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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I LOVE this soup. I tried another homemade chicken noodle soup recipe and it was horrible compared to this one. This is my go-to. I’m making it as I type this :) I think the lemon and parsley are SO crucial in this recipe. It really gives it the best little hint of flavor. *I do have to note though, it takes SO much longer than 5 minutes to prep…closer to 30+ minutes after you chop/peel/clean all of the veggies and pull apart a whole chicken* Still love the recipe though! Im making it for a sick husband tonight. :)
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this soup is your go-to!
This was Fabulous!! My little girl came home from school with a sore throat, laryngitis and an ear ache. She asked me to make chicken noddle soup. I had just boiled boneless chicken breast earlier for chicken salad and had plenty of broth and chicken. I had the rest of the ingredients on hand. Voila!!! The soup was ready in no time and I served it with homemade sour dough bread. She’s feeling much better now!!
PS: I added some fresh grated ginger and some tumeric and sauteed with the onion, garlic, etc… to this soup in hopes that it might help her symptoms. The flavors were delicious!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and it helped your daughter feel better! I love the addition of ginger, turmeric, an garlic. All natural antivirals and antimicrobial treatments.
Highly recommend this recipe for chicken noodle soup….so easy to make and delicious. Thanks for sharing Averie!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved this!
AMAZING….. I made this twice. I cut the recipe in 1/2 since it makes a very large pot of soup. I ate most of it myself, I could not stop eating it. The flavors are so well blended. This will be my favorite chicken noodle soup and so easy if using a rotisserie chicken. If I don’t eat all of the pot this time, I am going to try to freeze it to see how well that works. It would be nice to have this in the freezer.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you love this soup! Fresh is always best, but soups in general freeze quite well and it’s nice to have a freezer stash of things sometimes.
This looks super good!
This is our favorite soup, but my husband wants to try brown Rice instead of noodles, would we need to adjust the liquids or cooking time? Actually, I think I would add in cooked rice, at what point would you add in the rice? How much liquid?
At the very end and not sure if it will require additional broth – I am thinking no but play it by ear.
Family loves this but needs a lot more liquid if using pasta because it just keeps sucking up the liquid. Did orzo last time but this time did egg noodles and kept adding more broth. I also get the Costco chicken and make my own broth with the carcass and veggie scraps. A keeper!
This soups gets rave reviews from my husband and son!! They are both sick and they say the soup really hit the spot!! Thank you for the easy, delicious recipe!! Definitely our favorite chicken noodle soup!!
Hope everyone gets well soon and glad the soup gets rave reviews!
Love it . Make it all the time
My grandsonson love it .Thanks it’s the best.
Thanks for loving this recipe and making it often! Glad your grandson loves it!
If I freeze it what should I freeze it in if I double it to freeze ? Do you just refrigerate to defrost ?
Amazing!!! First timei make chicken soup and I hit it out of the park! Thanks for this delicious and easy recipe.
Liz
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad this is a big hit!
This looks very yummy especially in this cold weather, I might will add a little bit nutmeg to it :)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it hit the spot!
Thank you for this amazingly easy & tasty recipe. I have a winter cold so my hubby was able to make this (and he thinks he is not a cook). Not only is this tasty & helping with my cold, this recipe gave my husband confidence that he can cook dinner all by himself & have it be delicious.
That’s wonderful that he has the confidence now! I love hearing things like this! Glad it’s tasty and he’s feeling better too!
This is so good!
Made today, it was deliciousssss! My little one is such a picky eater and he absolutely loved it! Awesome for any day. Thanks for the recipe!
I am glad this was a hit! Even with the picky little one :)
First time attempting chicken soup and was sooo good! After the first bowl, thought it needed something more filling so I added a can of cream of chicken soup! So good!!!! Thank u so much for this recipe! Hubby loved it and he’s the sick one!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad you loved it! I bet the cream of chicken soup thickened it up a bunch!