Before I begin today’s post, I would like to send a big
THANK-YOU to www.graspr.com for adding startcooking.com videos to their fabulous
site and for making me a “Featured Producer” for the week! Thanks graspr!
*****

There are lots of different things you can make for dinner
with leftover (cooked) chicken. My
favorite, particularly on a cold night, is a hot bowl of Chicken Noodle
Soup. This is one of those soups for
which you can find really complicated, time-consuming recipes or - just use this
quick version for beginners!
All of the ingredients you will need for this recipe are
pretty standard food items:
- 2 teaspoons of butter
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 carrot
- 1 stalk of celery
- 4-6 cups of chicken broth
- 1 cup of noodles
- 1 1/2 cups of chicken, cooked and shredded
- Salt and Pepper, to taste

Broth is
the strained liquid left from cooking vegetables, meat, or fish in water. It is often used as a synonym for bullion.
Stock is
basically the same thing but cooked more slowly and has a more intense flavor
than broth.
Bullion cubes or
granules are compressed stock that needs to be dissolved before using.
For the broth, I’m using a product called “Better than
Bullion.” It needs to get dissolved
in hot water before adding it to the soup.
A can or box of chicken broth or bullion cubes or granules could be used here as well.
My grocery store sometimes has what they call a “Soup Green
Mix”. They bundle together everything you might need to make soup.

This mix included a turnip, an onion, a potato, 3 stalks of
celery, 1 giant carrot, 1 leek, 1 parsnip, some dill and some parsley.

If you like all the vegetables in one of
these “starter packs”, great! But I
prefer to pick out my own vegetables.
To make startcooking.com's Chicken Noodle Soup, start by chopping the
onion, and slicing the carrot and celery.

Melt the butter in a big pot, on medium-high heat, and add
the onions, carrots and celery.

Cook these three vegetables until lightly browned - about 5
minutes.
Add the chicken broth and bring the pot to a boil.

Turn the soup down to simmer.
Cover the pot and let the soup cook for about 10-15 minutes.

While the soup is cooking, chop the parsley and shred
the chicken by just pulling it apart with your fingers. You could
cut it into chunks but shredding it gives the soup a nice homemade texture.
(You can buy a roasted chicken at the grocery store or roast
one yourself. Click here to review how to carve a chicken.)

Add the noodles to the pot and simmer the soup, uncovered,
until the noodles are tender. The amount
of time will depend on what size noodle you added to the soup. Check the label on the noodle package for
cooking times.

Taste the soup to see if it needs any salt and pepper. (Different chicken broth brands have
different levels of salt in them, so a taste test is essential to determine how
much salt your soup needs.)

Mix the parsley in the soup or use it to garnish the top.
Dinner’s ready!

P.S.: If you're a soup lover, you'll probably enjoy our French onion soup recipe too!
You can view and print this recipe here.
If you are new to startcooking, or are a regular visitor here, please consider subscribing for free.
Trish Maher | posted on Feb 6, 2008
Graspr is also thrilled to have you as a Producer on our site. Your content is great and has been a meaningful addition to our instructional cooking videos. Thank you for contributing to our success!