Back to Basics : 30 Minute Chicken Noodle Soup

If you believe that delicious, healthy, and homemade soup requires tons of skill and hours upon hours of simmering time on the stove- listen up! You. Are. Wrong.

This soup takes 30 minutes literally from start to finish! Yes, you can make your own stock from scratch, and I highly recommend doing so, but if you aren't feeling well, or have 10 bazillion things on your plate and can't hang out in the kitchen all day-- even if you just really really really want fresh soup but are as impatient as I am and don't want to wait, then this is the recipe for you.  The secret is a plain ol' grocery store rotisserie chicken. Using this guy with a couple of clever tricks explained in the recipe below will impart some radically awesome flavors into the soup without binding you to the stove for hours on end. 

I'm keeping this post short and sweet so you all can get off your heiney's and hightail it to the store and get-yo-hungreh-self a delicious rotisserie chicken. Your tastebuds will love you forever, and you'll be everyone's bestest best friend when they come down with a cold.

30 Minute Chicken Noodle Soup

A Butter Than Toast Original

Serves 5-6

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 medium carrots, chopped 

3 medium celery stalks, trimmed and diced

1 medium white onion, diced

4 cups high quality (organic, low sodium) or home made chicken stock

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder (or 2 cloves crushed)

1 teaspoon dill weed

1 rotisserie chicken

1 cup whole wheat egg noodles

3 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

Crackers, for serving

In a pot that is able to hold at least 3 quarts, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the mirepoix and saute for about 4 minutes, until the onion has softened. 

While the vegetables are in the pot, disassemble the chicken: Remove the skin from the entire bird, save half and throw the other half away. Pull as much meat off of the bones that you can, set aside. Throw away all of the bones and large pieces of fat.

After the onion has softened, add the chicken stock, black pepper, garlic and dill weed. Bring back to a simmer over medium heat and simmer for 5-6 minutes.

Add in the reserved chicken skin, 1 cup of chicken meat and the noodles. Simmer for about 10 minutes until a light foam forms. Skim this foam with a spoon. Remove and discard the skin once the 10 minutes are up. 

Taste now and determine if you need to add any salt or additional pepper. The rotisserie chicken should impart some salt, so you may not want to add any. I added 3 pinches to mine. Stir in the minced parsley.

Serve hot with crackers.

*To keep gluten free or low carb, skip the noodles. It's still delish!