Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

This go-to recipe for chicken noodle soup has been a favorite for years, and also hiding in plain sight on Our Best Bites. It’s a very slight riff on the base to this popular Chicken and Dumplings recipe, but when you swap out the dumplings for noodles, it’s the most amazing Chicken Noodle Soup! The word “creamy” sometimes implies a thick, rich soup- but there are no rouxs here and it’s still a very light, broth-based soup. This recipe contains some evaporated milk for the perfect creamy consistency (which I 100% recommend) but you can leave that out if you’d like a more classic chicken noodle soup. A quick-fix pressure cooker version of this soup is featured in our popular Dinner Simplified Book (get your copy, here!) It’s perfectly simple with all the best flavors of tender chicken, carrots, onions, celery, and seasonings. In the recipe card I’ll include instructions for both pressure cooking and using pre-cooked or leftover chicken!

Ingredients and Equipment Notes

• Carrots, Onion, Celery – the trifecta! These three veggies are the base of so many great soups. Have a little more or less of one of them? No big deal, it’s flexible!
  
• Broth – You can use a store bought broth, or homemade. Personally, I love both the flavor and convenience of Better than Bouillon, which is a concentrated mix. It makes it very easy to use as little or as much broth as you like.
  
• Chicken – I’ll show how to make this recipe with chicken breasts, but you can also use pre-cooked chicken, like rotisserie or leftover.
  
• Noodles – I prefer an old-fashioned style noodle, but any pasta (and shape of pasta) will work just fine.
  
• Evaporated milk – Low fat or full fat evaporated milk is fine. Find this in the baking aisle of the grocery store.

Instructions

This soup is really simple to make, use a large stock-pot!

1. Saute carrots, onion, and celery. This step helps release flavors from the vegetables.
2. Add broth and seasonings.
3. Add chicken breast directly to pot. As soup simmers, the chicken cooks.
4. Remove chicken to a cutting board and shred.
5. Add your shredded chicken and also. your noodles into the pot and simmer until the noodles are cooked through.
6. Stir in evaporated milk.
7. Season with a little more salt and pepper if you need it, and that’s it!

This soup is so comforting and delicious, and the creaminess just takes it up a notch and makes it feel even more special. This is great for a weeknight dinner, or taking to a friend who’s feeling under the weather.

Serving Suggestions

With pasta and chicken, this soup is quite hearty. We love it with a loaf of crusty bread to dip. If you’d like to make your own, try my Easy Overnight Artisan Bread. Round it out with a simple garden salad and Buttermilk Ranch Dressing for a cozy dinner.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can I prep this recipe ahead of time? You bet. I’ll often make this late afternoon and just keep it warm on the stove top until it’s time for dinner. You could also keep it warm in a slow cooker. Keep in mind the longer it sits, the noodles will continue to soften. If making early in the day, you may want to wait to simmer in the noodles until before serving.
  
• Can I make this in a pressure cooker? Yes, instructions are included in recipe card!
  
• Can I make this dairy free? Sure! Substitute the evaporated milk with a can of coconut milk, or your favorite dairy-free substitution.
  
• Can I make this meatless? Absolutely. Sub in additional vegetables of choice in place of chicken.
  
• Can this soup be frozen? Yes, but sometimes noodles freeze funny or get a little mushy. I like to make up until the step where you add the noodles. Freeze soup without noodles or evaporated milk. To serve, thaw, bring to a simmer and then add in noodles, and finish with evaporated milk.

Looking for more soup recipes?

Check out my entire Soup collection, by clicking here. Here’s a few of my favorites:

Lemon Chicken Soup with Rice

Baked Potato Soup

Veggie-Packed Minestrone

Pressure Cooker Tomato Soup

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

5 from 4 votes

A classic recipe for chicken noodle soup with one extra ingredient that makes it rich and creamy.

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Print Rate SaveSaved!

Ingredients

• 1-2 tablespoons butter or oil2 large carrots thinly sliced or diced 2 ribs celery, chopped1 medium-large onion, chopped 3-4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed (or 1 teaspoon garlic powder)8 cups chicken broth (2 32-oz cartons)2 medium-large chicken breasts (about 1.5-2lbs)1 teaspoon dried basil1 teaspoon dried oregano2 teaspoons kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper1 12-ounce can evaporated milk1 handful of chopped fresh parsley (or 1 Tbsp. dried parsley)8 oz dry pasta noodles

Instructions

• Heat a large stock pot on the stove to medium heat. 
• When hot, add butter or oil and swirl to coat bottom of pan. 
• Add carrots, celery, and onion and saute, stirring often, until softened, about 3-4 minutes. 
• Add garlic and saute for about 30 seconds, until fragrant. 
• Add 8 cups chicken broth, 1 teaspoon basil and 1 teaspoon oregano along with the 2 teaspoons kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Add parsley only if you are using dried parsley.
• Add chicken breasts to pot, bring soup to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.  
• Simmer until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees, when no pink remains, about 10-15 minutes but timing will vary depending on size and thickness of breasts. Use an instant-read digital thermometer to check temperature.
• Remove chicken to a cutting board.
• Add noodles to pot and simmer until pasta is cooked, about 8 minutes. 
• While pasta is cooking, shred chicken and add back into pot.
• When pasta is done, turn off heat, stir in evaporated milk and fresh parsley, and season with additional salt and pepper to taste. 

Notes

To make with pre-cooked chicken:  Simply make recipe as stated, and drop in 2-4 cups cooked shredded chicken with broth.  (You can really add as much or as little as you like)

Pressure Cooker instructions: Add onion, carrots, celery, chicken, and seasonings into pressure cooker. Butterfly your chicken if it's extra thick. Seal lid and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes.  

If you're pressed for time, you can boil your noodles separately while the pressure cooker cooks, otherwise, when pressure cooker timer goes off, quick release the steam and remove the chicken.  Set pressure cooker to saute mode and bring to a simmer, add noodles and shredded chicken and simmer until noodles are cooked.  Turn heat off and stir in evaporated milk and fresh parsley.  Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. 

Keyword: Chicken noodle soup

Author: Sara Wells

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