Easy 30-Minute Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup — Why have regular chicken noodle soup when you can have CREAMY instead? Pure comfort food at its finest! Ready in 30 minutes, an instant family favorite, and PERFECT for chilly weather!!
Table of Contents
- Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup Ingredients
- How to Make Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
- Recipe FAQs
- What to Serve with Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
- Thick and Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
- More Easy Chicken Soup Recipes:
Thick & Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
This creamy chicken noodle soup is hearty, comforting, full of rich flavors, and will be an instant family favorite.
It’s ready in 30 minutes, making it perfect for busy weeknights, especially during cold weather.
This is also a wonderful, quick meal to make when friends and family come over during the holidays. It’s a soup everyone is sure to love, but it can be whipped up in no time. Because who wants to be cooped up in the kitchen when company is over?
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup Ingredients
To make this homemade chicken soup recipe, you’ll need:
- Olive oil
- Carrots
- Celery
- Vidalia onion
- Garlic
- Flour
- Butter
- Whole milk
- Chicken broth
- Wide egg noodles
- Cooked shredded chicken
- Thyme
- Oregano
- Salt and pepper
- Heavy cream
- Parsley
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
This is a quick and easy homemade creamy chicken noodle soup recipe. Below is a rough overview of the cooking process, but exact instructions can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- To make this hearty chicken noodle soup, first sauté the carrots, celery, and onion in an oiled Dutch oven until softened.
- Then, add the garlic and cook for another minute.
- Add flour and a bit of butter. The flour helps add a bit of thickness to the finished soup.
- Add the milk, broth, noodles, chicken herbs, bring to a boil, and allow the soup to boil until the noodles are tender, about 10 minutes.
- Add the heavy cream, salt the soup to taste, and serve up a bowl of pure comfort immediately.
Recipe FAQs
Can I Omit the Heavy Cream?
I used 1 1/2 cups whole milk and added 1 cup of heavy cream at the end. I was only going to use 1/2 cup heavy cream but decided I wanted it extra thick and creamy and a half cup just wasn’t quite doing the trick. Twist my arm, more heavy cream.
You could skip the heavy cream at the end, knowing the soup will definitely not be as creamy, rich, or as satisfying. The broth will be noticeably thinner and more translucent.
If you’re looking for a classic chicken noodle soup recipe that does not use heavy cream, I suggest following my recipe for 30-minute chicken noodle soup.
What Type of Milk Should I Use?
I recommend using a full fat milk (like whole milk) rather than skim, 1, or 2% milk. It will provide a better, richer taste, a creamier texture, and the soup will be less likely to ‘break’ upon reheating
Can I Make This Soup Dairy-Free?
If you have a dairy allergy, feel free to experiment with the fattiest, richest non-dairy milk you enjoy. For me, that would be cashew milk.Almond milk would be my second choice.
Soy milk seems like it would be too thin and coconut milk would definitely not be a flavor profile I’d pair with this homemade chicken noodle soup from scratch.
I have not tried a dairy-free milk but if you do, please comment and let me know how it goes. It will benefit everyone who reads the comments, too.
What type of chicken should I use?
If you have leftover chicken, by all means shred it or dice it, and go with that.You can also prepare your own chicken just for the soup and then shred it. But that will defeat the easy, 30-minute aspect.
I highly recommend a store-bought rotisserie chicken for this soup. It’s definitely the fastest, easiest, and most convenient way to go.
I find that aside from a bit of nibbling, one average-sized rotisserie chicken (they seem smaller these days in my grocery stores than I remember from even five years ago) is the perfect amount of chicken for the creamy chicken noodle soup.
Storage & Reheating Instructions
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
You will want to reheat leftover soup very gently in the microwave on 50% power until it’s as warm as desired. Or you can do it on the stove over gentle heat.
However, any time you are reheating anything with milk/cream in it, there is the risk of it ‘breaking’ or separating. This is much less likely with fattier milks such as whole milk and heavy cream. If you’re using skim, 1 or 2%, there is a much greater risk it can ‘break’ which is why I advise using whole milk, and the heavy cream is just extra insurance.
What to Serve with Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
We love dipping warm bread rolls into this thick and creamy chicken noodle soup. If I have the time and desire, I’ll also toss together a simple green side salad to go with the soup.
Additional side dish suggestions for this creamy soup are:
- House Salad
- Apple and Pear Salad
- Angel Biscuits
- Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls
- Honey Whole Wheat Bread
- Parker House Rolls
- No-Knead Dinner Rolls
Pin This Recipe
4.64 from 52 votes
Thick and Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
By Averie Sunshine
Why have regular chicken noodle soup when you can have CREAMY instead? Pure comfort food at its finest! Ready in 30 minutes, an instant family favorite, and PERFECT for chilly weather!!
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes minutes
Servings: 10
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 heaping cup carrots, peeled and sliced thin (about 1 1/2 large carrots)
- 1 heaping cup celery, sliced thin (about 2 large stalks)
- 1 medium sweet Vidalia onion, diced small
- 2 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 64 ounces 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 ½ cups whole milk, read blog post about milk/cream substitutions
- 12 ounces wide egg noodles, or your favorite noodles or pasta
- 2 to 3 cups shredded cooked chicken, white or dark meat, turkey may be substituted; use a store bought rotisserie chicken to save time
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ to 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- ½ to 1 cup heavy cream, optional but highly recommended (read blog post about milk substitutions)
- salt, to taste (1 to 2 tablespoons likely but add slowly and to taste)
- 2 to 4 tablespoons finely minced fresh parsley, optional and to taste
Instructions
To a very large Dutch oven or stockpot, add the oil, carrots, celery, onion, and sauté over medium-high heat for about 7 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften; stir intermittently.
Add the garlic and sauté for another 1 minute, or until fragrant; stirring constantly.
Evenly sprinkle the flour over the vegetables, add the butter, and stir constantly until the butter melts, about 1 minute.
Add the broth, milk, egg noodles, cooked chicken, thyme, oregano, pepper, and bring to a boil. Allow mixture to boil uncovered fairly rapidly for about 10 minutes or until the noodles are cooked through and the vegetables are very tender.
Add the heavy cream and stir to combine.
Turn off the heat, taste the soup, and add salt to taste and the optional parsley. I added nearly 2 tablespoons of salt but this will vary based on how salty the broth used is, how salty the chicken is, how much cream you added, and personal preference for salt. If desired, make any necessary seasoning adjustments (i.e. more salt, pepper, herbs, etc.).
Serve immediately.
Notes
Storage: Soup will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
To reheat: Reheat refrigerated (leftover) soup very gently in the microwave on 50% power or over gentle heat on the stove until it’s as warm as desired. Any time you are reheating anything with milk/cream in it, there is the risk of it ‘breaking’ or separating. This is less likely with fattier milks such as whole milk and heavy cream. If you’re using skim, 1% or 2%, there is a much greater risk it can ‘break’ which is why my advice is to use fattier milks and heavy cream.
Adapted from Easy 30-Minute Chicken Noodle Soup.
Nutrition
Serving: 1, Calories: 470kcal, Carbohydrates: 25g, Protein: 34g, Fat: 27g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g, Cholesterol: 141mg, Sodium: 6075mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 12g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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