The other day, it was quite miserable outside, perfect for a bowl of hearty chicken noodle soup. Well, technically it was a chicken stock but I’ll get into that later. Here is my go-to chicken soup recipe.
Notably, I used a red onion in this because that was what I had on hand and it performed quite well. Also, I tend to just use whatever spices that are in reach, and this changes every time I make it.
Ingredients:
- Chicken bones wrapped up in cheese cloth to make it easy to fish out all of those annoying bones once the soup is ready to serve. When you use chicken bones, it is usually referred to as a stock instead of a broth. I normally like using a whole chicken so that I can eat the chicken pieces in my bowl of soup, but I hate having to tediously pull all the meat from the bone.
- Equal parts of cut up Celery, Onion, and Carrot, also known as Mirepoix. You can get this pre diced at the store (Trader Joes has it) to make your life easier.
- Any spice that you like that might seem to go well together. I used freshly ground black pepper, salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, dried dill, dried parsley, dried thyme, zahatar, and probably some others that were lying around.
- A squirt of ketchup, mustard, and lemon juice. Yes it sounds odd, but trust me, they break down and add to the color and flavor of the soup.
- Noodles – this amount actually matters because it is really easy to use too much, err on the cautious side. I like an abundance so I usually use about 1/3 of a pound of pasta.
- Water (lots)
Place all of the ingredients (except noodles) in a large stock pot and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat until it is just barely bubbling and keep it like that for at least 2 hours if not more. It is usually a good idea to skim off fat and foam from the top as it cooks. After 2 hours of simmering, taste for seasoning and adjust, then bring the pot back to a boil and add the noodles until they are cooked (6-10 min depending on type of pasta). Serve hot and enjoy!
