ISO TNT Chicken Noodle Soup

[cooking wolfe]

I am sorry if there is a recipe for chicken noodle soup already.
I need a fool proof ( I am the fool )recipe for chicken noodle soup.
I have tried and tried and it ALWAYS turns out bland.
so I am asking you for a good recipe.
thank you very much and have a great day.

 

[Kayelle]

Do you want a quick and easy recipe, or the old fashioned time involved recipe? By bland, do you mean bland chicken flavor, or lacking spices?

Have you made any other soup in the past?

 

[Andy M.]

Tell us how you make it so we can help with how to make it better.

 

[cooking wolfe]

Do you want a quick and easy recipe, or the old fashioned time involved recipe? By bland, do you mean bland chicken flavor, or lacking spices?

Have you made any other soup in the past?

no other soup.

 

[Addie]

I find that if something taste bland, it is usually the lack of salt. I think most of the members will agree with me that if you want to really enhance the chicken flavor of the broth, get yourself a jar of "Better Than Bullion" at your grocery store. Get the one for chicken.

Are you making your soup from scratch? if so, are you using carrots, onions, celery to enhance the flavor of your broth? Are you cooking the whole chicken parts in your broth? Legs as well as the breasts? There is lot of flavor in those whole legs. Are you leaving the skin on the chicken when you simmer it? Lots of flavor under that skin. You can remove it when you debone the meat.

Start a collection of your non-eaten chicken parts and leftovers in the freezer. When roasting a chicken, break up what is leftover and place in a large freezer bag and save for stock. When cutting up a chicken for frying or BBQing, toss that back bone and little pieces of skin in that bag. Then someday when you have extra time on your hands, (I do have a sense of humor.) toss those bits and pieces of chicken into your largest pot along with well scrubbed carrot, onion and celery. A small amount of Better Than Bullion will be a great help also. Simmer and reduce. Strain the pot and save the broth. Toss the remains of the colander into your garbage. Freeze that stock and the next time you want to make Chicken Noodle Soup, use the stock and add your fresh chicken parts along with your veggies. If the stock still taste bland, go to your Better Than Bullion to adjust the flavor of your broth. Add you noodles at the very end. Allow to cook until al dente.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Foolproof and tasty:

Remove the skin from one whole chicken. Cut the meat from the bird. Fry the chicken skins in the soup pot, after lightly salting them. Fry until crisp. Break the chicken bones and throw into the pot to brown. Again add a pinch of salt. While the bones are browning, wash and chop the following into 1 inch chunks; 1 stalk celery, 1 peeled carrot, and one peeled and diced onion.

When the bones have browned, add the veggies and cover with water. Simmer for two hours, to extract all the flavor and goodness from the bones and veggies. While the bones, skin, and veggies are simmering, dice the chicken meat into quarter-inch cubes. Chill the chicken meat in the fridge.

Ok, now strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, to remove the bones and skin. Put the broth back into the pot. Taste it. Does it taste like chicken soup broth? Add moe salt if needed, a little at a time. Add a quarter tsp. of sage, black pepper, and ginger to the broth. Taste it again. Remember, go easy on the salt, and any other herbs & spices you might want to add. And let them cook into the broth for five to ten minutes to let the flavor distribute though the broth before re-tasting. If there isn't enough flavor, you can always add more. Once its in the pot, you can't take it out. Over seasoning is worse than under-seasoning.

Slice more carrot, onion, and celery. Add them to the pot and cook only until the veggies are mostly softened. Add the noodles and simmer for ten more minutes.

Now, as the final step, while the noodles are cooking, place a little cooking oil into a heavy frying pan, get it hot until the oil is fragrant, and saute the chicken until lightly browned. Remove from the heat.

Serve the soup, dividing the chicken into each bowl.

Your family, or friends won't find small bones, fat, or gristle in the soup, only great veggies, a wonderful broth, and very tasty chicken.

Enjoy.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[CWS4322]

It definitely is in the stock. After browning the bones and skin (I do that on the stovetop and then add the bones, veggies, liquid to a roaster and make the stock in the oven), I add water, about 1 T pickling spice, grated fresh ginger, garlic, lemongrass and some grated fennel, a couple of fresh bay leaves and let it simmer in the oven (250F) overnight. Then I strain the bones, skin, and veggies (I pick out the bones and skin and give the veggies to the chickens) from the stock, put it in the fridge and skim the fat off of it. Put the strained stock in the stockpot, add chopped fresh veggies (lighted sauteed celery, carrots, onion). I like to add 1/2 of a grated fennel bulb. Salt the veggies. Simmer until the stock + veggies until the veggies are soft, but not mushy. I like to cook the noodles separate until al dente, add the noodles and chopped up chicken cubes about 5-10 minutes before serving. Add freshly chopped fennel fronds and parsley, salt and pepper to taste. If you'd like, you can also add a few drops of Frank's Hot Sauce. I don't use any canned broth or stock enhancers. It always has a lot of chicken flavor, and is a nice rich colour (the stock).

 

[Dawgluver]

Rotisserie chicken carcasses make excellent stock. Throw one or more in water to cover, along with carrots, celery, and an onion. You can just rough chop the vegetables. Simmer for a long time. I like lots of thyme in my stock. Pick meat off carcass and reserve. Strain and pitch the solids. You can refrigerate the liquid and skim off any remaining fat. Taste for seasoning. Salt, pepper, maybe some chicken boullion. Then add chopped carrot, onion and celery, and noodles and cook till done. Fine egg noodles don't need to be precooked. I like to keep a ziplock of prechopped veggies in the freezer for soup.

 

[GotGarlic]

I like to include a few sprigs of fresh thyme, fresh parsley, a couple of dried bay leaves and a teaspoon of whole peppercorns when making chicken stock, in addition to Chief's recommendation above. CWS's recipe would also be good, but would have more of an Asian flavor with the ginger, garlic, lemongrass and fennel.

 

[Zagut]

I don't really have a recipe but the method is TNT.

Start heating your chicken stock over a medium low heat. (I use homemade but store bought will work.)

As the stock heats cut up the veggies you want to add. I like to use fresh when I can but frozen work just as well. I use what's on hand and sounds good at the moment but my favorites are.

Green beans
Carrots
Corn
Peas
Celery
Kinda/Sorta in proportions listed with green beans being the most.

Try to cut them into sizes that they all will cook to your preferred doneness in an equal amount of time.

I've used different veggies like Okra & Cabbage. They all work it just adds a different twist to your soup.

Add veggies to the stock and adjust heat to bring to a simmer.

If you were smart you'd have already cut up your chicken into aprox. 1/2 inch cubes but if your dumb like me you can now grab the chicken and cut it up while the soup comes to a simmer.

Simmer the veggies until they are a little less done then you'd like them to be.

Now toss in the diced chicken and uncooked noodles. Increase the heat to a high simmer but don't go for a boil. Now is also time to add the spices your in the mood for.
Salt and pepper are a must but if you've used bullion cubes or canned stock be careful with the salt. Addie is right that often times when things taste bland it's due to lack of salt but too much is salt hard fix. Remember you can always add more at the table if deemed necessary.

I like to add just Thyme but sometimes Rosemary and or Tarragon find there way into my soup.


I know this wasn't a recipe but it's how I do my Chicken Noodle Soup.
Hope it helped and good luck with yours.

 

[Kayelle]

Wolf, there's a reason I asked my previous question "Do you want a quick and easy recipe, or the old fashioned time involved recipe?" You didn't answer that. Thanks should be given to our generous members for going into great detail for you with the time involved way to make it, without knowing exactly what you wanted.

I'll give you the short version.

Although I do make my own chicken stock sometimes, there's nothing shameful in using canned chicken stock. Swanson's is my choice but there are others. Some object to the salt content, but salt is flavor, and for me it's seasoned perfectly. I add my boneless skinless chicken chunks to the broth, and maybe some veggies. I boil the noodles separately in water till half done, add them to the pot, and season the pot to taste. Done.

 

[Dawgluver]

Kayelle is spot-on. Costco Kirkland brand and Rachael Ray also make good stock. I've made some dynamite chicken noodle soup with Better Than Boullion, even better that I recently discovered it in low sodium. Canned chicken meat can be used.

 

[Zhizara]

I've been enjoying reading the various methods for preparation of the stock and chicken, but no one so far has mentioned the noodles.

What kinds of noodles are being used.

I like to use crushed Ramen noodles added at the end.

 

[Dawgluver]

I like the fine egg noodles, they cook right in the broth. DH likes the thick Amish-made egg noodles, I usually partially pre-cook those before adding them.

Ramen noodles sound really good too, will have to try that!

 

[Kayelle]

Good idea Z........the noodles.

IMO, there's nothing better than home made noodles in the soup. I can get "Grandma's home made egg noodles" in the freezer section of the grocery, and at Walmart.

 

[Zagut]

What kind of Noodles?

Good question.

I like to use generic egg noodles I get at the store. Aprox 3/8" wide and 1 1/2" long. I have been known to use spaghetti but I break it into small lengths first. What's on hand is the most important factor to me.

 

[Kayelle]

I forgot to add that I always squeeze some fresh lemon juice over my CNS when serving. It adds a fresh wonderful brightness to all the flavors.

 

[cooking wolfe]

Wolf, there's a reason I asked my previous question "Do you want a quick and easy recipe, or the old fashioned time involved recipe?" You didn't answer that. Thanks should be given to our generous members for going into great detail for you with the time involved way to make it, without knowing exactly what you wanted.

I'll give you the short version.

Although I do make my own chicken stock sometimes, there's nothing shameful in using canned chicken stock. Swanson's is my choice but there are others. Some object to the salt content, but salt is flavor, and for me it's seasoned perfectly. I add my boneless skinless chicken chunks to the broth, and maybe some veggies. I boil the noodles separately in water till half done, add them to the pot, and season the pot to taste. Done.

I am sorry that I didn't respond to your post as soon as you posted it
but I was busy with other things.
Now as far all the info I want to thank everyone for their input.
It is very informative.

 

[CWS4322]

I forgot to add that I always squeeze some fresh lemon juice over my CNS when serving. It adds a fresh wonderful brightness to all the flavors.

I too add a bit of lemon juice and some fresh lemon zest right at the end. If you add lemon juice too early, it turns bitter. I do leave out the ginger and lemongrass sometimes. When I started adding pickling spice is when my CNS went from bland to tasty, which is about the same time I started cracking and roasting the bones and making the stock in the oven. Oh, forgot the dash of vinegar to pull calcium out of the bones. Yes, it takes time, but it really made a difference.

 

[Kayelle]

Do you want a quick and easy recipe, or the old fashioned time involved recipe? By bland, do you mean bland chicken flavor, or lacking spices?

Have you made any other soup in the past?

no other soup.

But you answered one question.

Happy soup making!