Recipe Notes: Chicken Noodle Soup

28 January 2019

Recipe from All Time Best Soups, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 41; also available online.

For the second consecutive winter I am continuing to work my way through All Time Best Soups. I don't make all of the soups in the book, there are many that don't appeal to me. Most of the soups I have made have been very good, there have been very few I wouldn't make again. The next one to try is a classic: chicken noodle soup.

The broth was made using bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. The thighs were browned in a Dutch oven then set aside. The skin was removed so the broth does not become too greasy. After pouring off the fat in the Dutch oven a chopped onion was cooked until just softened. The chicken was returned to the pot with the onion, water, bay leaves, and salt. This was simmered for 45 minutes with the lid on. (In the recipe boneless, skinless chicken breast is added for the last 15 minutes with the intention of using this in the soup and not the thigh meat. We prefer dark meat so skipped this step.) The broth was strained, let to sit for 10 minutes, and the fat was removed from the surface. After cooling, the thigh meat was removed from the bones and chopped up for the soup. In the Dutch oven a chopped  onion, some carrots, and celery were cooked in oil. The broth was added to the pot with some dry thyme (only because the supermarket was out of fresh thyme) and simmered until the vegetables were tender. The shredded thigh meat and wide egg noodles were added and cooked until tender. The soup was finished with some fresh parsley and seasoned with salt and pepper. Total preparation time was 2 hours 10 minutes, much of it hands off.

This is another winning recipe from All Time Best Soups. The broth was rich and flavorful without being greasy. The preparation time was not at all onerous, especially since it includes preparing the broth from scratch. We enjoyed some great chicken noodle soup for many meals as it kept well, even in the freezer.