Easy 30-Minute Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup — Classic, comforting, and tastes just like grandma made but way easier and faster!! This soup is AMAZING and it’ll be your new favorite recipe!!
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The Easiest Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
Chicken noodle soup is one of the fondest memories I have of my grandmother’s cooking. Classic, comforting, a cure-all for whatever ailed me, and I could taste my grandma’s love in it.
However, my grandma’s version took hours and hours. I don’t have time to watch a boiling pot for half the day and this version is easy, ready in 30-minutes, and has all the comforting qualities you want in classic chicken noodle soup.
My family loved the homey, classic flavors in the soup, raved about it, and asked when I’m making it again. It makes enough to stash half in the freezer for a rainy day or for winter cold and flu season. Chicken noodle soup is a miracle worker.
Chicken Noodle Soup Ingredients
To make this easy chicken noodle soup recipe, you’ll need the following basic ingredients:
- Olive oil
- Carrots
- Celery
- Sweet Vidalia onion
- Garlic
- Chicken broth
- Bay leaves
- Fresh thyme
- Dried oregano
- Wide egg noodles
- Shredded cooked chicken
- Fresh parsley
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Chicken Noodle Soup
Making homemade chicken noodle soup with egg noodles doesn’t get easier than this! Here’s an overview of how this simple recipe comes together:
- To a large Dutch oven or stockpot, add the oil and heat over medium-high heat to warm.
- Add the carrots, celery, onion, and sauté until the vegetables begin to soften.
- Add the garlic and sauté for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, pepper, and bring to a boil. Allow mixture to boil gently for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are fork-tender.
- Add the egg noodles and boil the mixture until the noodles are cooked through.
- Add the chicken, parsley, optional lemon juice and boil until chicken is warmed through.
- Remove the bay leaves and serve immediately!
Recipe FAQs
Egg noodles in chicken noodle soup is the only way to go for me because that’s how my grandma made it, but if you like rotini or another type of pasta, use it instead.
I always use pre-cooked, shredded chicken in my homemade chicken noodle soup. You have a few options when it comes to pre-cooked chicken:
1. You can buy a rotisserie chicken at the store, shred it up, then throw it in the soup (some stores even sell pre-shredded rotisserie chicken which is a huge time saver!).
2. You can meal prep your own stovetop or baked chicken breasts. Either shred or cube the chicken whenever you’re ready to make the soup.
3. Make a batch of poached chicken a day or two in advance to use in the soup.
I prefer using a blend of fresh and dried herbs in my soup for a more nuanced flavor. For this recipe, I used bay leaves, fresh thyme, and dried oregano. However, you can easily adapt the recipe using whatever herbs you have on hand!
The squeeze of lemon juice does NOT make the soup taste even remotely lemony. Instead, it brightens up the rich flavors of the soup and makes the recipe “pop” overall. If you don’t have a fresh lemon on hand, use apple cider vinegar to achieve the same result.
We love serving this easy homemade soup with bread rolls (try Parker House Rolls or No-Knead Dinner Rolls), Skillet Cornbread, or a Classic House Salad.
Tips for the Best Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken: To save time, make this chicken noodle soup with rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken that you have on hand. Of course you can roast or pan sauté chicken if you’re so inclined.
Herbs: There are quite a few herbs used including thyme, oregano, bay leaves, and parsley. If you don’t have them all on hand, don’t want to buy a bunch of thyme for just 1 teaspoon, or aren’t fond of a particular herb, you can probably omit it. Your soup won’t taste exactly like mine, but it’ll be close.
Salt: Make sure to salt your soup to taste. I use low-sodium chicken broth and add a bit of salt to my soup so I can control the overall salt level. The saltiness of low-sodium broth varies among brands, and if you used a rotisserie chicken, salt levels vary. And everyone’s personal preference for salt varies so salt to taste.
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Easy 30-Minute Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced thin (about 1 1/2 large carrots)
- 1 cup celery, sliced thin (about 2 stalks)
- 1 cup sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, peeled and diced small (about 1 medium onion)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 64 ounces 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus more if desired
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
- 12 ounces wide egg noodles, or your favorite noodles or pasta
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken, use storebought rotisserie chicken to save time; or roast or cook your own chicken in a skillet
- 3 to 4 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, optional
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- To a large Dutch oven or stockpot, add the oil and heat over medium-high heat to warm.
- Add the carrots, celery, onion, and sauté for about 7 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften. Stir intermittently.
Add the garlic and sauté for another 1 to 2 minutes. - Add the chicken broth, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, pepper, and bring to a boil. Allow mixture to boil gently for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are fork-tender. Note – If you like brothier soup, add additional broth, possibly as much as an additional 64 ounces because as time passes the noodles will continue to absorb broth.
- Add the egg noodles and boil mixture for about 10 minutes, or until noodles are soft and cooked through. At any time while making the soup, if the overall liquid level is lower than you like and you prefer more broth, adding a cup or two of water is okay. At the end you will adjust the salt level.
- Add the chicken, parsley, optional lemon juice (brightens up the flavor), and boil 1 to 2 minutes, or until chicken is warmed through. Taste soup and add salt to taste. I added about 1 tablespoon but this will vary based on how salty the brand of chicken broth used is, how salty the rotisserie chicken is, and personal preference. Make any necessary seasoning adjustments (i.e. more salt, pepper, herbs, etc.), remove the bay leaves, and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This was amazing! My husband wasn’t feeling well and this was perfect!! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad that this was perfect for him!
I absolutely love this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing! This is the third time I have made it and it is my go-to every time I make a Chicken noodle soup these days.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad to hear this is your go-to chicken soup recipe!
Can I use canned carrots? That’s all I have on hand😞
In a pinch probably ok but not ideal.
I’ve made this recipe twice & it doesn’t disappoint the second time around I made some changes to the recipe. Instead of cooking the noodles with the broth I cooked them separately due to the high temperature the broth boils out.
Glad that worked well for you.
This was a great soup. I wasn’t feeling well so I bought the carrots and celery already cut up. I did cut up the onion. I used lemon pepper rotisserie chicken since that was the only flavor the grocery store had. The soup turned out great and it wasn’t hard to make. It felt great on my throat and I felt better. This recipe is a keeper. I was looking for a soup that was quick to make . I don’t like canned soup because of the sodium. I made this with unsalted bone broth and unsalted chicken broth. I just added the salt that’s in the recipe and it was delicious.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that you were able to use products that were convenient and that my recipe is a keeper for you!
Love it!! I don’t like celery so I substituted it for fresh corn off the cob. I added some pepper flakes to give it a kick…delicious!! This will definitely be my permanent at-home recipe.
Glad you loved this and the fresh corn off the cob is an interesting twist and sounds like it worked out great!
I made this last week. I usually do the whole chicken two day kind of recipe. It really is a pain because it takes so long. Your recipe was incredibly delicious; just as good as when I make my own it two-Day recipe. So thank you very much for my short cut, delicious chicken noodle soup! Love it so much, I’m making it again tomorrow.
Thanks for the five star review and glad that this saved you two days of work when you can do it in approx 30 minutes! Great to hear you’re making it again today!
I made this soup with low sodium bone broth. It was delicious. The seasonings make it stand out. It does get thick after storing, so fewer noodles would fix that without altering flavor.
Thanks for the five star review and glad it was delicious!
Yes you can either cut back the noodles a bit or increase the broth of bit if you prefer a brothier soup.
It Did! And it was DELICIOUS!! I had thought that was the case, but wanted to double check. Can’t wait to try out some more of your recipes!!
Best,
Jen
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad that it was delicious!
A quick question for you – when making the soup, do you put the noodles in cooked, al dente/almost completely cooked, or raw? I’m going to be trying this tonight for my husband and can’t wait!! :) Thank you in advance!
-Jen
Not sure if my reply made it in time for dinner tonight, but totally raw. I mean you could pre-cook them but I have never done that; they just cook in the broth in the pot.
My boyfriend was feeling really sick the past couple days so we decided to look up some chicken noodle soup recipies. I’m glad to say we found yours first and he loved it! It’s already made him feel just a little bit better so thank you for sharing it with us :)
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad this soup helped your bf feel a bit better!
Delicious, easy, kids love it, did take longer for cutting up ingredients but time isnt an issue.
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad the kids loved it!
My husband wasn’t feeling well so I decided to fix him some Chicken Noodle Soup, even though it’s not one of my favorite soups — just not a big fan . . . until now. Following your recipe, I made him your soup and it was DELISH! We had it for dinner that night, both eating several bowls! We enjoyed it so much, we finished it off for lunch the next day. I pretty much followed the recipe using a rotisserie chicken, 1/4 tsp. garlic powder (instead of cloves), increased the veggies by 1/2 a cup, and was a little heavy handed with the herbs. Because we like more broth, I used an additional 14 oz. can of chicken broth and cut back on the noodles. I also added some celery salt and a couple of Tbs. of “Better Than Broth/Roasted Chicken Base”. Avery, I LOVED the soup but really, really appreciated how fast and easy the recipe was and will definitely be checking out some of your others. :)
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad that you loved the soup and were able to customize it to your liking! So glad you appreciate how fast and easy this was!
Great recipe. thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was great!
This is a really good recipe for chicken noodle soup. It did take more time than 35 minutes to prepare with the cutting and chopping of the vegetables, but it was really good though. Thank you for the recipe!
I am glad you enjoyed the soup.
Thanks a lot! Worked out great :)
Very very tasty!! Boyfriend said it’s the best chicken noodle soup he’s had in a while!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad your boyfriend loved it!
My kids don’t like vegetables, especially onions and garlic, but they LOVED this soup!!!!! Only thing I did different was add a bunch of basil leaves fresh instead of parsley.