I’m a Food Editor and This Is My Favorite Soup Recipe

I grew up on Long Island, where the winters are long and seemingly endless (and occasionally brutal). I live in Florida now, and though the winters aren’t as bad, I still crave a hot bowl of homemade soup as soon as the temperature dips below 70 degrees. Is there anything better than tucking into a hot bowl of soup on a cold day? And my go-to recipe to make is EatingWell’s Classic Chicken Soup.

Aptly named, this comforting dish is a quintessential chicken noodle soup recipe. I grew up eating a lot of canned chicken noodle soup, but after making it from scratch for the first time last winter I’ve never looked back. For the longest time, I thought making soup from scratch was going to be difficult or fussy. I’ve since learned that with store-bought shortcuts like chicken broth, it can come together in less than an hour and is essentially throwing a bunch of ingredients into a pot and simmering away. Plus, making soup at home makes your kitchen smell incredible.

The recipe calls for 8 cups of low-sodium chicken broth, or two 32-ounce cartons of chicken broth, and my go-to move is to stock up on chicken broth when my local grocery store offers a BOGO deal. The recipe also calls for celery, carrots and peas, but I like to also throw in whatever vegetables I have on hand from my weekly visit to the Sunday farmers’ market or any I pick up on sale at the supermarket—mushrooms, zucchini, bok choy, spinach and kale are all favorites. 

To make this recipe, you sauté some chopped onion and garlic in olive oil, just until softened. Then you add in the fresh thyme and bay leaves, allowing their flavors to infuse into the oil before adding in the broth and chicken. Simmering the chicken in store-bought chicken broth and adding fresh herbs creates a delicious depth of flavor. The recipe calls for bone-in chicken breasts, but I use boneless, skinless chicken thighs so that I don’t have to deal with the bones (though they do impart a lot of flavor). 

While the chicken simmers away, I cook the egg noodles according to the package instructions and chop up my veggies into bite-size pieces. Once the chicken is done cooking, I remove it from the pot and place the pieces in a bowl to shred using two forks. Then vegetables go into the pot: I add in the heartier veggies first, like carrots and celery, then add in more delicate greens, like peas and spinach, closer to the end of the cook time. 

I’ll pluck out a piece of carrot and celery to determine whether or not they’re tender, and once they are I’ll stir in the shredded chicken, some Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning (instead of salt and pepper) and cooked egg noodles. The fresh parsley goes in after taking the pot of soup off the heat (or can be directly sprinkled over each bowl of soup).

The Classic Chicken Soup recipe makes eight servings, but since I tend to add so many extra vegetables, it usually makes more—which means my husband and I can enjoy it for lunch and dinner for several days afterward. If you’re planning on having leftovers, you can store the pasta separately to prevent it from getting soggy (though I don’t and it’s fine). This soup reheats well in the microwave, and I love that we have a healthy meal that’s ready to eat in just a minute or two. The last time I made this soup, we had some last-minute guests for dinner, and it was so easy to heat up the leftovers and serve it with some toasted bread and a salad. 

Even though it’s currently 80 degrees here in Florida, I’ve already made this recipe twice this fall when we had some slightly cooler weather. I’m looking forward to making it again once the cold is here to stay for more than a few days.