Author: There’s nothing more comforting than a big pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. It’s cozy, nourishing, and easy to stretch across several meals. This chicken soup is simple, customizable, and delicious whether you’re eating it fresh, freezing portions for later, or canning the base for shelf-stable storage!
Originally shared in 2015, this recipe has been updated to include the optional canning steps as well!
Chicken soup is good for your health, your soul, and your pocketbook. With just one whole chicken, we have enough food for 10 meals! Since we try to keep our food budget under $400 a month while keeping everything healthy and organic, I really have to be careful about what I’m making every meal. I’m happy to say that this delicious chicken soup helps me hit all my budget and nutrition goals with ease!
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
This chicken soup recipe can be made and eaten right away or canned for later. A simple recipe, but delicious nonetheless. Only 4 ingredients (plus a few seasonings) work together in perfect harmony to create something so soul-satisfying that you won’t even realize you’re healing your gut at the same time!
This chicken soup is best made a day in advance so the flavors can really meld together. However, it is still delicious fresh!
I like to keep a dozen or so jars of this delicious chicken soup sitting on my pantry shelves (along with a few other things, like potatoes, apple butter, and strawberry jam).
Why We Love This Recipe
- Soothing and Nourishing – Bone broth, gentle veggies, and tender chicken are comfort food at its best.
- Budget-Friendly – One whole chicken makes enough meat and broth for 10 servings!
- Flexible – The noodles can be einkorn, gluten-free, traditional, or left out altogether!
- Easy to Can – If you want to preserve it for later, the soup base (without noodles) pressure cans beautifully.
Ingredients
This recipe uses simple, whole ingredients that come together for deep flavor and satisfying texture. The full measurements for each can be found at the the of the post on the printable recipe card!
- Cooked Chicken – Shredded or diced. We usually cook a whole chicken and use the meat from that.
- Chicken Bone Broth – The richer, the better! Homemade bone broth adds incredible depth of flavor and boosts the nutrition.
- Carrots – Peeled and sliced into coins. Sweet and classic.
- Onion – We prefer yellow onions for their mild flavor, but any kind will work.
- Celery – A classic flavor in chicken noodle soup! Don’t skip if you can help it.
- Seasoning – Just salt, pepper, and parsley for a clean flavor that lets the broth shine.
- Noodles – Add your favorite gluten-free pasta, einkorn noodles, or traditional pasta. Omit completely for grain-free or low-carb versions.
How to Make Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
This recipe makes a big pot (about 8–10 hearty servings), and it gets better as it rests in the fridge. We often double it and freeze or can the extra!
- Prep – Make sure your cooked chicken is shredded or chopped. Dice your carrots, celery, and onions. If you haven’t already made bone broth, you can use pre-made, homemade, or frozen bone broth (just make sure it’s fully thawed before using).
- Simmer – Pour in your bone broth and bring the mixture to a low boil. Add the onions, celery, and carrots. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15–20 minutes, or until carrots are tender.
- Add – Add the shredded chicken and simmer while you cook the noodles.
- Boil – Cook your noodles in a separate pot or water until they are the desired texture (about 10–12 minutes, depending on type). Drain the pasta and set aside.
- Season – Season the soup with salt, pepper, and garlic to taste.
- Serve – Remove from heat and ladle the soup into bowls, add pasta last and serve hot. Enjoy with fresh homemade baguettes or on its own!
How to Can This Chicken Soup (Optional)
If you’d like to pressure can this recipe for shelf-stable storage, it works beautifully with a few tweaks:
- Leave out the noodles. These should not be canned at all.
- Can the broth, meat, and vegetables as the base, then add noodles when reheating after opening.
To Can the Soup Base:
- Before canning, place the fresh bone broth in the fridge. You’ll need to let it cool until the fat rises to the top. If you can it with all the fat still in the bone broth, the fat might creep up the sides and break the seal. And no one wants that!
- Once the fat has solidified on the top, scoop it out and either save it for a different dish or throw it away. Place bone broth back on the stove and return to slow boil.
- Chop carrots and celery until you have 1 cup of each, chop 2 small-medium onions, and mix the veggies in a bowl or measuring cup. Chop chicken into small pieces and keep it separate from the veggies.
- Clean and heat jars in a warm water bath, or in the dishwasher. Fill while warm.
- Add 1 cup of veggies and 1 cup of chicken to each jar until all is gone.
- Pour the hot broth over the meat and veggies until the jar is full. Leave a 1-inch headspace.
- Adjust new 2-piece lids to finger-tightness on each jar and place them in a pressure canner.
- Process at 10lbs pressure for 90 minutes.
- Once jars have finished processing, and they are ready to remove from the canner, allow jars to cool undisturbed for 12–24 hours. Store sealed jars in a cool, dark place.
Even More Shelf-Stable Meal Ideas
If you enjoyed this homemade chicken noodle soup, here are a few more canning ideas for shelf-stable recipes!
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
If Not Making Broth
- 6 cups cooked chicken
- 14 cups chicken broth
For Chicken Noodle Soup:
- 2 medium yellow onions diced
- 2 cups celery diced
- 2 cups carrots diced
- 16 oz dried pasta
If Canning
Instructions
To Make Broth (optional):
- Bake the chicken in the oven until the internal temperature reaches at least 165°. Be sure to test multiple areas to make sure the reading is accurate!
- Once the chicken is fully cooked, strip as much meat off the bones as you can. Don't worry about keeping the meat "pretty" because you will just cut it up for the soup anyway.
- Store the meat in the fridge until the bone broth is finished.
- In a large stock pot, combine at least 1.5 gallons of filtered water and all the chicken bones. You don’t have to break these up in any way, just add the whole carcass to the water.
- Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium and maintain a low roll for 6-8 hours. As the bone broth boils, scrape off any foam you see develop on the top. This can cause the bone broth to be bitter and taste “dirty”.
- Strain finished bone broth to remove bones. Pour the bone broth back into the large pot.
To Make Chicken Noodle Soup
- Make sure your cooked chicken is shredded or chopped. Dice your carrots, celery, and onions. If you haven’t already made bone broth, you can use pre-made, homemade, or frozen bone broth (just make sure it’s fully thawed before using).
- Pour in your bone broth and bring the mixture to a low boil. Add the onions, celery, and carrots. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15–20 minutes, or until carrots are tender.
- Add the shredded chicken and simmer while you cook the noodles.
- Cook your noodles in a separate pot or water until they are the desired texture (about 10–12 minutes, depending on type). Drain the pasta and set aside.
- Season the soup with salt, pepper, and garlic to taste.
- Remove from heat and ladle the soup into bowls, add pasta last and serve hot. Enjoy with fresh homemade baguettes or on its own!
To Can the Chicken Soup Base
- Now that you have your bones out of the broth, place the bone broth in the fridge. You’ll need to let it cool until the fat rises to the top.
- If you can it with all the fat still in the bone broth the fat might creep up the sides and break the seal. And no one wants that!
- Once the fat has solidified on the top, scoop it out and either save it for a different dish, or throw it away. Place bone broth back on the stove and return to slow boil.
- Chop carrots, celery, and onions. Mix the veggies in a bowl or measuring cup. Chop chicken into small pieces and keep separate from the veggies.
- Clean and heat jars in a warm water bath, or in the dishwasher. Fill while warm.
- Add 1 cup of veggies and 1 cup of chicken to each jar until all is gone.
- Pour the hot broth over the meat and veggies until the jar is full. Leave a 1-inch headspace.
- Adjust new 2-piece lids to finger-tightness on each jar and place them in a pressure canner.
- Process at 10lbs pressure for 90 minutes.
- Once jars have finished processing, and they are ready to remove from the canner, allow jars to cool undisturbed for 12–24 hours. Store sealed jars in a cool, dark place.
Notes
- Leave out the noodles. These should not be canned at all.
- Can the broth, meat, and vegetables as the base, then add noodles when reheating after opening.
Nutrition
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Thanks for sharing your recipe! For the canning part, it says to add one cup of carrots and one cup of celery to each jar, but the overall recipe says it takes a cup of each. Please clarify.
Hi! The canning part says to add “1 cup of veggies to each jar” – by that I mean the mixed vegetables that you created in step 4. Not one cup of EACH vegetable, just one cup of mixed vegetables. I hope that makes sense! :-)
Confused on the vegetable amounts . Recipe calls for 1 cup carrots and 1 cup celery and 2 small onions. That is 3 cups total. How to you make a batch of 6 to 8 qts by adding 1 cup of mixed vegetables to each jar. You won’t have enough vegetables to do that many jars
Hi Gerald, thanks for your question! It always shakes out just fine for me. You’re not packing the cup with veggies, so it’s a “cup”. It’s not like packed brown sugar or anything, but just a decent cup full. I did change the jars listed, because it usually makes 4 or 5 quarts of finished soup, and the extra jars are for any left over broth. Sorry for the confusion and I have updated the recipe to reflect that. :-)