Everyday cooking
Chicken noodle soup with carrots
Chicken breast, ribbon noodles and vegetables make a clear, chunky soup.
- Total time
- 50 min
- Servings / pieces
- 4
- Topic
- Everyday cooking
Gently poach chicken breast in stock, then pull it into strands for this soup. The broth stays lighter than it would under prolonged vigorous boiling. Carrots and celery provide visible vegetable pieces. Cook the noodles separately so their starch does not cloud the whole saucepan and they do not absorb too much broth while waiting. This is an everyday version using prepared stock, rather than a chicken broth simmered from scratch for hours. It makes four bowls. A kitchen thermometer helps check that the chicken is cooked through reliably instead of relying on timing alone.
Method
Step by step
- 01
Start vegetable broth
Peel carrots and slice 5 mm thick. Thinly slice celery and finely dice onion. Bring stock, vegetables and bay leaf to a gentle simmer in the soup saucepan.
- 02
Poach chicken
Lower the chicken breasts into the hot broth. Reduce the heat so the surface moves only gently. Poach for 18–25 minutes depending on thickness.
- 03
Check temperature
Check for at least 74 °C in the thickest part. Lift out the meat and rest briefly. Keep cooking the vegetables if they are not yet tender.
- 04
Boil noodles separately
Cook the noodles separately in salted water according to their packet and drain. Pull the chicken into large strands with two forks. Remove the bay leaf.
- 05
Portion the soup
Return chicken to the hot stock and season with salt, pepper and parsley. Divide noodles among bowls and ladle soup over them for evenly filled servings.
Times are a guide. Your hob, oven and ingredients affect the result; use the cooking cues as well as the clock.
Poach gently
Vigorous boiling can make chicken breast firm and dry. Gently moving stock is enough for cooking. The time depends on fillet thickness, so measure the temperature in the centre. Clean utensils used for raw poultry separately and shred the cooked meat with clean cutlery.
Keep the noodles separate
Separately cooked noodles release less starch into the broth. Mix them in at the end if serving everything immediately. For later individual portions, keep soup and noodles apart so the pasta does not swell excessively. Small soup pasta is an alternative with its own packet timing.
Kitchen questions
One more question?
Can I use cooked chicken?
Yes. Shred it and add at the end, heating it thoroughly in the soup. The vegetables still need their full cooking time.
Will vegetable stock work?
Yes, though it changes the base flavour. The chicken contributes some aroma during gentle poaching. Adjust salt to suit the stock only at the end.
