Recipe: Mom’s Chicken Noodle Soup with Vegetables

I will always remember the welcoming, warm scent of my mom’s kitchen in New York when she had been cooking her delicious chicken noodle soup. She made it a variety of ways, switching up ingredients to keep things interesting. It’s brothy and tasty, filled with colourful, healthy vegetables and comforting noodles. It’s extra good when it’s made with freshly baked bread, of course.

Ingredients (US measurement): 

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 1/2 quarts water (you may want to add more depending on how brothy you like your soup and how many veggies you add)
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• Pepper to taste
• 4 carrots, cut into chunks
• 3 ribs celery, cut into chunks
• 1 small onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 can peas, drained
• 1 bag spinach
• Handful of fresh parsley
• 1 cup noodles, cooked

First, tackle the chicken. You’ll need to clean and quarter it. This was my first time dealing with a whole chicken. If it’s yours, here’s a useful video.

Find a large pan and bring water, salt and pepper to a boil. Add your chicken and return to a boil, skimming off any foam. While it’s boiling, chop up all of your veggies so they’re ready to go in once the boil has returned.

Add your carrots, celery, onions and garlic. Simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.

Next, add your parsley, peas and spinach and simmer for 15 more minutes.

Skim off any excess fat from the broth with a slotted spoon. Remove the parsley and discard. Stir in your cooked noodles.

For each serving, remove the skin from a piece of chicken and place in soup bowl. Add veggies and noodles and broth.

Since this is a childhood food for me, and I didn’t have the time to make fresh bread the same day, I added some toast soldiers!

There should be plenty left to take to work for lunch the next day.

Enjoy!