Making Chicken Noodle Soup in the Crockpot
Did you know that your humble crockpot could make a delicious pot of soup? While you are off at work or running errands, your soup will be simmering merrily, creating a delicious concoction of goodness. It does not matter if you are accomplished in the kitchen or if you only cook when absolutely necessary… you can make a wonderful chicken noodle soup in your crockpot that will be a vast improvement over canned soup.
If You Use Only the Freshest Ingredients…
If you prefer to use only the freshest ingredients that you can buy, the crockpot can still be your best friend. Before cooking, remove the skin from the chicken. You can use whatever chicken you have on hand… parts, boneless or a whole bird. Place the chicken in the pot and cover it with enough liquid that it is completely submerged. Add a bit of celery, a carrot, and some onion… whatever helps flavor your broth. Put it on high for three to four hours.
When the chicken is cooked thoroughly, remove it and let it cool. Remove the celery, carrot, onion, and anything else you can strain out of the broth. Throw the vegetation away. Once cooled, remove the meat from the bones and cut into bite-size pieces. Add the meat back to the crockpot. Add some more chopped fresh celery, sliced carrots, some crushed garlic, parsley and any other tasty vegetables you may want to add. Sweet potatoes, rutabagas, and parsnips are also nice in this soup.
Leave the crockpot on high and let it simmer a couple more hours before opening the lid. Taste the broth a little less than an hour before you want to serve dinner. Add any salt that is needed. Once it tastes the way you want, add your noodles. You can use egg noodles, linguine, curly noodles, or bowties. If you make homemade noodles, you can add them about 20 minutes before you serve.
Simply Easy Chicken Noodle Soup
If you are not too handy in the kitchen, you can still make a terrific soup. chicken noodle soup recipes like this are so simple even an older child could make it. Use chicken leftover from another meal or get one of those tasty rotisserie chickens at the store.
Put the chicken in the crockpot, bones, and all. Cover with a large can of chicken broth. Simmer the soup on high for three or four hours. This will add the chicken’s flavor to the commercial broth. Remove the chicken and let it cool before deboning it. Cut up the meat before putting it back in the crockpot.
Get a bag of baby carrots at the market and drop them in. No preparation needed! Alternatively, you can cut up your favorite vegetables to add, or use frozen vegetables if you prefer. Leave the soup to cook another couple of hours.
About 30 to 45 minutes before serving, add the noodles of your choice. Perhaps you like the frilly egg noodles, or maybe some ramen noodles. Maybe all you have in the cupboard is a box of old lasagna noodles. If so, just break them into smaller pieces and put them in the soup.
