Easy Chicken Noodle Soup
Hello, my friends!
I hope you had the best holiday season and that it was filled with whatever makes your heart happy! It has been a while since I have shared a recipe so I decided to keep it simple and share a chicken soup recipe that I love because it is so simple but extremely flavorful. The secret is to add eggs! Yes, you read that right—eggs! By adding eggs not only are you adding more protein, but when done correctly, the eggs create a velvety-rich broth that is creamy and filling.
For this soup you will need:
Celery
Carrot
Onion
Garlic
Chicken breasts
Chicken broth
Couscous or other noodles of your choosing
Eggs
Fresh parsley and dill
Lemon
Salt, pepper, & herbes de provence (or seasoning of choice)
First, start by chopping your vegetables and sauteing them in a large dutch oven with olive oil, ghee, or butter. I have some ramp-infused olive oil that I made and love adding it to soups for a little extra flavor. I have found that by sauteing the vegetables rather than just throwing them into the broth raw, gives them much more flavor—almost a sweetness that’s really nice in combination with the richness and saltiness of the soup.
Once the vegetables are soft and have a little color, add your broth. I tend to use about 1 1/2 quarts or 6 cups for most of my soups because I love a lot of broth. But depending on how you like it, you can add a little less or a little more! Additionally, I always add a little water to my empty jar, give it a good swish, and add it to the soup as well. We must use every drop of goodness in this house! Lastly, add your chicken. I used two frozen chicken breasts. I like how you don’t need to thaw any meat for soup. I tend to add it in while frozen and let it poach in the broth. It adds flavor and is one less thing I need to do! Add the cover to the pot and let this simmer on low for 45-60 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Once chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and shred it with two forks. Return the chicken to the pot and add your noodles. For this recipe, I added large couscous pearls! If you didn’t know, couscous is actually a noodle and can sometimes be confused as a grain. You most definitely can add traditional egg noodles, but I like changing it up and adding whatever random noodles I have in the pantry! Orzo would be another fun pasta to try in a soup!
At this time, if you need to add more broth or water simply do so. We are cooking the pasta in the broth, so it will soak up the broth and get a little thicker after the noodles are cooked. Return the lid to the pot and cook for about 10-12 minutes or until the noodles are cooked through.
Now comes the fun part—tempering eggs! It is a little technical, but not hard at all. Essentially, all we want to do is make sure the eggs are the same temperature as the soup. If you were to just add the eggs without doing this step, you will make egg drop soup/have scrambled eggs in your soup—not what we are looking for! To temper the eggs, crack two eggs into a bowl and whisk with a fork. Slowly, and I mean slowly, start adding your chicken broth to the eggs while simultaneously whisking the egg mixture. Continue ladling the broth into the egg mixture until it is the same temperature as the soup. I don’t measure with a thermometer, but just add a lot of the broth—more than you would think. After the eggs have been tempered, slowly add this mixture back into the soup while stirring with a spoon.
Some of the eggs will curdle a little bit and that’s okay, but if you find that your eggs are curdling a lot then stop pouring the mixture into the soup and add more of the broth to it—this meant that your egg mixture is not warm enough. The goal is to have a velvety rich broth with no lumps of eggs!
Lastly, add juice of half a lemon, herbes de provence (or seasoning of choice), salt, pepper, fresh parsley, and fresh dill! I love to add fresh herbs to my soups, especially in the winter—it adds so much freshness and color! Serve and enjoy!
I hope you enjoy this simple chicken noodle soup recipe with a twist! Let me know in the comments below if there are any other soups or dishes you would like me to try!
Cheers,
