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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Made this today, so delicious and easy to make, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
This is the best soup recipe ever, I have made it twice everyone was just amazed at how good it was. It is definately a keeper!!!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad you’re loving it, made it twice, and that it’s a keeper!
Sick kid at home. Made this soup, amazing!!!! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Glad it came in handy for the sick kid and turned out amazing!
This is so good! My husband loves it when he is sick! How much would you say 1 serving is (ie. 1/2 a cup)?
I would say more like 1 cup. I am so glad you love this and that it comes to the rescue when someone is sick!
I just made this and it is sooooo good!! The broth by itself is excellent.. I seasoned up chicken breasts and cooked them in the pressure cooker before adding them to the soup. The juice in the pressure cooker I also added to the soup. I make up a batch of it and freeze it or jar it to have on hand. Thank you for sharing.
I love that you made your own chicken breasts in the pressure cooker and then were able to add the juice from it to the soup and also made a batch to freeze! Awesome ideas!
I not only used rotisserie chicken, I boiled the carcass for the broth! I always add a lot more veggies than the basic. I also add a little red pepper flakes and serve it with cheesy cornbread with sliced jalapeños!
I love the spicy twist you put on it with the red pepper flakes and sliced jalapeños! Great idea to boil the carcass for extra flavor!
I have never made homemade chicken noodle soup before, but when I stumbled across this recipe I just HAD to try it. I’m so glad I did because it was delicious! I will be making this all winter. Thanks for the recipe! :)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad you tried your hand at homemade chicken noodle soup, too!
Amazing! Have made this several times, and with fall and cooler temps moving in, I plan to make it about twice a month or more. Yummy!!!
Glad this is a favorite and that you plan to make it 2x a month or more!
I have made this recipe several times now and I love it! Most of all my kids (8 and 5) and my husband love it too. It smells amazing while it’s cooking. Great for when my little ones aren’t feeling the best. Definitely my go to chicken noodle recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad it’s your go-to soup!
Tried this recipe & hubby who doesn’t really care for soup loved it
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
Are gluten free noodles ok?
I haven’t personally tried but if you’re used to using them and know how/if they behave like regular noodles, then okay.
I made the recipe tonight with gluten free noodles and was really disappointed. The base of the soup was fantastic, but I found the noodles became too gummy. Gluten free noodles don’t hold well in all settings, and this is definitely not a favorable setting. Egg noodle consistency can’t be beat!
Since I have never tried to make this with GF noodles, I cannot say from experience what the results would be. I just want to make sure everyone reading this realizes that the soup base is fantastic but that you used GF noodles rather than egg noodles and that’s where the problem came in. I agree – egg noodle for chicken noodle soup are the best!
I make it with Earthly Choice Quinoa Pasta Blend Gluten Free Fusilli noodles and it turns out great, even the non-gluten free friends love it. You do have to add more broth to the leftovers if it sits in the ridge overnight as they will soak up a lot of broth.
Thanks for letting me know that the Earthly Choice noodles worked great as a GF swap for egg noodles! And yes noodles tend to be sponges the longer they sit in broth :) glad this was loved by all!
Hi there, your chicken noodle is good but missing one star anise ….just put it in with the broth, then throw it away before you serve it…
I’ve never put star anise in broth but I can see where it could add an interesting note to some broths.
My family loved this especially my 2 year old. I did end up adding an extra 2 cups of water and about 1 tbs salt to this to stretch the broth since I used extra wide noodles. This will definitely be my go to chicken noodle soup from now on! Thank you!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad you were able to stretch the broth with extra water/salt, perfect. This is a forgiving recipe and glad it’ll be your go-to!
Made this last night and it made the office smell amazing
Wonderful!
This is just wonderful…..Definitely add the lemon juice as it really enhanced the flavor….This is a definite keeper!….Thank you Averie for this wonderful recipe….
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad you liked the lemon juice touch! Subtle but nice I think!
This soup is so delicious!! I just made it today for a sick friend and kept some for my family. I roasted a whole chicken earlier in the day and then found your recipe. I am happy I did. It is easy to make but tastes like I spent hours in the kitchen. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
It is easy to make but tastes like I spent hours in the kitchen. <---- YES I totally agree!