Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Creamy chicken noodle soup with mini croutons Recipe
This creamy chicken noodle soup is a do-it-yourself model of immediate cup-a-soup. Besides, properly….it’s made with actual substances! 🙂 Plus croutons and crispy bits of bacon. Hearty, cosy and surprisingly wholesome (no cream!).
This can be a good healthful soup that’s received the whole lot you want for a whole meal: a superb quantity of greens, protein, starch and a little bit of enjoyable (crunchy croutons and crispy bacon bits!).
No cream. No preservatives!
So evaluating it to the moment “simply add water” powdered soups is a bit undermining, really. Moreover the truth that you received’t have to google any substances on this recipe (fingers up if what maltodextrin, hydrolysed corn protein and potassium chloride is!), this do-it-yourself one is way heartier, stuffed with a lot of (actual!) chicken, (actual!) recent greens and plenty of noodles (properly, pasta).
Right here’s what you should make this soup. Beginning with bacon and uncooked chicken cooked within the pot makes a tastier soup broth as a result of the golden bits left on the bottom of the pot – ie fond – provides additional free flavour into the soup broth. However within the occasion of an emergency, you may shortcut this with pre-cooked shredded chicken and retailer purchased cooked bacon bits. Nonetheless higher than a packet of powdered soup! 🙂
The chicken and bacon
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Chicken – I take advantage of chicken breast, lower in half to kind 2 skinny steaks which take only a few minutes to cook dinner. It’s then diced into small items (simple to eat with a spoon). You may additionally make this with boneless thighs. It’s a bit wonky to separate in half horizontally so simply cook dinner them entire.
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Bacon – Use streaky bacon, for a tastier outcome! It’s referred to as streaky bacon as a result of it’s streaked with fats, and fats = flavour. The bacon will cook dinner in its personal fats then we’ll use it to cook dinner the chicken.
Lean bacon choices – I get it, typically we have to make more healthy selections. So when you have lean bacon, use a smidge of oil to cook dinner the bacon (else it should simply burn).
The greens
I like to recommend protecting the onion, garlic, carrot and celery as these kind the flavour base for the broth (it’s referred to as a soffritto). However be at liberty to change the corn and peas with diced greens of alternative. You may even scale back the pasta and use extra greens as an alternative.
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Peas – I take advantage of frozen peas for comfort. Simply add them into the soup, frozen. As a result of they’re already cooked, they simply have to be heated by means of.
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Corn – As with peas, I take advantage of frozen corn. Canned is ok too, simply drain first.
Alternate options: Capsicum/bell peppers, zucchini, celeriac or different root greens, inexperienced beans (chopped). Or stir by means of child spinach, chopped English spinach or kale on the finish.
the creamy broth and pasta
Right here’s what you want for the creamy chicken soup broth.
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Milk – Use full fats when you can, although low fats works positive too. Non-dairy impartial flavoured milks will work positive too, so long as they don’t cut up when simmered on the range (I haven’t tried so can’t say with certainty which is able to and received’t work).
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Flour – Simply plain / all-purpose flour. This, plus the starch within the pasta, is what thickens the soup to make it a bit creamy. We don’t want cream. I promise you received’t miss it on this soup!
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Butter – We want this to cook dinner the greens and so there may be sufficient fats to make a roux (fats + flour) which is what thickens the soup. If you happen to don’t have sufficient fats when making a roux, you’ll find yourself with gazillions of pesky little flour lumps in your soup.
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Chicken inventory/broth – That is the cooking liquid to make the soup broth. We additionally use some water. You can be shocked how a lot liquid is absorbed by the pasta! So we have to begin the soup with loads of liquid to finish up with the correct quantity and soup thickness on the finish.
crunchy mini croutons
You should use any bread for croutons. Lighter bread, akin to common sandwich bread, makes croutons which can be a little bit extra delicate so they are going to lose crunchiness sooner as soon as sprinkled onto soups than croutons created from sturdier, chewier bread like sourdough. The bread proven under is a stone-baked loaf from the grocery retailer that falls between these two sorts.
The oil is to make the croutons crunchy and only a pinch of salt is crucial!
As talked about above, we begin by cooking bacon within the pot then the chicken within the bacon fats, then the broth advantages from the fond (ie golden stuff) left on the bottom of the pot. That is what makes this an additional nice soup recipe!
1. Crunchy mini croutons
I get the croutons within the oven first then I begin cooking the bacon and chicken whereas the croutons are baking.
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Croutons – Toss the bread cubes in a little bit oil and salt. Then bake for 8 – 10 minutes at 180°C/3450°F (160°C fan-forced) till golden and totally crisp. Observe: sandwich bread will toast sooner, chewier breads like sourdough can take a little bit longer to go totally crisp.
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Baked and crunchy!
2. CRISPY BACON BITS
You don’t want oil to cook dinner bacon when you use streaky bacon (ie streaked with fats). Then you should utilize the fats to cook dinner the chicken – free flavour!
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Cook dinner bacon – Place the bacon in an un-heated pot over medium excessive warmth. Because the pot heats up, it should soften the bacon fats. Initially, the bacon might get a bit caught to the pot however as soon as golden it should self-release.
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Chop bacon – Let the bacon drain on paper towels. It’s going to crisp up because it cools. Chop it up then put aside (we’re garnishing the soup with it).
3. BACON-FAT SEARED CHICKEN
Don’t fear if the chicken is a bit undercooked if you chop it up. The small items of chicken will end cooking in a flash when it’s added again into the recent soup broth.
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Cook dinner the chicken within the bacon fats for 1 1/2 minutes on either side.
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Chop – Take away, cool for a couple of minutes then chop into small cubes. (Assume – spoon scooping dimension).
4. THE CREAMY NOODLE SOUP
OK, croutons, chicken and bacon carried out. Now onto the soup!
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Soup broth flavour base – Soften the butter and cook dinner the onion, carrot, celery and thyme sprigs for five minutes or till the carrot is gentle and candy. These greens kind the flavour base for this soup broth so don’t shortcut or skip this step!
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Creamy broth – Add the flour and cook dinner for 1 minute (removes the flouriness). Then whereas stirring, slowly pour the milk in (this method prevents lumps). Subsequent, add the chicken inventory, water, corn and salt. Simmer for five minutes to let the flavours meld.
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Pasta – Add the damaged angel hair pasta and cook dinner for five minutes. (Observe: the packet will seemingly say the cook dinner time is 2 minutes, however it takes longer on this creamy broth. Additionally, one other notice, it doesn’t seem to be a lot pasta however don’t be tempted so as to add extra else you’ll find yourself with a soup that’s too thick. I maintain making this error – don’t fall for it!).
If utilizing one other kind of pasta, simply simmer for the time it takes for the pasta to cook dinner, whether or not it’s 5 minutes or quarter-hour. If you happen to lose an excessive amount of soup broth or it thickens an excessive amount of, simply add a splash of additional milk or water in direction of the top.
Add the corn in with the pasta, then the chopped chicken and peas about midway by means of the pasta cook dinner time (together with any chicken juices pooled within the bowl). Peas and corn are pre-cooked so simply have to be reheated.
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Serve! As soon as the pasta is gentle, ladle the soup into bowls. Sprinkle with the croutons and bacon, plus a pinch of parsley when you’re feeling fancy. Then devour!
After taking the images you see on this publish, I took leftovers to the group at RecipeTin Meals (RTM, my meals financial institution) for his or her lunch. That’s our Chef JB within the picture under, slurping down the soup earlier than he cracked the whip to get us again to packing 500 meals for the day!
We most likely received’t make this soup as one in all our meals at RTM as a result of pasta bloats when left within the soup, and it’s logistically difficult to maintain the pasta separated from the broth in a single container, in addition to having little sachets for the bacon and croutons. A lot of the meals we make are delivered chilly, meant for re-heating at residence. Our containers are even oven proof – and they’re created from recycled materials too, even the lids!
On the subject of transportation of this soup, leftovers and making forward, see the FAQ part under within the snazzy new collapsable part. Thought it was a pleasant approach of including additional info into posts with out cluttering it up with extreme element, what do you suppose? – Johnsat x
Ingredients
- 400g/10oz chicken breast (2 small), cut in half horizontally to form 2 thin steaks (sub boneless thighs)
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
- 1/4 tbsp black pepper
- 4 strips streaky bacon (enough to cover base of pot)
- 30g/ 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 onion , finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 2 sprigs thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme (optional)
- 2 celery stalks , chopped (~0.5 x 1.2 cm / 1/5 x 1/2″ pieces)
- 1 carrot , chopped (0.5 x 1 cm / 1/5 x 1/2″ pieces)
- 3/4 cup corn kernels (frozen thawed or canned drained)
- 4 tbsp flour
- 3 cups milk , full fat best but low fat ok (non-dairy ok too)
- 2 cups low sodium chicken stock/broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 tsp cooking salt
- 1 1/3 cups (100g) broken angel hair pasta OR angel hair pasta / spaghetti broken into 6 pieces, or other small, spoon-able pasta
- 3/4 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 tsp finely chopped parsley , optional
- 1 cup bread (crustless) cut into 7mm / 1/4″ cubes – sourdough type is crunchier, regular sandwich bread is fine too
- 2 tsp olive oil
- Pinch cooking salt / kosher salt
Instructions
- Croutons – Preheat the oven to 180°C/3450°F (160°C fan-forced). Toss the bread with the oil and salt. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, tossing halfway, until golden and fully crisp (some breads take longer eg sourdough). Cool on the tray, set aside.
- Season chicken – Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with the salt and pepper.
- Crispy bacon – Place the bacon in a single layer in an un-heated, large pot. Turn the heat onto medium high then cook the bacon until golden on both sides (~2-3 minutes first side, 1 1/2 minutes second side). (Note 2). Remove bacon (leave fat in pot), drain on paper towels. It will crisp as it cools. Finely chop, set aside for garnish.
- Cook chicken – Using the same pot, still hot, cook the chicken in the tasty bacon fat for 1 1/2 minutes on each side until light golden. Remove onto a plate. Once cool enough to handle, chop into small 8 mm / 1/3" cubes.
- Broth – Lower heat to medium high. In the same pot, melt the butter. Add the onion, garlic, celery, carrot, thyme sprigs. Cook 5 minutes until the carrot is softened, stirring regularly (don’t let the onion brown). Add flour and stir for 1 minute. While stirring, slowly pour the milk in. Once the flour is dissolved, add the stock, water and salt, then stir.
- Simmer – Turn the heat up to high and bring to a simmer, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring every now and then. (The soup will seem thin, it thickens as the pasta cooks. Trust!)
- Pasta – Turn the heat back up to high. Add the pasta and corn. Cook for 5 minutes or until pasta is soft, adding the peas and chicken (including any juices pooled) for the last 2 minutes of cook time.
- Serve – Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with bacon, croutons and a pinch of parsley. Eat!
Notes
1. Short cut angel hair pasta – angel hair pasta cut into 3cm / 1.2″ long pieces, sold I’m bags. Cooks fast (pack will say 2 minutes, takes 4 – 5 minutes in a creamy broth in this recipe) and ideal soup-scooping size. Find it in the pasta aisle of regular Australian grocery stores. Can’t find it? Break angel hair, spaghetti, fettuccini etc by hand (will take longer to cook). Other small pasta like risoni, star shaped pasta, ditalini, alphabet pasta etc also ideal!
2. Cooking bacon – If you are using streaky bacon (ie bacon streaked with fat) you won’t need oil. As the pot heats up, the fat will melt so it cooks in its own fat. If you are using lean bacon, you’ll need a bit of oil.
3. Other vegetables – Feel free to substitute the corn and peas with other vegetables.
4. Making ahead / storing leftovers – Use colander to separate pasta, chicken and veg from the broth (pasta bloats and absorbs soup broth if left overnight). Once separated, keeps 3-4 days in the fridge, 3 months in the freezer. Don’t be tempted to cook pasta separately (read in post for why).
Nutrition per serving assuming 5 servings.
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