This Stove Top Chicken Noodle Soup saves the day without having to defrost the frozen chicken thighs in advance. Most of us parents have been there, you have a sick kid and you want to give them some warm soup to feel better. You don’t have any canned soup on hand, but you have the basic vegetables in your fridge and chicken in the freezer.
What makes this soup so great?
Cooking your own chicken noodle soup is easy and saves a lot of money. If you get all the ingredients on sale, you are only spending about $14.00 for 6 servings of soup. That’s cheaper than buying the fresh soup in the deli section, and about the same cost (or cheaper) than the canned stuff!
Save even more by using chicken bouillon and water instead of chicken broth. Just watch the sodium – you may have to use less than recommended to avoid a salty soup.
Doesn’t this soup take a long time to cook?
It does take about an hour to cook, but you’re doing all the preparation work while it’s cooking. You can prep and cut the vegetables while the frozen chicken thighs boil in the water and chicken stock, then add the vegetables and clean up while the soup finishes cooking. The noodles cook in the soup while you are shredding the chicken.
You are also saving all the time that you would normally use to defrost the chicken in the microwave or the fridge. You are also lowering the risk of bacteria, like salmonella, growing while you defrost the chicken by cooking the chicken from frozen.
Save even more time by keeping all the ingredients on hand in your pantry or fridge for emergencies. In a pinch, you can easily replace any favorite noodle for the egg noodles. If you use rice, vermicelli, or mung bean noodles, make sure to soak them in room temperature water before you add it to the pot to avoid crunchy noodles!
If waiting for noodles to cook is not an option, add leftover or frozen cooked rice and for chicken and rice soup.
Don’t forget to check out these other soup and stew recipes to help you get ready for the cold weather seasons!
Stove Top Chicken Noodle Soup (using frozen chicken)
Equipment
- 1 5-quart pot
- measuring cups and spoons
- 1 large cutting board
- 1 chef's knife
- 1 large plate or large bowl
- 2 large forks
Ingredients
- 2 pounds frozen bone-in chicken thighs (about 3 to 5 thighs)
- 8 cups water divided
- 8 cups chicken stock or chicken broth, divided
- 3 celery ribs chopped
- 2 small carrots peeled and chopped
- 1 small onion or ½ of a large onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp garlic diced, or 1 tbsp granulated garlic powder
- ½ tbsp dried Italian seasoning
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 2 cups egg noodles
- ½ tsp salt (optional)
Instructions
- Place the frozen chicken thighs, 8 cups of water, and 4 cups of chicken stock into the pot on high heat. Bring to a boil; this takes about 10 to 15 minutes depending on the type of pot and stove you have.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to medium heat and cover. Cook for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, take off the cover of the pot. Skim off any scum that forms (the white foamy stuff floating on the top). Add the celery, carrots, onions, garlic or granulated garlic, dried Italian seasoning, ground black pepper, and the remaining 4 cups of chicken stock. Stir, raise heat back to high and bring to a boil (takes about 2 minutes).
- Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.
- Take off the lid of the pot and remove the chicken and set aside on a large plate or bowl. Add the egg noodles and cook for the length of time recommended on the package instructions.
- While the noodles are cooking, remove the chicken and skin off the bones. Discard the bones and skin and shred the chicken with 2 large forks.
- Add the shredded chicken to the pot. Taste the soup and, if needed, add up to ½ tsp additional salt.
