Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup is the ultimate comfort food! Your favorite soup recipe, but creamy and delicious. This soup recipe is a perfect side, but hearty enough to be dinner!
Happy New Year! After a much needed break, I am back and bursting from the seams with dinner ideas for you.
First up on the list is this amazing Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup recipe. Soup is one of my favorite dinner recipes because it comes together so easily and I can make a big steaming pot of it full of everything a good dinner should have – protein, a vegetable, and sometimes even a carbohydrate.
My kids have grown up on soup, coming to expect it and love it. We love making warm dinner rolls with soup recipes, pulling them hot out of the oven and putting them in the middle of the table. Everyone dips their rolls and slurps their soup as we talk about our day.
This creamy cousin to my Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup is an adaptation of my Crock Pot Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup. It’s a one pot wonder that is perfectly creamy.
HOW TO MAKE CREAMY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
The most important part of this soup is the roux – the mixture of a fat and flour to create a thickening agent. It is what makes this soup so creamy.
- Melt butter in a large stock pot.
- Use the melted butter to sauté your vegetables.
- Add in flour and then very slowly add in chicken stock a little at a time. (Check out the video in my New England Clam Chowder to see this happen in action.)
- Cook the chicken breasts in the chicken stock. Remove and shred.
- Cook the noodles in the stock.
- Return the chicken to the pot, and then stir in heavy cream.
A NOTE ON THE SALT & PEPPER
The salt content in chicken stock varies greatly between brands. Therefore, this recipe is purposefully under-salted.
At the end of the recipe, gradually add more salt (you may need up to a full teaspoon more), until you reach the taste that you like.
Make life easier for yourself. If you use the same brand of stock all the time, make a note of how much salt you had to add for the next time you make this.
MAKE THIS RECIPE EASIER
This from scratch recipe is absolutely delicious, but it does take an hour to make.
To make it easier, reduce the chicken stock to 6 cups and use shredded rotisserie chicken.
Follow the instructions as written, but when it tells you to add the raw chicken breasts, skip to cooking the noodles.
When the noodles are done, stir in the 3 cups of cooked shredded chicken. Then add in the heavy cream.
This will cut about 20 minutes from the cooking time.
STORING
This soup recipe will keep in your refrigerator for three days.
When reheating, reheat only the portion you want to eat. Put it in a small sauce pan over low heat, stirring until warm.
Alternatively, place in a microwave safe bowl, and cover cooking for 3 minutes on half power. Stir and cook for an additional minute on half power if not warm enough.
Only reheat the left overs one time. This is the reason for only pulling out the portion you want to eat.
FREEZING
You can freeze this recipe by allowing it to first cool and then putting it in an airtight container.
Store in the freezer for up to three months.
Either allow it to thaw in the refrigerator and then reheat as listed above or reheat slowly over low heat on the stove top, stirring regularly.
NUTRITION INFORMATION
This soup is hearty enough to have for dinner on its own. It will keep you full all evening.
A bowl (which is one and a half cups) has 430 calories.
If you want to lower the calorie count in this recipe, replace the heavy cream with half and half. It will make the soup just slightly less creamy, but will cut the calories by 100 calories per bowl.
MAKE THIS RECIPE GLUTEN FREE
If you are cooking for someone with a gluten allergy, make this soup with gluten free noodles and gluten free flour.
If you are new to making a roux with gluten free flour, check out this post.
There are so many great varieties of gluten free noodles on the market, and they will work perfect in this soup.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH CREAMY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
As mentioned above, we normally just make some dinner rolls to go with soup, but if you are looking to bulk out dinner a little bit, here are some great sides:
This Arugula Salad is a really simple recipe that would compliment this soup perfectly.
My Brussel Sprouts with Bacon would come together quickly while the soup is cooking.
Finally, my Brown Sugar Roasted Sweet Potatoes are a very popular recipe that come together fast.
OTHER GREAT SOUP RECIPES
If you are like me and just can’t get enough soup, here are some other recipes we make regularly in our house:
If you make this soup or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I love hearing about your family dinners.
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 medium carrots peeled and diced
- 3 celery stalks trimed and diced
- 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste (see note)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper plus more to taste
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cups dry rotini
- 1 1/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- In a large stock pot over medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons butter.
- Add in the diced celery, carrots, onions, and garlic. Then season with salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. Stir regularly, sautéing until the vegetables are tender, about 5 to 7 minutes.add the flour
- Stir in 1/3 cup of all purpose flour, allowing it to fully coat the vegetables.
- Very slowly stir in the chicken stock. Start with just a little at a time, about two tablespoons, only adding more once the last bit is absorbed. It should take at least a minute to stir in all of the stock.
- Once all of the stock is added, bring it to a boil. Then add in the chicken (cutting very big breasts in half to reduce their thickeness). Reduce it to a simmer and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Pull a chicken breast out after about 20 minutes and cut it in half to check it's doneness, being careful not to cook the chicken too long.
- Remove the fully cooked chicken and turn up the heat, bringing the liquid to a boil. Once boiling, add the noodles and cook for the length of time indictated on the noodle box.
- While the noodles are cooking, shred the chicken.
- Once the noodles are done cooking, remove the soup from the heat. Stir in the chicken and the heavy cream. Taste and add more salt and/or pepper to taste.
Notes
Video
Lynda McDuff says
You were so thoughtful to suggest varying ideas for the recipe.
Thank you.
Oh thank you, Lynda! I really do want to make it as easy as people for people.
Karen says
There is flour in this recipe so just using GF noodles would not make this recipe GF. Note that is very important.
Karen, thank you so much for catching this! I can’t believe we overlooked this.
Adamandia Dawn says
What is dry rotini and when do you add it to the soup.
They are a type of pasta and they are added in step 6.
Linda Workman says
Hi Lisa, Instead of spices suggested what about tarragon. I use it in regular chicken noodle soup and it’s delicious.
Hi Linda! Tarragon isn’t my favorite, but if you love it, go for it!