really into cooking, but I don’t make classic, simple dishes that often. I had never made homemade egg noodles and it had been forever since I made CNS. Used the homemade stock recipe, homemade noodle recipe, this, and added a bunch of fresh parsley and some lemon. My husband said this is one of the best things I’ve ever made. Can’t wait to make it when it’s cold out!
I have made this soup and homemade broth over and over, with homemade egg noodles. My husband loves it and so do I. I also make the broth with/for other soups! Love you blog, or recipe site or whatever you call it. 😊 5 star blog, 5 star recipes!
Best chicken noodle soup I’ve ever made! And I followed the recipe to a tee.
Best work
Netmirror app
Made this chicken noodle soup, as well as the homemade chicken stock and egg noodles, and it was absolutely delicious. I will definitely keep these recipes on hand. Thank you so much for sharing those recipes and I will be back on this site to look for more 🙂
I freeze servings without noodles. Put frozen soup in a pot add dry or fresh noodles. They will cook as soup heats.
No mushy noodles.
This makes a lot of soup, so I was able to share with other family members. I heard at least 3 different people say it was delicious! This one’s going in my recipe book!
This is hands down the best chicken noodle soup recipe I have ever made, the flavor is unreal when you make the chicken stock recipe too!!!
The only thing I would mention is that using packaged egg noodles tend to soak up a LOT of the stock… I used a whole bag for my first batch and it was more noodle than soup! Lol, so for my second batch I doubled the stock recipe and kept everything else the same, and that worked well, although the leftover noodles the next day still soaked up a good amount of stock. So I would recommend reducing the amount of noodles if using pre-packaged 🙂
Love this recipe, it’s my go to now!!!
Delicious and full of flavor. I used box broth but two tbsp. Of better than and it was perfect. Tastes as good as my mom’s.
I made this soup last wk when my family amd I were pretty sick. I was worried about using any red pepper flakes because I have toddlers and a13 yr old who doesn’t like hardly any spice but it didn’t give much spice…enough to tell there was mayne pepper but it wasn’t making our noses run or our tongues hurt 😅 my 3 yr old had seconds and so did myself and my husband!
We doubled the recipe. If you decide to do that too, I would say the 6 cups of dried noodles was a bit much! There were way more noodles than anything else. I would probably reduce it 3 or 3 1/3 cups nect rime. This recipe was AMAZING! Thank you for sharing this! Will for sure be making this many more times!
Six thumbs up (from me, my husband and my son)!! Just made this a couple of days ago because I couldn’t find my old recipe. This was excellent (although the prep time is a little longer than what they estimated).
I used a Rotisserie chicken from my grocery store and I added some diced onion in with my celery & carrots and doubled the butter. Other changes I made were as follows: I tripled the minced garlic and doubled the rosemary because it makes such a big pot. I didn’t have dried sage but I had ground sage so I subbed a little of that. I also added a sprinkle of dried oregano with the other spices and only used about 1/2 teas. sea salt as I thought the broth, bouillon & butter seemed flavorful enough to me by the time all the other spices were added.
I DID add the Better than Bouillon as suggested – I actually mixed up 2 batches of it in hot water per the instructions to add in so I would have plenty of broth – it’s definitely a lot richer tasting than just plain old broth. I’m short on time so I used the store bought wide egg noodles. It’s a five star recipe for sure!
Hi Lauren, I just made your soup, only switching out rotisserie to chicken breast and I added an about 1/4 cup chopped onions. Other than that, this soup is fabulous!! My husband enjoyed it too, he had the flu and your recipe was dead on balls perfect!
Love this recipe!!!
Thank you
Just like my moms. She made Homemade noodles for a lot of recipes.
But they didn’t have Costco chicken then, She would have loved that.
Thank you for sharing
I love carrots so I will probably add extra.
Will try to make this recipe this week.
I made this today, added onions & chopped kale because I had them. As well as a spring of thyme and Worcestershire (like 8 shakes), chopped up celery leaves. Most importantly I used kosher salt, it really does make a huge difference. Salt to taste & taste and taste lol
Mom said this is the best thing she’s ever eaten, and it’s one of the best soup I’ve ever had, which chicken noodle soup is usually so bland to me.
I like to cook a whole chicken in a crockpot to get the real broth flavor then I just debone the whole chicken. Also, I would definitely add onion to this recipe overall great recipe.