~ This quick and easy roast chicken noodle soup has plenty of shortcuts and advance preparation options, and it’s also freezing! So filling and comforting, just what we all need on a cold day… or when colds hit unexpectedly! (Originally published as Quick & Easy Chicken Noodle Soup with Rotisserie Chicken.) ~
This recipe is: • Ready in 30 minutes or less • Freezeable • Make in advance •
Quick and easy chicken noodle soup. Totally what we all need at this time of year, as snowflakes swirl in bitter arctic gusts, and colds and coughs open a rampant course through every school and office (heading straight for you).
yes. This soup is warm, simple, comfortable.
And it’s fast lickety-split.
Why I do (and love!) This
shortcut soup I have
this picture of my idealized self, where I have a big pot of hot soup for your soul bubbling, while using Florence Nightingale-type healing powers to take care of my poor, dear, sick family whenever colds can hit
.
Of course. Nice try, I idealized.
I don’t know about you, but when the school nurse calls me to tell me that I need to pick up a sick child, I usually haven’t planned in advance to light a chicken noodle soup over low heat for a long time.
My real-world self runs past the grocery store on the way to school, catching cold medications that we apparently ran out of (but no one bothered to add to my shopping list), along with the ingredients to put together this roast chicken soup shortcut in the few minutes I’ll have home (before the nurse inevitably calls back to tell me that child #2 is just done. of succumbing).
When we need
chicken noodle soup, we need it NOW. My real-world self knows this.
But the idealized little me lurking inside me wants it to be lovingly homemade, not those processed-tasting stuff that is dumped out of a can.
This version of delicious chicken noodle soup is where the two “I’s” meet… The real world, quick and easy, meets the idealized self-home.
I feel like a parenting hero (patting myself on the back inside, mom saves the day from virus-induced doom), and I claim a victory for the day.
Which is incredible, because I know that by tomorrow, I will be personally enjoying the cold that my children just dragged home for me. Yay. Good luck I made a great batch of this chicken soup!
So let me give you the information on some little tricks and tips here… And you can be a family hero too!
Although
many homemade chicken noodle soup recipes are made with wavy egg noodles, we prefer to use a small, bite-sized form of pasta like elbows. It’s entirely up to you: use the form of pasta you prefer. There really is no right answer!
However, we definitely recommend that you choose a 100% whole grain pasta to boost nutrition and fiber.
The perfect broth for this soup
roast chicken My idealized self doesn’t just imagine soups over low heat… Ideal Me also lovingly makes my own homemade chicken broth, carefully freezing it as the perfect base for my soup and stew recipes.
Buuuuuutttttt … Until the real world finds the time to buy store-bought broth from scratch, as long as it’s the healthiest it can find.
I almost always use fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth, adjusting the salt at the end of cooking as needed. In fact, if you’re interested in the “why” behind our recipe creation, I actually wrote an entire post on the difference between reduced-sodium and “regular” broth (and why we think you should use low-sodium broth in most recipes). There’s actually more than you’d probably guess! Anyway…
For this roast chicken soup,
with such simple ingredients, the right final blow of salt seasoning will make all the difference when carrying this soup from good to fantastic. But the exact right amount can vary depending on your family’s tastes, and also depending on the brand of broth you choose: reduced-sodium broths can vary significantly in the amount of salt they contain.
So, as I direct the recipe card instructions, it’s important to try this soup at the end of cooking and adjust the salt so that the flavors really stand out.
Another note about chicken broth selection. You might be surprised that some brands include less desirable ingredients like MSG, so be sure to read the ingredient lists.
Alternatives
to roast chicken Do you have to make this chicken soup with
roast chicken?
Any
cooked chicken breast should do, as long as it’s not too seasoned with marinades or spices.
If you’re cooking chicken for another purpose anyway, you could certainly make extra so that you have enough chicken for this soup, also! Easy-peasy with a little planning!
But, since cold viruses are generally not gentle enough to allow for convenient advanced planning, I usually find that hooking a roast chicken is my best short-term bet. When I need quick chicken soup with noodles… I need statistics!
What to do with roast chicken leftovers
If you have a roast chicken for this soup,
you’ll probably be left with some dark meat and other chicken chunks that aren’t necessary for this soup recipe, which requires only 2 cups of roast chicken.
So what to do,
what to do with that extra
roast chicken?
We have a lot of ideas!
In fact, we have a full post with a full list of roast chicken recipes, and many of them will work perfectly fine with dark meat or white breast. (Mmmmm… Healthy chicken salad, parmesan chicken wraps, roast chicken tacos… and many more!)
Or, if you have a dog, we have another solution! Check out our recipes for homemade chicken dog treats and 2-ingredient frozen dog cookies and treats! They both brilliantly use that leftover roast chicken… and trust me… Your dog will thank you!
Advance Prep Tips (aka How to Make Easy Chicken Noodle Soup Even EASIER!)
Do you have a
bad feeling that a cold is coming (or maybe you have a top-notch crystal ball)? You can prepare many of the ingredients for this soup a day or two before, cutting the vegetables and roast chicken, and storing them in the fridge.
When colds hit… Voilà ! You’re making soup in moments! That’s
actually one of the best shortcut reasons to use precooked or roasted chicken in this recipe: you can chop it and wait for your soup! Be ready even faster!
Bonus – This roast chicken soup is refrigerated and frozen very well, so you can also prepare it to have it ready. However, as with any noodle soup, the noodles will continue to soften a bit, so if you’re doing this specifically ahead of time, you can opt to cook the noodles a little al dente. Either way, though, it’s absolutely delicious!
Very well then… You are armed and ready!
Whether you do this in advance and freeze it, or run madly through the grocery store on your way to the school nurse… When the winter germs reach ‘callin’, you will be the idealized self, father-hero of your dreams!
As a cozy and comforting hug, this easy chicken noodle soup is just what you’ll need to beat off the winter cold and all the colds that come with it.
Stay warm out there, folks!
