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Chicken Noodle Egg Drop Soup

This chicken noodle egg drop soup is the ultimate comfort food! Homemade stock and satisfying ingredients provide the best nourishment and comfort!
5 from 18 votes
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Ingredients

Stock

  • 1 3 to 4 pound whole chicken
  • 4 whole carrots
  • 3 celery stalks
  • 1 onion, cut in half
  • 1 head of garlic, top sliced off
  • 1 to 2 bay leaves
  • a handful of fresh herbs, including thyme, sage, parsley
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon whole peppercorns

Soup

Instructions 

Stock

  • To make the stock, place the whole chicken, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaves, herbs, salt and pepper in a large stock pot. Cover the ingredients with water – enough to cover them by an inch or so. I usually use about 4 quarts (a gallon!) of water total and I find that makes for a very flavorful stock!
  • Bring the stock to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer and cover it. I tend to leave the lid very slightly cracked – enough so the stock doesn’t boil over, but not enough that the liquid evaporates. As you’re cooking the stock, you can skin the foam off the top. I let my stock simmer for 2 to 3 hours.
  • When it’s finished, I discard the vegetables and herbs. I place the chicken on a large platter to cool and then pull the meat from the chicken.
  • I like to double strain the chicken stock. I place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl or measuring cup and strain the stock once. This catches any loose herbs, vegetables or pieces of chicken. I then strain it one more time the same way.
  • I like to use the chicken from the whole bird that I use to make the stock. I always see conflicting information about this (some people think it’s flavorless, others think it’s dry, etc), but I think it works great and we love it. If you’d like to discard the entire chicken and meat, you can always use a store bought rotisserie chicken or cook other chicken breasts to get the meat for your soup.

Soup

  • To make the soup, heat the same stock pot over medium heat. Add the butter and once it’s melted, add the onions, carrots and celery with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables soften, about 6 to 8 minutes.
  • Stir the chicken into the vegetables. Add the stock back into the pot. I usually add it all back in and this makes a large portion of chicken noodle soup! Depending on how many people you are feeding, you can take the soup and freeze it at this point, before adding the noodles. The noodles will soak up the liquid, so you want to add those in shortly before serving.
  • Bring the mixture to a simmer. If you like a noodle heavy soup, you can go with a full 12 ounces. If you want a more brothy soup, start with 8 ounces. Add the noodles and within 15 minutes, the soup should be ready to serve. Squeeze in the lemon juice. Taste the soup and season it additionally with salt and pepper if desired.
  • To serve bowls of the egg drop soup, take 1 to 2 eggs (your preference!) and lightly beat them in small bowl of measuring cup. Ladle the hot soup into bowls (this is the key! You want it to be hot!) and immediately drizzle in the beaten egg in a slow stream. Use your spoon to slowly swirl the soup back and forth.
  • You can garnish the soup with fresh parsley or cilantro, as well as a drop of toasted sesame oil if you wish!

Notes

Note

This soup reheats so well, even if you do add the noodles ahead of time. I suggest adding to a saucepan over low heat, adding in enough extra water or stock to cover the soup by an inch and reheat until simmering.
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