Soup

Homestead Chicken & Noodle Soup

The soup you remember. Warm, simple, and full of noodles.

Prep 5 min LOW 6–7 hours HIGH 3–4 hours Serves 8

Homestead Chicken & Noodle Soup, finished and plated — Serving suggestion

Chicken noodle soup is the first thing anyone thinks of when someone in the house is sick, cold, or just having a rough week. It's also one of the easiest things to make badly — thin, under-seasoned, more broth than substance.

This one starts with a real cream of chicken base and enough bouillon to actually taste like something. The noodles go in at the very end so they stay noodles instead of dissolving into paste.

It makes a big pot. That's on purpose — this is the recipe you want leftovers of.

Why you'll love it

It tastes like it simmered all day.

Because it did. That's the whole point of a slow cooker.

Makes eight servings.

Enough for dinner and lunch tomorrow, or enough to take a container to a neighbor.

Nothing to chop if you don't want to.

Frozen mixed vegetables work perfectly. Bagged carrots and celery too.

It's the one people ask for when they're sick.

Now you can make it without thinking about it.

What's already in the packet

Chicken bouillonDry cream of chicken soup baseOnionGarlicCelery powderPoultry seasoningBlack pepperWhite pepper

Two kinds of chicken base plus the aromatics and herbs, already balanced.

Choose your setting

Recommended

LOW · 6–7 hours

Low and slow gives collagen time to melt and flavors time to build. It is the setting this recipe was written for.

HIGH · 3–4 hours

For when you started late. It gets dinner done, but the texture is better on LOW.

Done at 165°F

Check the thickest piece before you shred and add the noodles.

You'll Need

2 lbs Chicken (pick one below)
6 cups Water or chicken broth
1 packet Cook SLO Homestead Chicken & Noodle Soup
2 cups Egg noodles, dry

Pick your protein

2 lbs

Chicken breasts

2 lbs

Chicken thighs

2 lbs

Bone-in chicken pieces

Chicken 165°F, ground sausage 160°F, beef cubes 190°F, cooked ham 140°F

Add vegetables

Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen)Chopped celery (fresh or frozen)Diced onion (fresh or frozen)Peas (frozen)ParsnipsDiced potatoes (fresh or frozen)Mixed vegetables (frozen)

Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen), chopped celery (fresh or frozen), diced onion (fresh or frozen), parsnips and diced potatoes (fresh or frozen) at the start, on the bottom; peas (frozen) and Mixed vegetables (frozen) in the last twenty minutes.

When to add what

When	Add	Why
At the start, on the bottom	Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen)Chopped celery (fresh or frozen)Diced onion (fresh or frozen)ParsnipsDiced potatoes (fresh or frozen)	Root vegetables cook slower than meat. They belong closest to the heat, and they hold the meat up out of the liquid. Cut everything an inch and a half or larger — smaller pieces disintegrate.
Last 20 minutes	Peas (frozen)Mixed vegetables (frozen)	Spinach wilts in about five. A whole bag cooks down to roughly half a cup, so use more than looks reasonable. Frozen peas go grey and wrinkled if added earlier.

Two ways to do this

If you're home

Follow the timing table above and add things when they're due.

About an hour is all you need

If you're out all day

Put in at the start as normal: sliced carrots (fresh or frozen), chopped celery (fresh or frozen), diced onion (fresh or frozen), parsnips and diced potatoes (fresh or frozen). These need the full cook anyway.

Add peas (frozen) and Mixed vegetables (frozen) when you walk in the door. Forty-five minutes to an hour on LOW is enough for all of it, and it will taste better than if it had cooked all day.

If you would rather not touch it at all, put everything in at the start and use frozen where you can. It will be softer than the timing above intends and the greens will lose their colour, but it will taste good and dinner is ready when you walk in.

Frozen is the better choice for a long day. Already cut, holds its shape better than fresh over eight or nine hours, and goes in straight from the bag with no thawing. Frozen diced onion and pepper strips remove the only real prep this recipe has.

Pasta and noodles

**In the pot.** Two cups of dry egg noodles go in for the last thirty minutes. There is already plenty of broth, so no extra liquid is needed. Do not add them earlier — six hours turns noodles to paste and clouds the broth.

Before anything goes in the pot

1
Whisk the packet into the water before it goes in
Do not sprinkle dry powder onto liquid in the pot. Put the 6 cups in a jug, add the packet, whisk until there are no lumps, then pour it over. Cheese and cream powders dissolve properly this way and the sauce comes out smooth instead of grainy.

These happen outside the crock pot, before it's switched on.

Tonight's Plan

1
Put the vegetables in first, then the chicken on top.
Vegetables cook slower than meat in a crock pot, so they need to be closest to the heat.
2
Pour in the 6 cups of whisked liquid and stir once.
You dissolved the packet in the water already, so there is no powder to work in and no risk of lumps. One stir to settle everything.
3
Put the lid on.
Leave it for the full time.

Vegetables

Take the chicken out, shred it, and put it back.

If you used bone-in pieces, this is where the bones come out.

Stir in the dry egg noodles, cover, and cook 30 more minutes.

Dry noodles, not cooked. They absorb the broth and finish perfectly in half an hour.

Stirring

Leave the lid on

Nothing in this one settles or scorches, and there is plenty of liquid moving. Every lift of the lid drops the temperature ten to fifteen degrees and costs about twenty minutes. There is nothing to check.

Swaps and add-ins

Use rice instead of noodles.

A cup of long-grain rice in the last 45 minutes. Makes it a chicken and rice soup.

Make it creamier.

Stir in a cup of heavy cream in the last 20 minutes.

Add dumplings.

Drop spoonfuls of biscuit dough on top for the last 45 minutes with the lid on.

Skip the noodles entirely.

Serve it over mashed potatoes instead. Old-fashioned and very good.

Tips for success

Add the noodles at the end, always. Noodles cooked for six hours turn into paste and cloud the broth.
If it thickens too much overnight, thin it. The noodles keep absorbing in the fridge. A splash of hot broth fixes it.
Bone-in chicken makes better soup. More collagen, more body. Worth the extra minute of pulling bones.
Drop in a liner before anything else. Smooth it against the sides and fold the edges over the rim. When you're done, lift it out and throw it away — the crock never needs scrubbing.

Finish it right

A squeeze of fresh lemon.

Sounds odd in chicken soup until you try it. It lifts everything and makes the broth taste brighter.

Fresh chopped parsley or dill.

Stirred in right at the end, not cooked.

Cracked black pepper at the table.

Fresh pepper on hot soup smells like a restaurant.

Serve it over

In bowls with crackersWith a grilled cheeseWith crusty breadWith buttered saltines

Tomorrow night

Chicken and dumplings.

Reheat, drop biscuit dough on top, cover and simmer 15 minutes.

Pot pie filling.

Thicken with a cornstarch slurry, pour into a pie crust, bake.

Chicken noodle casserole.

Drain most of the broth, mix with cheese, bake 20 minutes at 375°F.

Just soup again.

It's better the second day. Nobody complains.

Keeping it

Fridge

Airtight, up to 4 days

Freezer

3 months, but freeze it before adding noodles if you can — they go soft.

Reheating

Stove or microwave until steaming. Add hot broth if the noodles drank it all.

Questions people ask

Recipe card