Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

At our home, we love soup. If we’re connected on Facebook or Instagram, you’ll see lots of soup pics, especially in the winter. I’m Canadian and my guy is Dutch, two countries big on soups, and while we each have favorites, this Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup is one we both love.

Every so often when I have a few hours of downtime in the house, I’ll simmer or roast a whole chicken and then take the meat off the bones and bag individual portions and freeze for quick weeknight meals and for soup. For this soup, I do a double bag, about two cups. I’ll then simmer down the chicken carcass and make broth that I also freeze for future use, like this soup.

In this soup, you could use leftover rice or pasta for a great way to clear up the fridge with no waste. I often use linguine or fettucine. If you don’t have a blender/stick blender, simply skip that step and you’ll have a lovely soup that’s a bit chunkier. The soup gets its lovely coral color from the cooked carrots.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 3 medium carrots, diced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 4 stalks celery, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tsp. each dried thyme, salt and pepper
• 1 cup heavy cream combined with 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 cups diced/shredded roasted chicken
• ¼ pound linguine, broken into 2” pieces

Directions:

1. In a large stockpot warm the oil over medium heat. Add the carrot, onion and celery and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and continue cooking for another minute.
2. Add chicken broth, thyme, salt, pepper and cook for 10 more minutes.
3. Add half the soup to a blender (or use a stick blender) and purée for about a minute. Return the puréed soup to a clean saucepan and purée the second half of the soup and add to the 1^st batch of puréed soup.
4. Turn the heat to medium and add the cream/cornstarch mixture to the soup. Bring to a simmer and cook/stir for 3-4 minutes until the soup has thickened.
5. Add the pasta, lower heat to medium-low and cook 10-15 more minutes, until the pasta is cooked through. If using cooked pasta or cooked rice, reduce the cooking time to 2 minutes instead of 10-15 minutes just to reheat the cold pasta/rice.

Serves 6 generously.