Sunday, May 22, 2011

How to Make a Healthy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

I decided to make my own recipe for chicken noodle soup after I read the nutritional information on the back of a Campbell's soup can and decided that 890mg of salt per 1/2 cup of condensed soup is just too high for my taste. Essentially the ingredients are the same, but the taste and nutrition is so much better!

1. Boil about 5 quarts of water in a large pot and add in the chicken bouillon.

 
2. You can add in the chicken either frozen or defrosted. Just make sure that you remove the skin off it before you cut it up. I usually just put it in frozen and then remove the skin just prior to shredding and removing it from the bone, then I discard the skin and bone and return the chicken to the pot.
3. I have a food processor that I use to finely chop my vegetables, but you can choose to cut your veggies any size you like for desired heartiness. Add in the carrots, celery, and onion to the boiling water.
 
 
4. Once your vegetables are mostly tender then you may add your noodles. I prefer smaller noodles with this soup so I can fit more on my spoon at once; this is why I chose the medium noodles. Also try for a noodle that is made 'all natural' so you know that the noodles haven't been chemically treated.

5. Serve and enjoy. I calculated my recipe tonight and there was less than 300 calories per bowl and only about 35g of salt in the whole pot. The chicken and vegetables made up most of the flavor by themselves!