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Short-Order Kitchen

Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup

By Wes Ellis2 min read
A pot of chicken noodle soup with carrots and parsley, with a ladle lifting out noodles.
Recipe card
Servings
4 to 6
Prep
15 minutes
Cook
About 30 minutes, plus pasta
Method
Stovetop
Heat
Medium heat
Difficulty
Easy
Jump to ingredients & directions ↓

Part 3 of the thread Soups, chili and the slow cooker

THE SHORT VERSION4 points
  • A rotisserie chicken skips the slowest part of chicken soup.
  • Simmer the base about 20 minutes.
  • Cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl.
  • Greens and a squeeze of lemon at the end, if you want them.
THE RECIPE · ROTISSERIE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

Ingredients

Soup

Noodles

To finish (optional)

You'll need

  • Large pot or Dutch oven
  • Medium pot for the pasta
  • Colander
  • Knife and cutting board

Directions

Soup

  1. Chop the vegetables and shred the chicken.
  2. Cook the onion and carrots (and celery, if using) in a lightly oiled pot for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the garlic for 1 minute more.
  3. Add the chicken, stock, salt and pepper. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes.
  4. If you're using greens, stir them in for the last 2 minutes, along with a squeeze of lemon.

Noodles

  1. Meanwhile, boil the pasta in a separate pot until al dente. Drain well.
  2. Put pasta in each bowl and ladle the hot soup over it. Finish with herbs.
Notes Keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge. Store the soup and the pasta separately, warm the soup first, then add the pasta. Cooked turkey or sausage works in place of the chicken, and kale holds up better than spinach in leftovers. Roughly 300 calories and 30 g protein per serving, give or take.

wesellis.com/blog/rotisserie-chicken-noodle-soup/

Good chicken noodle soup usually starts with simmering a whole bird for a couple of hours. A store rotisserie chicken has already done that part for you. Pull the meat, chop an onion and some carrots, and you're most of the way to dinner.

Keep the noodles out of the pot

This is the one decision that matters. Pasta sitting in broth keeps soaking it up, and by the next day the soup is mostly noodles and the noodles are mush. Cook them in their own pot, put some in each bowl and ladle the soup over the top. Leftover soup stays soup, and leftover pasta goes in the next bowl.

Tip

chickpea pastaPasta made from chickpea flour instead of wheat. It has more protein than regular pasta and a slightly firmer, nuttier bite.More: Air Fryer Baked Pasta gets soft faster than wheat pasta. Pull it right at al dente, since the hot broth keeps cooking it in the bowl.

A flexible pot

The rotisserie chicken is the shortcut, but it isn't the rule. Cooked turkey or sausage works just as well. A couple of handfuls of kale or spinach at the end and a squeeze of lemon brighten the whole pot. Broken spaghetti is fine if you don't have short pasta.

The same noodles-on-the-side trick fixes leftovers of the Lasagna Soup. For something creamier from the same shelf, try the Buffalo Chicken Soup. And if you've got half a rotisserie chicken left over, the Chicken Pasta Salad is a good home for it.

Note

A carton of stock is usually 4 cups, so you'll want two.

LINKED FROM4 notes

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