Best Homemade Chicken Soup

Tammy: Our February/March Recipe of the Month winner is Dawn from CO with her Best Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup recipe. Its easy and inexpensive to make, and freezes great! Dawn says what really makes this recipe great is the frozen homemade-type noodles she uses. And I agree with her! This recipe definitely qualifies as Just like Grandma used to make!

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Assembly Directions:
Fill an 8 quart stockpot about half full with water. Add the chicken and boil until the chicken is done and falling off the bones. Remove the chicken from the stockpot and set aside to cool. If necessary, add more water to the broth in the stockpot till it’s at least half full again. Add the bouillon, sliced carrots and celery to the stockpot. Boil for a few minutes, until the carrots and celery start to get tender. Meanwhile, de-bone and chop the chicken into bite sized pieces. Add the chicken to the stockpot. Taste the broth and see if it tastes good or if it is weak. If it’s weak, add more chicken bouillon, 1 T. at a time, until the flavor is right for you. Set aside to cool.

Freezing Directions:
Divide the cooled soup into 3 or 4 one-gallon freezer bags. Divide the frozen noodles into 3 or 4 quart-size freezer bags, the same number as you divided the soup into. Seal, label and freeze all the bags.

Serving Directions:
Thaw a gallon-sized bag of soup and a quart-sized bag of noodles overnight in the refrigerator. Put the soup in a pot on the stove and heat to boiling. Add the noodles and cook for about 7 minutes, or until tender. Serve hot.

Editor’s Comments:
In talking to Dawn about this recipe, we both noticed when we made the soup, including noodles, and froze it, the noodles absorbed most of the broth. So when it was re-heated, we had to add water, which watered down the flavor. Dawn’s solution was to freeze the broth and noodles separate, and then re-heat them together. Which worked well, so problem solved!

Comments:
I’ve made this soup for years now, and everyone rants and raves about it being the best chicken noodle soup ever. My husband won’t touch canned soup! The servings listed above are based on a 1-1/2 C. serving per adult.

If you can’t find homemade noodles in your freezer, you can easily make your own. In a medium size bowl, combine 1 C. flour and 1/2 t. salt. Make a well in the flour, add 1 slightly beaten egg, and mix. Mixture should form a stiff dough. If needed, stir in 1 to 2 T. water. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about 3-4 minutes. With a pasta machine, or a rolling pin, roll the dough out to the desired thinness. Use the pasta machine or a pizza cutter to cut into strips of your desired width. Remember, the noodles will more then double in width when they are cooked, so you’ll want to cut them thin.

Note: use your favorite kind of chicken… one whole chicken, 1 cut up fryer, or 4-5 chicken breasts.
* 1/2 C. bouillon granules equals about a 4 oz. jar.
** Grandma’s Egg Noodles (or a similar brand) can be found in the freezer case. They are homemade, fresh noodles; not dried noodles like you find in the spaghetti aisle.

Nutritional Info:
Per Serving: 233 Calories; 11g Fat (43.2% calories from fat); 14g Protein; 18g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 78mg Cholesterol; 488mg Sodium.
Exchanges: 1 Grain (Starch); 1-1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 1 Fat.