Friday, February 17, 2017

“One-Step” Chicken Noodle Soup – For When You’re Sick of Following Recipes

Or, just plain sick. Yes, I’m a little under the weather, but as they say, the show must go on, and that “show” ended up being me just throwing all my chicken noodle soup ingredients into a pot, crossing my fingers, and hoping for the best.

And while I know this method didn’t produce “the best” chicken noodle soup, I was amazed at how really good it was, and how remarkably close it was to a certain canned variety. I can’t give brand names, but it rhymes with Frogresso.

If you do decide to use this one-step approach, there are a few things you need to pay attention to. You’ll want to use a pasta or noodle that’s at least a large as the fusilli I used so it doesn’t completely break down; as well as, to be sure to dice/slice your veggies nice and thin, so they get tender relatively quickly.

I just used a knife, but I bet you have one of those vegetable slicers somewhere, and this would be the perfect operation to use it for. Above and beyond that, feel free to add in other “medicinal” ingredients, such as garlic, ginger, and hot chilies. But whether you embellish or not, or you’re sick, or feeling just fine, I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for 4 portions:
1 pound raw or cooked chicken meat (I used 2 cubed-up breasts)
1/2 cup dried fusilli pasta (corkscrew pasta)
1/3 finely minced onions
1 carrot, very thinly sliced
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
salt, freshly ground black pepper, and cayenne to taste
2 teaspoons ketchup
1 fresh thyme sprig, or pinch of dried thyme, optional
4 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons freshly chopped Italian parsley

20 comments:

Bethany said...

Thank you for the basic soup recipe. Hope you feel better soon.

Unknown said...

Great idea and perfect for the ailing, but you forgot garlic...the one ingredient that matters most for the cold!

Unknown said...

I made chicken soup with the spices from the Peruvian turkey rub, it was the best we ever made.
Flu hit pretty hard here last week.

Jay M. said...

Nice! I like the addition of the ketchup. Weird, but effective. I always throw in a couple diced plum tomatoes with the seeds and junk removed, and plenty of garlic.

How do you feel about the white meat vs. thighs?

Unknown said...

Hey Chef, that looks really good. My wife has a cold, I'm gonna make some for her today.

FleshwoundRN said...

Hi! Any suggestions for what I can substitute for onion? I am allergic (as in deathly) and am trying to find what to replace the flavor with...and no, I cannot use dehydrated onion. Tried, and still landed in the ER.

Danbs1217 said...

Thanks for a Super easy recipe. I think this should may be my didn't plan ahead after work soup go to. Hope you are feeling better.

Food Junkie said...

Easy and delicious. I like the veggies done just in the broth like this as this is the sort of home made chicken soup I was served as a kid. Typically it would have leftover chicken but it is nice to know it works with uncooked meat as well.

Alicia said...

It sounds like it would be delicious even if it doesn't look that appetizing. Anything that is one step is ok in my book! Hope you get better soon.

Unknown said...

Feel better soon, Chef John!

Unknown said...

Feel better soon, Chef John!

Maggiesara said...

I just wanted to tell you how very much I like your videos. You provide terrific information, your instructions are clear, the food is really appealing, and -- maybe most important -- you're pleasand and relaxed and intelligent, and make me feel like I'm in the kitchen with a pal. Thanks so much for making them. -- Maggie

Maggiesara said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
LynnieBNC said...

THIS IS HILARIOUS!

Unknown said...

Thank you Chef John! Sickness has been rearing its ugly head here too. I added turmeric as well for added healthy stuff :)

Dave said...

Chef Ramsey suggests resting poultry for a time equal to roasting it. Any thoughts on this?

Maggiesara said...

That strikes me as too long by about 300%. I want to rest big honking joints of meat -- a pork shoulder roast, say -- for quite a while, but the individual bits of a chicken, none of them are actually that dense. So I think, among other things, it will just cool down too much. Yes, you can tent it with foil, but then you're essentially steaming it, and you lose much of the crispiness in the skin. And in truth, assuming I'm roasting the chix for about 1.5 hours....heck, I wouldn't want to rest an enormous pork roast for that long. In short, this instruction sounds nuts, to me.

Unknown said...

Question about the broth: in all these recipes, when you talk about broth, are we talking about home made broth?
Or sometimes we can cut some corner and what's better then? Stock cubes, liquid, stock pots, anything else?
Thanks!

Le Mis said...

Oh, my goodness!! HOW did it take me this long to find Chef John??!! I so enjoyed your videos on several types of bread. Now that I've found you, i'm never letting go!

It's such a pleasure to listen to you instruct as well as watch you work.

Thank you so much. After 50 years of married cooking, you are like a breath of spring.

Jackie Patti said...

I once inherited a whole bunch of canned chicken and corn, and I usually have several gallons of chicken and/or turkey broth in the freezer, so I made gobs of soup over the course of several months.

My homemade broth is entirely unseasoned so I can decide how I want it seasoned when I cook, as it's used in many different ways. Sometimes, I like Parmesan instead of salt on soup. Other times, I just nuke a mug of broth and top with coconut milk and salt. But the broth itself tends to just be plain so I can do *whatever* with it later.

Basically, I fry up the onions, carrots and celery first, then a bit of garlic before I throw in the broth and chicken and *after* the veggies are cooked, added a can of corn (it's a PA thing to put corn in soup) and rice or egg noodles and cook until the starch is done, then add parsley.

And no, it's not homemade soup, but actually it's way *better* than canned stuff when you're sick, cause that stuff is too salty and burns a sore throat.