Food Cooking Tips & Techniques 5 Ways to Upgrade Your Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe, According to Professional Chefs Open that spice cabinet! By Phoebe Fry Published on December 8, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email In This Article View All In This Article Start With Chicken Stock Keep Things Seasonal Spice It Up Make It Your Own Add Acid Photo: travellinglight/Getty Images It’s no secret that chicken noodle soup is one of the most comforting, warming meals around, and we have the science to prove it! When you’re feeling under the weather, there’s nothing like a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup to turn your day around. You can find variations of chicken noodle soup worldwide; broth, chicken, and pasta is a classic, universal combination. We consulted three chicken noodle soup devotees (who also happen to be professional chefs) for their favorite ways to upgrade the beloved dish. Keep reading for five pro tips to elevate your homemade chicken noodle soup recipe. 12 Winter Soups You Can Make With 10 Ingredients or Less Start With Chicken Stock Ali Slagle, recipe developer and author of I Dream of Dinner, recommends cooking chicken in chicken stock to jumpstart the process of making a rich, chicken-y base. Find a store-bought chicken stock that you like (Slagle prefers Swanson), and use that instead of—or in addition to—water when cooking your chicken to amp up the broth’s flavor. “This is especially worthwhile if you’re making soup with boneless, skinless chicken, since the bones and skin contribute so much of the soup’s flavor,” Slagle notes. Keep Things Seasonal The vegetables in a classic chicken noodle soup are typically limited to onions, carrots, and celery, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Kale Me Maybe food and recipe blogger Carina Wolff likes to switch up the vegetables depending on the season, like adding “squash in the winter” and “tomatoes in the summer.” With this approach, you’ll get to use the best seasonal produce, and you’ll never get bored of chicken noodle soup. Win-win! 14 Winter Dinner Ideas That Will Keep You Cozy All Season Long Spice It Up Wolff recommends jazzing up chicken noodle soup with “interesting toppings, like spices, sauces, or drizzles.” For example, harissa—a North African chili paste—gives the broth complexity and heat. The Middle Eastern seasoning blend za’atar would also be a nice touch, adding rich, earthy character to the soup. Make It Your Own Leetal Arazi, a trained chef and co-founder of New York Shuk, knows her way around chicken noodle soup. Inspired by her roots, she likes to give it a Middle Eastern twist, which often means adding hawaij—a Yemeni spice blend with turmeric—which gives the soup a gorgeous golden hue. Follow Arazi’s lead, and feel free to personalize your chicken noodle soup to suit your palate. 5 Spices You're Probably Not Using But Should Be, According to Professional Chefs Add Acid Arazi likes adding a touch of preserved lemon paste to her chicken noodle soup, which she says adds “zesty flavor” as well as a punch of umami. Alternatively, just squeeze some lemon juice into your soup, which will brighten everything up and round out the flavors. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit