I had to go back and check if we really hadn’t done a post on chicken noodle soup yet. I can’t imagine why not–it’s an essential thing for everyone to know how to make! (Excellent for cold nights, and for people who feel crummy.) Now, many of you are old hands, and already have your chicken noodle soup method down–it’s like falling out of bed for you. Feel free to go take another look at Barb’s cookie recipes while I give my chicken noodle soup recipe.
Starting with a whole uncooked chicken (I always take as much of the skin and fat off as possible before cooking–I know that some people would consider this a sacrilege, but there it is–I don’t like the grease in my soup), I put the bird in a large stockpot, cover it with water, throw in a few dashes of salt, and let it come to a boil. Meanwhile, I finely chop a large onion and a celery heart (the center part that is yellowish-white and has very tender leaves on top), as well as about 5 carrots. I throw all these in as I chop. Finally, I put in about 1 tsp. of ground/powdered sage. Once everything has come to a boil, I turn the burner to low, and let this all cook until the chicken is falling off the bone. At that point, I turn off the burner and let the soup cool for a while.
When it is cool enough to pull the chicken out, I do so, using a large slotted spoon and a lot of careful juggling. I plop it into a baking pan to catch the juice. Then I pull the meat off all the bones (and I’m very methodical about getting every last shred of meat off of every little bone, being a skinflint and also wanting as much meat as possible in my soup.) I pull it or cut it into bite-size chunks and throw it back in the soup pot. When all the meat is off the bones, I throw the bones away, and turn the burner back on.
Then I add a pound or so of noodles–usually I use flat, ribbon-like egg noodles, but I’ve been known to use spaghetti or fettucini when that was what was available, and this last batch, I used up the dribs and drabs from several boxes of pasta–broken up lasagna noodles, and even some rotellini that were made with various vegetable and squid-ink dyes. The result was colorful and interesting (and tasted pretty much like usual, sorry to report such a mundane result. 
) You may need to add a bit of water here. When the noodles are cooked, taste the soup, and add salt if it’s needed.
Now, a couple of notes. Sometimes, I start with just a carcass, having served a roast chicken for dinner the night before. In that case, I also throw in a package or two of the drumsticks I buy for that purpose when they are on sale. Or I might use chicken breasts from a bag, if that’s what’s handy. The point is, just the carcass probably won’t give you enough meat, so you need to add some. The rest of the method is the same.
When I really want to make a batch of chicken soup, and do not have a whole chicken or a carcass, I use whatever chicken meat I have handy. But because I don’t have the bones to simmer, in order to maximize flavor, I start by sauteéing the onions and celery and carrots and sage in some olive oil for several minutes, then sauteéing the chicken, and THEN adding water. After it starts boiling, I add the noodles and let it all simmer until the noodles are done. Obviously, this is the quicker way of making chicken noodle soup, but in my opinion, you miss out on some of the restorative benefits of the soup by not using the bones.
Note that I’ve marked this as an anchor cooking recipe because you can make it as a spin-off of the anchor meal–roast chicken. It’s a great way to use up those leftovers and get every penny’s worth of nutrition out of a chicken.
My usual side with homemade chicken soup is a loaf of crusty homemade French bread, with plenty of butter. Delicious!
LB
