Did you know that your humble crockpot could make a delicious pot of soup? While you are off at work or running errands, your soup will be simmering merrily, creating a delicious concoction of goodness. It does not matter if you are accomplished in the kitchen or if you only cook when absolutely necessary... you can make a wonderful chicken noodle soup in your crockpot that will be a vast improvement over canned soup.



If You Use Only the Freshest Ingredients...

If you only use the freshest ingredients, the crockpot can still make your soup easier. Remove the skin from your chicken. You can use a whole chicken, parts or boneless breasts or thighs... whichever you have handy. Put the chicken in the crockpot with enough water to cover it. You can add a stalk of celery, an onion, a carrot, and some herbs if you wish. Let it simmer on high for three to four hours.

Once your chicken is thoroughly cooked, take it out and cool it. Strain out the vegetables you have added and put them in your compost bin. Once your meat is cooled, debone it and cut the pieces into bite-size bits before replacing it in the crockpot. Chop up some fresh vegetables. Carrots, celery, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, and many others make excellent choices. Add some garlic and fresh herbs.

Keeping the crockpot on high let it cook for a couple more hours. Do not open the lid until it is time to add your noodles. Taste the broth about 45 minutes before you want to serve the soup. Add salt and other seasonings as needed. Add your noodles. This can be egg noodles, linguine, fettuccine, or any other noodle you prefer. Perhaps you have made homemade noodles to add... if so, they only need to cook about 20 minutes until they are tender.

Super Simple Chicken Noodle Soup

If you want to make soup extremely easy, try this tried and true method. This homemade chicken noodle soup is so easy a rank amateur could make it. If you have leftover chicken in the fridge, you can use that in your soup, or you can pick up one of those rotisserie chickens at the market.

Put the chicken in the crockpot, bones, and all. Cover with a large can of chicken broth. Simmer the soup on high for three or four hours. This will add the chicken's flavor to the commercial broth. Remove the chicken and let it cool before deboning it. Cut up the meat before putting it back in the crockpot.

Add some vegetables. You can use fresh sliced carrots or other vegetables, or you can use frozen vegetables. To make it really easy, just put in some whole baby carrots from the market. No peeling, slicing or dicing! Let the soup cook for a couple more hours.

About 30 to 45 minutes before serving, add the noodles of your choice. Perhaps you like the frilly egg noodles, or maybe some ramen noodles. Maybe all you have in the cupboard is a box of old lasagna noodles. If so, just break them into smaller pieces and put them in the soup.