Chicken noodle soup

Contributed by Preston Maring, MD


Chicken noodle soup

Most of us have been comforted by some version of chicken noodle soup during our collective lifetimes. I remember well the almost Pavlovian response to chicken noodle soup out of a red and white can served with a grilled cheese sandwich.

Times have changed. Now I make my own chicken stock sometimes. I am still refining my stock skills. The last time I made it, I simmered it with the lid slightly ajar and it cooked down to about 1/2 the volume. It had a rich and wonderful flavor.

Last weekend’s stock was good, but a bit more pedestrian as I kept it covered while it simmered. I plan to simmer the remaining frozen stock when needed to reduce it a bit for the next batch of soup.

Enough about stocks — let’s make some chicken noodle soup.

Servings: 8

Ingredients

  • 10 cups chicken stock
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar snap peas or snow peas
  • 1 1/2 cups sliced white or brown cremini mushrooms
  • 1 1/2 cups thickly sliced carrots
  • 2 cups shredded leftover cooked chicken
  • 8 ounces noodles of a kind and shape that please you
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 tablespoon dried dill or 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh dill
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground pepper to taste
Remember homemade stock used 1 teaspoon salt for 12 quarts of water — accounting for the salt that probably stays with the chicken bones and the veggies used to make the stock, there’s probably about 100mg sodium per cup of stock. That’s a lot less than the 900mg plus sodium in a cup of commercial stock.

Directions

  1. Bring the stock to a simmer in a soup pot. Add the chicken.
  2. When the incipient soup returns to a simmer, add the peas, carrots, and mushrooms and then the noodles or the other way around depending on the kind of noodles. The veggies take about five minutes or less.
  3. Stir in the parsley, dill, and salt. Add pepper and adjust the seasonings to taste.
  4. Serve hot with some kind of a one-dish salad.

Nutrition information (per serving)

  • Calories: 298
  • Total fat: 6 g
  • Saturated fat: 2 g
  • Trans fat: 0 g
  • Cholesterol: 60 mg
  • Sodium: 318 g
  • Total carbohydrate: 36 g
  • Dietary fiber: 3 g
  • Protein: 23 g