How to Make Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup from Scratch

This hearty, belly-warming recipe will teach you how to make old-fashioned chicken noodle soup from scratch just in time for those cozy fall evenings. The time invested is well worth it for this healthy meal made from whole-food ingredients your entire family will love. 

Why you should try Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup

My all time favorite comfort meal is old-fashioned chicken noodle soup made all the way from scratch. Using whole-food ingredients achieves the tastiest result! Bonus points if you’ve raised the chicken yourself! This recipe is perfect for a crisp Sunday afternoon when you want your house to smell of delicious food for the fall season.  

Many people reminisce on this being passed down from their grandmothers, but I still use the recipe card passed down from my aunt that I’ve added my own adaptations to. I love looking at that hand-written card and thinking of my family sharing this meal with each other. The taste is well worth the effort, but do we know why this famous comfort food really is the best for when we’re feeling under the weather? 

Health Benefits of From Scratch Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken broth contains electrolytes, protein, calcium, gelatin, and glycine. These nutrients help replenish and sustain your body. It’s perfect for when you’re sick, feeling blue, or just want an easy powerhouse meal! 

Even without the science, it’s no secret that eating chicken soup just feels good. There is nothing better than walking through your kitchen smelling the herbs, broth, and vegetables simmering away on the stove. You can almost feel the soup getting to work before even eating it! 

This soup does take a bit of time, but it produces a result far better than anything you could dump from a can. Most of the “work” happens while you wait, so putting this together on a weekend morning and going about your day will make the time fly.

Tips:

• To get the most flavor and nutrients from the soup, cooking the bones into bone broth for your base is the way to go, however, if you are short on time, skip this step. Cook your vegetables and simply add in the larger leg bones that you can pull out easily when the soup is finished. This will give you the flavor you are looking for with much less time. 
• If you have bone broth and leftover chicken from other recipes on hand, you can make this soup in a flash by taking the broth and chicken you have and adding vegetables and noodles.
• We use organic ingredients sourced as locally as possible, but just include what you want!
• Keep an eye on your water level, you may need to replace a bit of water lost through steam. 
• Prep the noodles about an hour before cooking to allow them to dry slightly. This helps give them the perfect texture. 
• Add the milk to the noodles one tablespoon at a time. The number of tablespoons you need will depend on the size of your eggs, the temperature of your kitchen, etc. Stop before the dough is too sticky to handle with lightly floured hands.
• In a pinch, you can use evaporated milk in place of whole milk in your noodles.

Can you save this chicken noodle soup for later?

This recipe freezes well, but I’d recommend freezing without the noodles. The frozen then thawed noodles tend to have a less favorable texture. Another option for preserving this soup, is to make up the batch then pressure can it (again, without the noodles) to be shelf stable!

Variations on the From Scratch Soup

You can really make this old-fashioned chicken noodle soup from scratch your own by changing the egg noodles to other options. We have made it with dumplings or even saved a little time on a busy night by adding store bought egg noodles instead. This soup is so flavorful it doesn’t even need the noodles at all! You could simply serve with a delicious loaf of buttered artisan bread.

Old-Fashioned Chicken Soup Ingredients

• 5lb whole chicken (or any similar sized chicken)
• 2 cups diced onion
• 3 cups chopped celery 
• 4 cups carrots – chopped into coins
• 6-10 cloves garlic (I’m talking to you garlic lovers)
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1tsp dried thyme
• 1 ½ tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp dried sage
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• Water
• Salt & pepper to taste 
• Fresh parsley for garnish (optional, but well worth the extra step)

Noodle Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 4-8 TB whole milk (add 1TB at a time)

How to Make Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup

Put chicken in a large stock pot, cover with water, & bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes. Lower the heat to medium-low & cook with the lid on for 2 hours. 

Remove chicken using tongs once it is tender & about to fall off the bone. 

While the chicken cools, skim any excess fat from the top. Leave behind as much as you’d like as it will continue to cook down & give your broth FLAVOR.

Remove as much meat from the bones as possible. – DO NOT cut/shred the meat. Allow the cooking to take care of that for you when it’s time.

Return only the bones to the pot & cook at medium-low – say whaaat? – I know, just trust me on this one. We’re doing the dang thing. Cooking down the bones will draw out all of those nutrients we want & essentially create a fresh bone broth for your base.

Cook the bone broth for 4-24 hours. The longer the better, but sometimes dinner waits for no one, so do what feels right! 

Strain the bones from the broth and discard the bones. Return the broth to the pot to complete the soup.

Add  veggies, garlic, herbs, & the cooked chicken from earlier. Top off with water if everything isn’t still covered. 

Bring back to a rolling boil for 2-3 minutes.Lower heat to medium low, cover, and cook for 2 more hours. Here’s where your house starts to smell like a dream.

Stir periodically. Just before your veggies are finished cooking, add your noodles & return to a boil. Boil for 3-5 minutes.

Remove from heat when noodles are done.Give one final taste & add more salt & pepper if needed. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.

How to make from-scratch noodles

Combine the salt and flour.

Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients to add your eggs.

Whisk eggs in the center of the well as you slowly incorporate the flour.

Before the flour is completely incorporated into the whisked eggs, begin to add the milk 1 TB at a time while mixing.

The dough will seem dry at first, but don’t add more than the first 4 TB of milk until all ingredients have been incorporated. You can always add more later if needed.

Allow the dough to rest for 15-30 minutes.

Using a rolling pin or a stand mixer attachment, roll the noodles to their desired thickness.

Cut sheets of noodles to your desired length before cutting out the individual noodles.

Put your noodles through your stand mixer noodle cutter, or use a pizza cutter or knife to cut them out.

Ensure noodles are well floured and either lay flat, or hang to dry for 30 more minutes up to a few hours.

Add noodles to soup & cook at a boil for 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the noodles.

Serve & enjoy!

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