Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup (Slow Cooker)

Name: How to Make Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 6 h
Total time: 6 h 20 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 680 g bone-in skin-on chicken pieces, patted dry, mix of breast and thigh; 0.25 tsp fine salt; 0.25 tsp black pepper; 15 ml vegetable oil; 1 whole onion, finely diced; 1 whole carrot, peeled and cut into roughly 1cm pieces; 1 rib celery, cut into roughly 1cm pieces; 1 whole bay leaf; 2 sprigs fresh thyme; 0.25 tsp fine salt; 1900 ml good quality chicken broth; 140 g spaghetti, broken into roughly 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces; fresh parsley, chopped; fresh dill, chopped; extra salt and pepper

Source video by America's Test Kitchen on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules and is marked for human review.

America's Test Kitchen's Cook's Country builds this soup on bone-in chicken browned hard in the pot, classic onion, carrot and celery, a bay leaf, two sprigs of thyme and eight cups of good chicken broth. The chicken poaches in the broth, gets shredded, then spaghetti broken into spoon-sized pieces boils right in the soup so the starch lightly thickens it. We have moved the long simmer into the slow cooker, kept the browning step in the pan and held the noodles back until the last 30 minutes so they finish al dente, not blown out.

Slow cooker notes: Source is a fast hob recipe. The chicken is still browned in a frying pan first because slow cookers will not brown, then transferred with the vegetables, herbs and broth to the slow cooker for a long, low simmer in place of the 15 minute hob simmer. The chicken is lifted out and shredded once tender, then the broken spaghetti is added near the end and cooked on High for about 25 to 30 minutes so it finishes al dente rather than mushy. Fresh parsley is stirred in at the very end. Quantities are unchanged from the source.

Ingredients

Chicken

680 gbone-in skin-on chicken pieces, patted dry, mix of breast and thigh
0.25 tspfine salt
0.25 tspblack pepper
15 mlvegetable oil

Soup base

1 wholeonion, finely diced
1 wholecarrot, peeled and cut into roughly 1cm pieces
1 ribcelery, cut into roughly 1cm pieces
1 wholebay leaf
2 sprigsfresh thyme
0.25 tspfine salt
1900 mlgood quality chicken broth

Noodles and finish

140 gspaghetti, broken into roughly 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces (add late)
fresh parsley, chopped (add late)
fresh dill, chopped (add late)
extra salt and pepper (add late)

Method

Pat the bone-in chicken pieces dry with kitchen paper, then season both sides with a quarter teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of black pepper.
~5 min
Heat the tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add the chicken skin side down and brown for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until both sides are deeply golden and a fond has built up on the bottom of the pan.
~12 min
While the chicken browns, finely dice the onion, cut one rib of celery into roughly 1cm pieces and peel and chop one carrot into roughly 1cm pieces.
~8 min
Transfer the browned chicken to the slow cooker. Tip the chopped onion, carrot and celery in on top, then add the bay leaf, two sprigs of fresh thyme and a further quarter teaspoon of salt.
~3 min
Deglaze the frying pan with a splash of the chicken broth, scraping up the browned fond from the bottom, then pour it into the slow cooker. Add the remaining broth to make 1.9 litres (8 cups) in total.
~3 min
Cover and cook on Low for 6 hours or High for 3 hours, until the chicken is tender and pulls easily from the bone.
~360 min
Lift the chicken out onto a board. Fish out and discard the bay leaf, the thyme sprigs and any stray bits of skin floating in the broth.
~3 min
Switch the slow cooker to High. Break the spaghetti into roughly 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces, drop them into the broth and stir. Cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes until the pasta is al dente.
~30 min
While the noodles cook, pull the skin and bones off the chicken and discard them. Shred the meat into bite-sized pieces with two forks.
~8 min
Stir the shredded chicken back into the slow cooker and let it warm through for a minute or two. Add a little chopped fresh parsley (and dill if using), taste and adjust the salt and pepper before ladling into warm bowls.
~3 min

Frequently asked

Why brown the chicken if it is going in the slow cooker?

Slow cookers steam, they do not brown. The dark colour and savoury depth of this broth come from the fond on the pan after the chicken browns. Skip the step and the soup will be pale and thin.

Can I use boneless chicken?

You can, but the bones and skin are doing real work here. They lend gelatine and flavour to the broth as it simmers. If you only have boneless, expect a lighter result and consider adding a bone-in chicken thigh or two for the simmer.

Why add the noodles so late?

Pasta left in a slow cooker for hours turns to mush. Adding it for the last 25 to 30 minutes on High mirrors the source's 10 minute hob boil and keeps it al dente.

Can I cook the noodles separately and add them at the end?

You can. The cook in the source video prefers boiling the spaghetti in the soup because the starch slightly thickens the broth, but cooking them in salted water on the hob saves the soup from a starchy finish if you plan to keep leftovers.

How long do leftovers keep?

Up to 3 days in a sealed container in the fridge. If you know you will have leftovers, cook the noodles separately and add them to each bowl on serving, otherwise they keep drinking up the broth as they sit.

Extraction notes (transparency): All ingredient quantities are taken directly from the narration (1.5 lb bone-in chicken, 1 tbsp oil, quarter teaspoon each salt and pepper on the chicken, 1 onion, 1 celery rib, 1 carrot, 1 bay leaf, 2 sprigs thyme, additional quarter teaspoon salt with the veg, 8 cups broth, 5 oz spaghetti). The cook does not specify a parsley quantity (just 'a little fresh parsley') so it is recorded with quantity null. Dill is mentioned as an optional finish. Slow cooker timing and the noodle late-add are the adaptation, not in the source.