This Chicken Noodle Soup recipe is exactly what you need on a cool day to warm you from the inside out. Filled with juicy chicken and tender noodles, this easy chicken noodle only takes about 30 minutes to make.
P.S. Our secret to seasoning the soup at the end is worth discovering.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
Sometimes the best recipes are the simplest. You’ll love the easy prep with this classic chicken noodle soup. There’s no need to trim the chicken ahead of time since the fat comes off easily after it’s boiled.
Chicken Noodle Soup Video Tutorial
This simple Chicken Noodle Soup is nutritious, hearty, and makes the perfect dish for busy families. My sister Anna came up with this recipe and first introduced me to it when she sent me a pot of soup after our first child was born over 10 years ago. We’ve been making it ever since and even made a Creamy Chicken Soup version!
Chicken Noodle Soup Ingredients
This Chicken Noodle Soup calls for traditional ingredients and a slight twist on the seasonings.
- Chicken: The secret to super tender chicken without crazy long cooking times is using chicken thighs! You can use boneless or bone-in chicken. Thighs also provide extra flavor and don’t dry out like chicken breast does.
- Broth: Our Homemade Chicken Broth is a delicious addition to this soup and provides a rich flavor. However, if you are in a pinch a low-sodium store-bought broth can work.
- Vegetables: Onions and celery sauteed together provide the traditional base for chicken noodle soup flavor. Diced carrots are another traditional vegetable. You can also add any other fresh or frozen veggies you would like.
- Seasonings: Dill and freshly-pressed garlic brighten the flavor palette and I love adding Mrs. Dash (no-salt seasoning).
Pro Tip: When sauteing ingredients for soups, use oil in the pan instead of butter. Butter will solidify when you refrigerate the soup.
The Best Noodles for Soup
I love using nice spiral noodles or egg noodles in my chicken noodle soup. These noodles plump up nicely and make the soup feel really hearty compared to other noodle varieties. Make sure you don’t overcook your noodles, especially if storing the soup or they will get mushy.
For Gluten-Free Chicken Noodle Soup
This soup is so simple and easy to modify for different food intolerances. To make it gluten-free, just sub your favorite gluten-free noodles.
The Benefits of Homemade Broth
Homemade Chicken Broth adds rich flavor to any soup or recipe that calls for chicken stock or broth. According to Medical News Today (2023), bone broth is highly nutritious and may help reduce inflammation and improve gut health.
When you cook the homemade broth in an instant pot – you can have it ready in about 2 hours. It also makes all the difference in how good your soup tastes.
How to Make Easy Chicken Noodle Soup
This easy chicken soup takes about 30 minutes to make. The SECRET to amping up the flavor happens in the last 2 minutes of cooking. Adding dill and a pressed clove of garlic is what my Mother does for nearly all of her soups and I have adopted this in my own kitchen. It is a brilliant and easy way to make your chicken soup taste fantastic!
- Cook the Chicken: In a large soup pot, combine water, Chicken Broth, and salt. Bring to a boil then add chicken thighs and cook uncovered 20 minutes.
- Saute Veggies: In a large skillet saute onion and celery in oil until golden then add to the soup pot
- Add Noodles and Veggies: Add 1/2 lb pasta and sliced carrots to the pot and cook 15 min at a low boil.
- Shred Chicken: As the pasta cooks, remove thighs from the pot and shred with forks (discarding bones and fat), then add the chicken back to the pot.
- Season: In the last 2 minutes of cooking, add Mrs. Dash, dill, and press in 1 garlic clove, and add salt to taste. Simmer another minute then turn off the heat.
Storing Leftover Chicken Noodle Soup
We love making a big pot of chicken soup and enjoying it throughout the week. Keep in mind, if the soup is stored too long, the noodles will turn mushy. If storing longer than 1-2 days, it’s best to store the soup and the noodles separately and recombine right before serving.
- Refrigerated: Cool the soup completely and store covered in the refrigerator. Once noodles are in, the soup should be enjoyed within 2 days. The soup will keep up to a week if you store the noodles separately and combine when reheated.
- To Freeze: If you plan to freeze the soup, wait to add the noodles when you reheat the soup. Chicken soup can be frozen up to 3 months.
- Reheating: Recombine noodles and soup in a pot or microwave-safe bowl and heat to the desired temperature on the stovetop or in the microwave. If using uncooked noodles, reheat on the stove until the mixture boils and noodles are tender.
More Delicious Soup Recipes:
We love soups, for the ease in preparation and their fun variety. Be sure to give some of our other popular soups a try. P.S. If you love chicken soup, our Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup is a must-try!
- Zuppa Toscana: popular Olive Garden copycat!
- Beef Stew: delicious slow-roasted flavor
- Potato Soup: cheesy, creamy base with bacon
- Broccoli Cheese Soup: quick and easy comfort food
- Chicken and Rice Soup: packed with flavor
Easy Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs, skins removed (bone-in or boneless)
- 8 cups chicken broth, we used low sodium
- 6 cups water
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, to saute vegetables
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 medium celery sticks, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, sliced into rings
- 6 oz rotini pasta
- 3 Tbsp fresh or frozen dill
- 1 tsp Mrs. Dash, or your favorite salt-free seasoning
- 1 Tbsp sea salt, or to taste
- 1 garlic clove, pressed
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, combine 6 cups water with 8 cups chicken broth and 1 Tbsp sea salt. Bring to a boil then add chicken thighs and boil partially covered 20 min while you prep the vegetables, skimming off any foam that rises to the top.
- In a large skillet over medium/high heat, add 2 Tbsp olive oil and sauté onion and celery until softened then transfer to the pot.
- Add pasta and sliced carrots to the soup pot and continue cooking for 15 min at a low boil or until pasta is at the desired softness.
- While pasta is cooking, remove chicken thighs from the pot and use either forks or your hands to shred the chicken, discarding any bones and fat which should come off easily. Return shredded chicken to the pot.
- Season soup with 1 tsp Mrs. Dash (or your favorite seasoning) and more salt to taste if needed. Press in 1 garlic clove. Finally, add 3 Tbsp dill and remove from heat. Enjoy!
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
We love this soup! Do you happen to have the nutritional info??
Hi Brittany, I’m so happy you love it :). Due to time constraints, we don’t usually provide nutritional info for our recipes. Have you tried caloriecount.com? You can use their recipe analyzer and past the list of ingredients into it to get nutritional info.
I simple cant tell you how much my family and I love this recipe. I have made many different chicken soups with mix results and difficulties. This is by far the best! I love that it’s so simple and gosh darn delicious. I have 4 girls from 7yrs – 19months and they all love. My husband ( who had to reheat- thanks for the olive oil tip by the way) was scrounging left over bowls for more haha. I made this yesterday and now am making it again for my father who had his first round of chemo. We just cant thank you and your sister enough. God bless and thanks for giving us the good old home cooking comfort food again!
Thank you so much for sharing that with us! I’m so happy you all are enjoying the soup :). Blessings to you and your father also!
This looks soo good! I was just wondering…I see in the pictures that you use better than boullion (which I love). When do you add that?
Great question! I use that to make the chicken broth so I add it at the beginning with the water. So what you could do is add 15 cups water then 5 tsp of better than bouillon along with the salt. 🙂 enjoy!
I love this recipe. The chicken thighs give the soup a fantastic flavor. Also, thank you for the tip on olive oil, this has changed my chicken soup forever!
Thank you-Meg
You are very welcome Meg 😁. I’m so glad you love the recipe!
Can I use 10 cups of Campbell’s chicken broth (in carton) instead of water?
Yes, just keep in mind that may be saltier so adjust the amount of salt to taste 🙂
This was awesome! Rave reviews from my littles and big ones.
Oh I’m so so happy to hear that!! Thanks for sharing that with me 🙂
Amazing soup. I also added bay leaves for the chicken boil and herb de provence that I picked up at costco. It is so hearty and has great flavour. This is a keeper for sure
Mike, I’m so happy you enjoyed that 😀. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Just turned 50….want to say “Best chicken noodle soup ever!!!!” I love to cook and have tried lots of recipes.I think maybe it’s the dill????????
Thanks a bunch!!!!
And thanks to your sister!! (Aren’t sisters GREAT?)
That’s awesome and Happy Birthday!! Yes sisters are such a blessing 🙂
In your Easy Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe, I think you should add these two items into the ingredient section: 10 cups water and 5 cups chicken broth. Thank you.
Thank you! I didn’t realize I had left the water out.
Thanks for this great recipe. Do you think one could do it in a crockpot? It’s easier for me to get dinners together when kids are in school. 🙂
Hi Joanne, I haven’t tested it that way so I can’t offer up much advice on cook time in a crock pot but I think it would work. I would still sauté on a pan (step 2) and then add sautéed ingredients to the crock pot.
Thank you so much!
I just made the chicken noodle soup! I didn’t have celery so I used 1 green pepper. I added some celery powder, a tbsp. Of herbs de provenance. Lots of salt and pepper. It turned out yummy!
I’m so happy you liked it! thanks Jessica 🙂
Would it be okay to use boneless chicken breast tenders? All I have at the house, it’d save me a trip to the store.
Hi Amber! I made this soup with tenders this past weekend and it tasted great but tenders are still a little tougher/chewier than chicken thighs, but it does work with tenders.
Have you tried freezing leftovers? Just curious how it was when thawed out. We made it once already for a party and it was delicious!
Hi Liz! We haven’t tried freezing it because it always gets eaten up :), but I do think it would work well to freeze this soup.
Loved this! I made a few alterations because I like super hearty soup. Added an extra cup of chicken broth, as well as 2 bay leaves (added to broth from the beginning). Also used about 6 celery stalks. I added the entire 12 oz bag of egg noodles. At the end, in addition to the dill, I used about 3 tbsp of parsley, poultry seasoning (didn’t have Mrs. Dash), kosher salt & pepper. I also had some left over green onions so I just threw those in at the end. Everyone loved it!
Mmm your super hearty soup sounds wonderful! You’re making me hungry 🙂
This looks wonderful and will make it this weekend. Do we really use 10 cups of water plus 5 cups of broth? That seems like a lot of liquid. I don’t think I have a large enough pot.
You can cut down the water if you like. We are used to making big pots of soup for big families. Just make sure to season to taste. 🙂
This is the very best chicken noodle soup I tasted in my Life,,,So robust and flavorful,,chicken thighs are the best.
Andrew, thank you for such a great review and I’m glad you love it :).
This is my first try at making Chicken Noodle Soup. I am not that great of a cook. But since I am getting married next fall, I figured I better learn how to cook something. I can’t have my hubby cooking every night, can I ? Lol. The recipe was very easy to follow. I can’t wait to give it a try!!
Congratulations on being engaged! I’m so excited for you 🙂
I made this tonight. Hubby and oldest child are both sick. They all loved it. I cut the carrots into heart shapes and used a homemade turkey stock from the freezer. Everyone is looking forward to finishing the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
That’s so sweet that you cut the carrots into hearts :). I hope your family gets better soon! I’m so happy to hear everyone loved it :).
I have made this many times, so delicious! This is on the menu for tonight with you mushroom/chicken casserole 🙂
Sounds like an amazing dinner! Thank you for the awesome review!
This soup is great, we love it although I add kidney beans, too because my kids don’t like chicken (they leave it for the grown ups).