The Best Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe: Rich Stock & Perfect Noodles

Crafting the Ultimate Chicken Stock

• 🐔 Using a whole raw chicken is recommended for the stock base, providing a clean, balanced flavor with good body and clarity.
• 🥕 Basic aromatics like onions, celery, and carrots, along with garlic, thyme, parsley, bay leaves, and peppercorns, enrich the flavor.
• ⏱️ A pressure cooker can extract more flavor in less time, though stovetop cooking will simply double the time.
• 🦴 The key to a rich, full-bodied flavor is to remove the chicken after 45 minutes, chop the bones, and return them to the pot for another 45 minutes to create a velvety, silky mouthfeel.
• 🧊 The finished stock can be stored in an airtight container and frozen for up to 6 months.

Selecting the Perfect Noodles

• 🍜 While store-bought options like orzo can work, they are not traditional.
• 🚫 Fresh lasagna sheets became mushy, and store-bought dried egg noodles were described as floppy and sad, becoming chewy and soggy the next day.
• 🥚 Homemade egg noodles are recommended for their tender texture that soaks up stock perfectly and holds up well, even overnight.
• 🌟 An extra egg yolk in the homemade noodle dough provides structure and helps them hold up the next day.
• 📏 Rolling the noodles to a thickness of four to five results in a perfectly al dente texture with a satisfying chew.

Assembling the Soup

• 🧅 Sauté onions, celery, and carrots in olive oil until softened, then add garlic and thyme until fragrant.
• 🍲 Pour in eight cups of chicken stock and three cups of shredded chicken.
• 🌿 Bring the soup to a gentle boil, then add the noodles and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes until they float.
• 🍋 Finish the soup with a touch of fresh lemon juice for brightness, and garnish with parsley and freshly ground black pepper.
• 🍞 Serving with a side of crusty bread is a delightful addition.