I love making soup during the fall and winter months. I make soups of all kinds, using lots of different flavors, herbs, broths, and stocks to flavor each one a little differently. Chicken noodle soup is one of a few ‘go to’ soups that I make several times during the colder months. I’m not sure if it’s the nostalgia that I and most other people feel about the canned version during childhood but there’s definitely something about a great bowl of chicken noodle soup.

The good news about this soup is that it is pretty straightforward to make and if you happen to have chicken stock on hand, then it’s fairly quick. I make my own chicken stock and I make it by roasting a chicken, taking all the meat off the bones, and then using the bones to flavor the stock along with an assortment of herbs, vegetables, and spices. Usually I will make roasted chicken several times during the month and I freeze the bones. Once I reach two or three chickens, it’s then time for me to make more stock. If you do not have time to roast a chicken and so on, simply purchase a rotisserie chicken at your local grocery store, take the meat off the bones and go from there. If there’s not time to make stock, simply skip roasting the bones and simmering the soup for hours and make a broth using the bones, vegetables, and herbs. You can make a fairly flavorful broth in an hour to an hour in a half (whereas a stock could take upwards of six hours to really pull together). At any rate, there are options. I’m presenting this recipe as if you do not have chicken stock and will go step by step to making this soup completely from scratch. If you go this route, the soup will take the better part of the day to prepare. However, you won’t use all the stock you make for this one soup dish so you will have leftovers and stock freezes beautifully. So you can freeze it and make another meal or two from your homemade chicken stock anytime you’d like.  Recipe follows after the jump… Continue reading →