Chicken noodle soup is perfect.
It's flexible, it's cheap, and it's delicious. The only thing better than any chicken noodle soup is the same thing, but made from scratch. This is a wonderful dish of stock, meat, noodles, vegetables and herbs that can be adjusted as necessary, and will give you the basic steps on how to make any soup.
Mirepoix (Meer-pwah)
Often seen in French cooking, a mirepoix (pronounced meer-pwah) is a mix of aromatics that serves as the foundation of flavour in many recipes. Typically, a mirepoix will be made up of onion, carrot, and celery (usually in a ratio of 2:1:1) that is cooked in butter at a low heat. There are a couple other named vegetable mixes that you might hear in passing:
- Battuto/Soffrito- This is a mix of onion, garlic, and lard (or butter/olive oil) that is common in Italian dishes.
- Trinity - A mix of onion, green pepper, and garlic common to many Cajun dishes like Jambalaya or Gumbo.
- Duxelles - Onion, shallot, and mushrooms sauteed in butter.
- Chimichurri - a mix of parsley, chili pepper, and garlic in a neutral oil.
There are as many mirepoix as there are cooking cultures in the world, and the best way to learn more about them is to go taste them. For now, we are using a classic French mirepoix.
Let's get cracking.
Making the soup
Boil Water
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add your favourite pasta and boil until al dente, then drain and set aside.
An old saying is that pasta water should be as “salty as the sea”. Taken at face value, this is overkill, but the spirit of it is true: your water should be quite salty, so that it seasons the pasta as it cooks. This way, you taste the noodle as well as the soup.
We cook the noodles separately so that it doesn’t soak up the broth when there are leftovers, but you can certainly make this a one pot meal by adding more broth and adding the noodles with the chicken.
Sear Chicken
Heat olive oil in a large pot and brown chicken breasts seasoned with salt and pepper. Remove chicken from the pot and set aside.
To get a good sear on the chicken, the oil needs to be hot and have a high enough smoke point so that the oil doesn’t burn. Extra virgin olive oil has a very low smoke point, making it great for salads and adding rich flavor, but not for searing. Light or extra light olive oil, on the other hand, has a high smoke point, and is excellent for higher heat cooking.
Cook the mirepoix
Add butter to the pot, then add onion, carrot, and celery and sauté for 10 minutes or until softened.
Turn the heat back to medium-low for this, as you don’t want to brown the mirepoix or burn the butter (butter has a low smoke point unless it’s clarified).
Cook the garlic and herbs
Add garlic, thyme, and rosemary and sauté for two minutes.
You add these later because herbs and alliums like garlic are more delicate than the hardy root vegetables, and don’t need as much time to cook.
Add liquids
Add stock and lemon juice to the pot and bring to a boil.
The lemon is arguably optional, but it’s hard to go back once you have a chicken soup with a bit of acid. Also, you can absolutely use store bought stock here, or you can make your own with our recipe at this link.
Simmer
Turn the heat down to a simmer then add the chicken back to the pot. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
You can use a temperature probe to see if the chicken is at 165 degrees Celsius.
Final Touches
Remove the chicken from the pot, shred it, then add it back to the pot along with the parsley. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.
Adjusting seasoning is a personal preference, but try going further in seasoning than you usually do - you may find that flavors are more vibrant and present. Professional chefs use a lot of salt for a reason - it brings out the natural flavors of all your ingredients. Note: taste your seasoned noodles before seasoning your soup, as the salt from those will contribute to the saltiness of the soup.
Grab a Bowl
Divide the cooked pasta among four bowls and top with the soup.
Dig in, and play around with different flavor combinations!
Chicken Noodle Soup
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 tbs butter
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, diced
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
- 6 cups (1.4 L) chicken stock (Store-bought or homemade)
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- Salt and pepper
- 6 oz (170g) dried pasta
- medium sauce pan
- knife
- reamer (optional)
- Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add your favourite pasta and until al dente, then drain and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot and brown chicken breasts seasoned with salt and pepper. Remove chicken from the pot and set aside.
- Add butter to the pot, then add onion, carrot, and celery and sauté for 10 minutes or until softened.
- Add garlic, thyme, and rosemary and sauté for two minutes.
- Add stock and lemon juice to the pot and bring to a boil.
- Turn the heat down to a simmer then add the chicken back to the pot. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Remove the chicken from the pot, shred it, then add it back to the pot along with the parsley. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.
- Divide the cooked pasta among four bowls and top with the soup