All the goodness without the drive or hit on your budget!
Table of Contents
🗝️ Key takeaways
- Warm and delicious, copycat Panera chicken noodle soup recreates a tried-and-true recipe with budget-friendly, simple ingredients.
- This comforting meal is a great way to warm up on a dreary, cold weather day. Plus, it makes any sign of the sniffles vanish!
- Sautéing the veggies before adding the chicken stock is crucial—all those lovely brown bits at the bottom of your pot make the best broth.
I can’t think of a more classic comfort food than a steaming bowl of homestyle chicken noodle soup made on the stove or in a slow cooker!
Tender chicken, fresh vegetables, and curly egg noodles swimming in a flavorful, slurp-able broth. What’s not to love?
🧾 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
📖 Variations
- Swap skinless chicken breasts with chicken thighs for an even richer, more savory broth.
- Have some leftover rotisserie chicken in your fridge? Cut down prep time and use it up in this homemade chicken noodle soup!
- Feel free to make your own chicken stock from scratch with the carcass of a rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken bones.
- In addition to thyme, bay leaves, fresh parsley, and black pepper, feel free to add other herbs, like rosemary or dill. Or, sprinkle in some red pepper flakes for spice!
🔪 Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Sauté the vegetables in a large pot (or Dutch oven) with olive oil on medium-high heat.
- Add the chicken breasts, chicken stock, bay leaf, thyme, salt, and pepper. Simmer on medium-low.
- Then, shred the chicken.
- Stir the chicken back into the soup and add the cooked egg noodles.
🥫 How to store leftovers
Allow leftover Panera chicken noodle soup to cool to room temperature. Then, refrigerate it in an airtight container for up to four days.
If you have more than one day’s worth of leftovers, store the extra cooked noodles in a separate container so they don’t get mushy in the soup.
Homemade chicken noodle soup freezes really well, too! Transfer cooled leftovers into an airtight container and freeze for up to six months.
Thaw frozen chicken noodle soup in the refrigerator overnight. Then, reheat the leftover soup in a saucepan on medium heat until simmering, stirring frequently. You can also use the microwave for smaller portions.
💭 Things to know
Expert Tip: Pasta is "al dente" when it’s fork tender—not crunchy, but not mushy. Plus, the noodles will continue to cook in the broth a bit, so be careful not to overcook them in the first place.
- Feel free to cut the raw chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks before adding them to the broth so it cooks faster. You won't need to shred it.
- Sautéing the veggies caramelizes them and creates those flavorful brown bits at the bottom of your pot—don’t skip this step! Make sure you scrape up all the brown bits with a wooden spoon after you deglaze the pot with the chicken stock.
- I recommend using low-sodium chicken broth if you buy it from the store since we also add salt to this recipe.
- Your chicken is done cooking when the internal temperature is 165 degrees F and the juices run clear.
- I like to add the cooked noodles to each bowl and pour the soup over, rather than putting all the noodles in at once. Do whichever you please!
- This is an easy recipe to make dairy-free and gluten-free—just use olive oil or vegetable oil instead of butter and gluten-free noodles!
- Portion out the leftover chicken soup into single-serving containers for a quick and easy lunch the next day.
- Make a double batch of chicken noodle soup to feed a crowd at your next family gathering, potluck, or game night party!
👩🍳 FAQs
It sure is! You can make chicken noodle soup even healthier if you use low-sodium chicken broth, olive oil or vegetable oil instead of butter, and antibiotic-free chicken breasts.
Yep, you can, but don’t add the egg noodles until you’re ready to reheat and serve the soup. The noodles will absorb too much liquid and get mushy if you refrigerate them in the broth.
You can use wide egg noodles, thin egg noodles, flat ones, or curly egg noodles in homestyle chicken soup—whatever shape you prefer!
Absolutely! My copycat Panera chicken noodle soup recipe includes full directions for how to make it in a slow cooker. Scroll to the bottom of the recipe card for that.
📚 Related recipes
- Crock Pot French Onion Soup is another famous, hearty soup recipe that’s made with simple ingredients and has minimal prep time!
- If you love Subway's Creamy Broccoli Cheddar Soup, then this is for you! Simmer it in the crockpot or make it on the stove in 30 minutes.
- Wanna try another Panera copycat recipe? Black Bean Soup is full of veggies, southwestern spices, and a thick broth that everyone loves!
- Tuscan turkey soup is the perfect way to use up leftover turkey but it's great made with chicken, too.
🍽️ Serve chicken noodle soup with...
There’s no better side for a comforting bowl of soup than a piece of crusty bread! This Homemade Baguette recipe makes chewy loaves with a classic crunchy crust—and it takes less than an hour.
Or, if you’ve got more of a hankering for cornbread, try my Cracker Barrel Corn Muffins. They’re slightly sweet and very buttery. It’s another one of my favorite copycat recipes.
Want soup and salad instead? I’ve got you covered. My Pear Salad jazzes up the classic Southern recipe with toasted pecans, tangy gorgonzola, and a drizzle of jalapeno honey. It's light, fresh, and completely delicious!
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🫶 Restless Chipotle recommends
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A good, heavy stockpot is a must for soup!
📞 The last word
Imagine a rainy November day when you're chilled to the bone and just want a hot shower, some comfy sweats, and a good book.
But you're starving and so is the family.
Throw this easy recipe together and let it simmer while you get your shower and slide into those oh-so-soft sweats.
It will be ready when you're done and the cleanup is easy, too.
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.
If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars!
📖 Recipe
Copycat Panera Chicken Noodle Soup
Print Pin Recipe SaveIngredients
- 3 cups egg noodles, about 6 ounces, or more to taste
- 4 carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds
- ½ cup celery, sliced
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic
- Olive oil for sauteeing.
- 1-½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 teaspoon thyme, or a few sprigs of fresh
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons butter, optional
- fresh parsley, garnish
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Instructions
Stovetop
- Cook egg noodles until barely tender, drain, and set aside. You can put a little butter on them to keep them from sticking together.
- Heat the a little oil in a large, heavy stock pot over medium heat.
- Add the carrots, onion, garlic, and celery.
- Sauté until the vegetables are soft, about 5-10 minutes.
- Add the chicken and the chicken stock.
- Stir in the thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil.
- Cover and reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Simmer about 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked and the internal temperature is 165 degrees F.
- Remove chicken and shred with 2 forks.
- Return to soup the chicken back to the stock pot.
- Add in the egg noodles.
- Simmer for 5 more minutes and serve.
- Add 2 tablespoons of butter if desired. I feel like this amps up the flavor but it's totally optional.
- Garnish with chopped parsley.
Crockpot
- Put everything except the noodles in the crockpot.
- Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
- Remove chicken and shred with 2 forks.
- Put the shredded chicken back into the crock pot.
- Add the egg noodles and cover.
- Cook for 15 minutes more, or until egg noodles are tender.
Notes
- Feel free to cut the raw chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks before adding them to the broth so it cooks faster. You won't need to shred it.
- Sautéing the veggies caramelizes them and creates those flavorful brown bits at the bottom of your pot—don’t skip this step! Make sure you scrape up all the brown bits with a wooden spoon after you deglaze the pot with the chicken stock.
- Your chicken is done cooking when the internal temperature is 165 degrees F and the juices run clear.
- This is an easy recipe to make dairy-free and gluten-free—just use olive oil or vegetable oil instead of butter and gluten-free noodles!
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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