I am looking for an easy, but tasty home made soup recipe. I'm roasting a chicken and would like to use the leftovers for soup. I also have a ton of carrots and celery from my garden, a big bag of egg noodles, and a few cans of chicken broth that are about to expire. I'd like to make a big batch that I can freeze in Ziploc bags for later use. Thanks for your time.
By Sue from Golden Valley, MN
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Roasted chicken is great. I make a chicken soup that is awesome according to my son-in-law. I am not going to give exact amounts - I find that with soup taste rules and if I like a specific veggie flavor then I use more of that. Also, since you are using an already cooked chicken I would not add salt and pepper til the very end.
Place the bones and chicken broth in a pan (cast iron always preferred) and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for about 1/2 hour. Remove the bones.
Chop your veggies. Here is where individual taste really matters. This is how my taste buds would do it:
Chop equal amounts of celery and carrots (if your family doesn't like to eat celery, chop it big so after it cooks you can remove it). Chop half as many onions.
Cut your chicken in to 'big bite' pieces since it is already cooked and if cooked again can become stringy (I repeat this later as I loath stringy chicken). To your enhanced broth add your celery and simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add the Carrots and simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add the onions - half at a time, tasting to determine how many you want to add.
After the veggie flavors have married,bring broth back to a boil and add the noodles. (If you are not going to eat it immediately, cook al dente, so the noodles don't get mushy - yuck - in the reheating). Cook noodles.
Turn the heat down and add the chicken to heat through. I find that if I cook the already cooked chicken it becomes stringy. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with cornbread cooked in a cast iron skillet or buttermilk biscuits.
You have exactly everything you need! Just put it all together and season with salt and pepper to taste, you can't go wrong! But here are a few tips:
I make my own egg noodles, better and more hearty and more thrifty, if more work. I put one or two eggs in the food processor, about a half teaspoon of salt, and then while it's running add plain flour until you get a stiff dough. Should only take a few seconds in the processor. Then flour a board and rolll out thin with a rolling pin, dusting with more flour as needed, then cut the noodles with a pizza cutter. The rougher and irregular they cut, the better! Simple! Frozen egg noodles or homemade will take a lot longer to get tender in the simmering soup than store-bought dry ones from a package.
If you don't want the veggies to get too tender in the final soup, first simmer the broth with a whole carrot and couple whole celery stalks for a half hour to flavor the broth. Then remove those and put your soup size pieces of carrot and celery into the simmering broth about 20 mins. before serving or until they're as tender as you like.
I make MY soup with whole raw chicken pieces, thinking the bones flavor the broth better. Thighs work fine, simmered until cooked-through with whole carrot and celery, and maybe onion, which are all removed. Let the chicken cool and then dice it up as big or small as you want for the final soup and add it back in when the noodles are done and just before serving.
Whatever recipe you follow my main tip is odd but it makes it so good! 1 tablespoon sugar added to soup. Trust me I never thought that would make such a difference but it does and it is the best soup ever.
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