Chicken noodle soup
Enjoy a nourishing bowl of this timeless staple. Bursting with goodness and ideal for chilly days, it’s a brilliant way to prep ahead and feed the crew.
This classic chicken noodle soup is a comforting, family-friendly meal featuring wholesome vegetables and made-from-scratch bone broth to bolster immune health. It’s a wonderful winter warmer that feeds the whole family and is ideal for batch cooking and freezing for busy nights.
Ingredients
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large leek, sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 large carrots, cut into thin rounds
4 celery sticks, diced
1 large zucchini, diced
1.3kg whole raw chicken
250g spaghetti, strands broken in half
60g (1 cup) parsley leaves, chopped
2 cups baby spinach
freshly ground pepper to serve
crusty bread to serve
Method
Step 1
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the leek and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until fragrant and softened.
Step 2
Add the carrots, celery, and zucchini, cooking for 5-6 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.
Step 3
Place the whole chicken in the pot and add enough water to just cover it. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cover with a lid and cook for about 30 minutes, allowing the broth to develop a rich flavour.
Step 4
Carefully remove the chicken from the pot and set aside to cool slightly. Once cool enough to handle, shred the meat from the bones, discarding the skin and bones.
Step 5
Bring the broth back to a boil, add the broken spaghetti, and cook over medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until the pasta is tender.
Step 6
Turn off the heat, then stir in the shredded chicken, chopped parsley and baby spinach, allowing the greens to wilt gently in the hot soup.
Step 7
Scoop the soup into bowls, add a little freshly ground pepper, and serve hot with crusty bread.
Make-ahead note
If you plan to freeze the soup, remove the pot from the stove top at step 4, add the shredded chicken, allow the soup to cool completely, then pour into labelled and dated airtight containers in single or family-sized portions. Leave about 2cm of headspace at the top of the container, as liquids expand when frozen. To serve, thaw the soup (ideally overnight in the fridge), then resume from step 5, adding the broken spaghetti, chopped parsley and baby spinach and reheating.
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Sarah Pound is a nutritionist, author of the cookbook 'Wholesome by Sarah', and a recipe columnist for Good Food.
