No Bones About It: 15-Minute Homemade Chicken Soup

My nest is empty… It’s just me and my husband, my time is limited and my stress levels are high. Does that sound familiar?

Well if it does, a soothing bowl of chicken soup is in order.

Of course, I know my mother would start with a fresh cut up whole chicken and soup greens and let it all simmer on the stove until it was fully cooked. Now truly… It doesn’t take that long to do that, and when I’m feeling in the mood, I absolutely do make it that way. But by the time I get home from work…after a long day and long drive home…do I really want to start from scratch and also have to remove the chicken from the bones and strain everything?

No, thanks. I want comfort in a hurry.

So I came up with this shortcut idea… And what I love about it most besides that it tastes really good and it’s lightening fast, is that the leftover soup freezes and reheats well in the micro – from frozen. Awesome! That’s for when I really don’t feel like cooking – and yes, when you spend all day around food…sometimes you don’t. So here’s my secret for my “15 Minute Homemade Chicken Soup.” Now it’s not written in stone… It’s very flexible, so if you like the idea play around with it and make it your own. And if you have a larger family – it’ll surely serve four nicely! And even though you won’t have leftovers, that’s just fine. At least you’ll have a great meal that didn’t come in a bag from the drive-thru! And for those of you who have kids back in school…you know what I’m talking about. I’ve been there.

Helayne’s 15-Minute Homemade Chicken Soup

• 1 cup of chunked cooked chicken (rotisserie works well)
• 7 cups chicken broth or stock
• 2 (11-ounce) cans of sliced carrots (don’t use fresh, they’ll take too long to get tender)
• 1 cup of chopped celery (some markets even sell this washed and chopped for you)
• 1 (10.5-ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup (optional, but adds a bit of creaminess to the broth)
• Sea salt, black pepper, dill and parsley (fresh or dried) to taste
• 8 ounces broad noodles or orzo pasta (optional)

Simply throw all of the ingredients (except the noodles) into a soup pot, bring to a boil. Once boiling add noodles, if desired, and cook until just tender.

Serve with your favorite crusty bread and you’ll be stuffed and satisfied – fast and you can take all the credit for a homemade soup in minutes!

And when I’m looking for something with lots of veggies, here’s one of my favorite Mr. Food recipes:

Easy Vegetable Chicken Noodle Soup

Do you have any favorite soup recipes you’d like to share?