Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
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So hearty, comforting and soothing (and so easy!). Perfect during the cold weather or fighting off a cold!
Featured Comment
why i love this recipe
- Hands-off cooking
- Big batch soup recipe, great for freezing and planning ahead
- Warm hug-in-a-bowl
- Slurping up all the spaghetti noodles
chicken stock versus chicken broth
Chicken stock
Chicken stock is lower sodium and thicker than broth, and is made from bones and vegetables.
Chicken broth
Chicken broth is made from meat and vegetables. Store-bought broth is often times saltier than store-bought stock.
tips and tricks for success
- Use the right size crockpot. A 6-qt slow cooker is ideal for this recipe. For a smaller slow cooker, simply half the recipe with the same cook time.
- Use good-quality stock. The better quality your stock, the better your soup. Many brands love to pack in the salt so always opt for unsalted or a lower-sodium variety. Homemade stock is even better.
- Let the noodles cook with the soup. The pasta does not have to be pre-cooked prior to adding to the slow cooker. The beauty of this recipe is its ease – no extra pot needed here. Go ahead and throw in your uncooked, broken spaghetti noodles, letting it infuse all the lovely flavors.
- Add freshly squeezed lemon juice. Lemon juice will elevate your chicken noodle soup, adding a fresh, bright flavor and balancing out all the saltiness and richness of the soup.
pro tip
Avoid overcooking your chicken noodle soup.
Even with its gentle heat feature, you can overcook chicken noodle soup in the slow cooker. The chicken will dry out, and the vegetables will turn to mush. Do not leave the slow cooker on longer than necessary.
what to serve with chicken noodle soup
Tools For This Recipe
6-qt slow cooker
Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, there is a ton of flavor in the skin but this will also yield a little more grease and fat into the soup, yielding a more rich soup.
Absolutely! But because dried herbs are often more potent/concentrated than fresh herbs, you need less when using dry. The correct ratio is 1 tablespoon fresh herbs to 1 teaspoon dried herbs.
Don’t have any spaghetti noodles on hand? Wide egg noodles or rotini would both work very well in this recipe!
Here is our favorite homestyle chicken noodle soup recipe made on the stovetop.
100%! This is also another one of our favorites made so easily (and quickly) in the IP.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the noodles (or else they will get mushy) in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop, adding freshly cooked noodles when serving.
Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 3 ribs celery, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 ounces spaghetti, broken into thirds
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Equipment
Instructions
- Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Place chicken into a 6-qt slow cooker.
- Stir in chicken stock, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cover and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours.
- Remove chicken from the slow cooker and shred, using two forks.
- Stir in pasta and chicken into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for an additional 30-40 minutes, or until pasta is tender.
- Stir in lemon juice and parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
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Great chicken soup recipe. I could eat soup every day… and my grandkids think I do but really only once or twice every week, all year long! Chicken noodle is one of my favs. I cheat… use Sam’s rotisserie chicken, whatever is left over from a meal. This makes it super easy, pretty quick because I’m really only cooking the celery, onion, carrots, garlic (you can – but don’t have to – saute these first in a little butter, it does add a depth of flavor). I love the chicken stock base in a jar and it is less expensive than canned or boxed stock. So, the veggies, water +chicken broth, chicken (not cut up and throw in the bones for sure!), thyme, sage, go in together. I always start out wanting to have a nice brothy chicken soup but end up with thicker than I want because the noodles suck up the broth. I wish they made a spaghetti just for soup that didn’t soak up all the broth. Others have suggested cooking the spaghetti separately and I might try that. I am also going to try adding lemon…sounds strange but I’m going to give it a whirl anyway.
Try rinsing the noodles in cold water after you cook them. 🙂
This recipe came at the perfect time! I made it today and it was delicious! Added some green beans cut to 1″ pieces for last 30″. Made homemade dumplings at the end (requested by boyfriend) and we ate like pigs. Yummy!
Whenever I make chx breasts in the crock pot….or make chx soup, the chicken tastes dried out. Does this happen in this recipe and if not, why? Thanks, want to learn what I’m doing wrong!! Thx!
It shouldn’t be a problem here! 🙂
This looks beautiful! I’m wondering how or if there would need to be much altering to the cook time if I chose to add cream of chicken to the recipe? For example, use 4 cups chicken stock & 4 cups cream of chicken soup. Or would I destroy the soup by doing this?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Google 5 ingredient recipes or if that is too many then Google 3 ingredient recipes. You will have lots to choose from!
I can’t wait to make this! it sounds delish and I’m currently trying to fight off a cold. Thank you SO much for including the nutritional value by the way! Holy cow you save me so much time in trying to figure out the calorie count 🙂 but would you happen to know the serving size? Judging by the amount of people this serves, I could guess 1-1.5 cups, but I’m not totally certain. Thanks a bunch!
Yes, that’s correct! 🙂
my daugther is gluten free. have you tried it with GF noodles or do you think I could exchange for rice ? could i add the rice at the end just like the noodle directions? tia
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Can you do this on high heat? If so, how many hours? Thanks!
You can cook on high heat for 3-4 hours.
This is looking an awesome recipe, I must try it in coming days.
How much pasta did you use, I see no mention on the amount.
Got it, missed it at the bottom.
Made this today, simple recipe and pretty good. Next time I will precook the noodles though and add separately. They are way over cooked, even after just 15 minutes.
This soup is wonderful. I used your recipe minus the fresh rosemary, and thyme. I also used a few different types of dry seasonings including chicken bullion. Half onion instead of 1 full one. I’m not a great cook and this was easy and simple to work with thank you.
Followed the recipe perfectly, noodles turned out weird. Like they were overcooked on the outside and not cooked at all on the inside…what did I do wrong? Maybe my crockpot isn’t as good as it should be? Either way, will precook the noodles next time.
Followed this recipe to a T. It was awful. Had the worst flavour. Won’t be making this again.
Omg great recipe A+ i used homade chicken stock that i had frozen soooooo damn good
Just made this soup and it was “damn delicious “. I have to admit…I did not need to go to the store and purchase any of the ingredients, I had everyone of them on hand ” (gasp). The fresh lemon juice adds a nice brightness to the soup. Absolutely wonderful recipe.
Hi! I just made this tonight and everything was delicious except the spaghetti noodles which were bland and chewy and diluted the nice chicken soup. I would recommend you change the recipe to use egg noodles instead. They would cook faster and would absorb the flavor of the chicken soup better.
Made this last week — it was really bland.
Can we use potatoes in place of noodles?
I will try to add carrots in it also.
Yes, absolutely.
I have been cooking this all day and the broth is very clear. Is that okay? Will it change to a cloudier north once the noodles are added?
Broth
Yes, some brands of broth are more clear than others.