Jewish holiday, Friday night dinner, feeling under the weather or just because – Chicken Soup is always our family favorite! Just like my grandma used to make, this homemade chicken soup recipe,with Matzo Balls and Egg Noodles, is easy enough for even the most cooking challenged!
There are tons of recipes that promise a great soup in half of the time to make it, but be warned, you will trade time for quality. Authentic chicken soup takes some time to make, but the rich and savory taste will make it worth the wait. Don’t be afraid to make chicken soup from scratch – it isn’t as hard as you think and the taste is worlds better than canned soup!
Listen, I am all about short cuts, but not when it impacts the taste. This is simply the best chicken noodle soup you will ever make. You will never eat chicken soup in a can again after you taste the rich and tender chicken broth and oodles of egg noodles, vegetables and matzo balls. Make extra and freeze it! It warms up like a dream!
Nothing cures a cold like a home remedy of a bowl of traditional Jewish chicken soup. My Grandma Lee had the best Jewish penicillin chicken soup recipe. This was a staple on Friday night Shabbat dinners, Rosh Hashanah, Passover or just for a weeknight dinner. She would often make a big Tupperware full of chicken soup and matzo balls for me to take up to school (she wanted to make sure I ate well when I was away!)
How to Make Homemade Chicken Soup
Many people claim a homemade chicken noodle soup recipe, but they use canned or boxed chicken soup in their recipe. Trust me….there IS a difference! If you want that true homemade chicken soup taste, read on!
My sister, Julie, got her famous recipe right from my Grandma Lee over the phone.As most of you know, I am not the cook in the family….. that’s my sister, Julie. So, while I would ask my grandma to make it for me, Julie had the foresight to ask her to teach her how to make it.
She talked her through the whole thing. She never wrote it down, but we did! Below is our best approximation of the basic recipe she taught us.
Everyone likes their chicken soup a bit different. Grandma strained hers so it was clear and then added the pieces of carrots back in. We like a few more bits in it so I don’t strain it. Sometimes we chop up the onions and celery and leave them in as well. We never make it exactly the same twice. We throw in a bit more a bit less, but somehow it always comes out tasting just like it’s supposed to!
How long can you keep homemade chicken soup?
Chicken soup can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Beyond that I would recommend freezing it in either a container or heavy duty freezer bags. Either way, I usually keep the noodles and matzo balls separate and put them in the soup when I am ready to warm it up.
They say that chicken soup helps to clear the nasal passages and it acts as an anti inflammatory which helps with the cold symptoms!
Chicken Soup Recipe
4.78 from 18 votes
Jewish Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
Author — Jennifer Fishkind
Serves — 8
Jewish holiday, Friday night dinner, feeling under the weather or just because – Chicken Soup is always our family favorite! Just like my grandma used to make, this homemade chicken noodle soup,with Matzo Balls and Egg Noodles, is easy enough for even the most cooking challenged!
Place the chicken and the onion in a large stock pot
Fill with cold water
Bring to simmer
Skim fat from the top before adding in remaining ingredients
Add in carrots, celery, dill salt and pepper
Simmer partially covered for at least an hour to an hour and a half
You will know when it is getting close when the chicken begins to fall apart
Cook for another 1/2 hour after that
Remove the chicken, onion, celery and dill from the pot
Add in egg noodles and cook as directed on the package
Remove the chicken from the bone and add it back to the pot if desired
*The secret of the perfect Matzo Ball: Use the packaged stuff. Manischewitz Matzo Ball Mix. I have had many a homemade matzoh ball in my day, but the best ones come straight from the box. They have it proportioned perfectly, so I never bother with trying to figure it out myself. Save yourself the aggravation, follow the directions on the box and make the perfect ball!
Vinegar, much like salt, is a flavor enhancer — it not only imparts its own taste and acidity to a soup, but in small quantities, it helps to bring out the brightness of other ingredients as well.
Foods that have a great deal of acidity, like lemon juice, vinegar, white wine, and tomato puree, can help liven up the flavor of bland-tasting bone and other broths. "The acidity of these ingredients works to complement and enhance the broth's flavors, not mask it.
Some of our favorites are Dried Shallots, Dehydrated Red Bell Pepper, Dehydrated Green Bell Pepper, Tomato Flakes, Minced Onion and Roasted Garlic Flakes. Or, add a bay leaf to your recipe. The bay leaf will give the soup a little something extra without overwhelming the dish.
Herbs and sources add flavor, aroma, and intensity to the soup broth. You can pick fresh or dried herbs like basil for tomato-based soups or fresh parsley for clear broths. You may also add more spices like turmeric, ground ginger, ground paprika, or nutmeg for a touch of spice and color to your soup broth.
The best way to counteract vinegar if too much is put into soup is to add a sweetener, such as sugar or honey, to balance out the flavor. You can also add dairy, such as cream, milk, or yogurt, or a starch, such as potatoes, rice, or pasta, to help mellow out the acidity of the vinegar.
It may sound a bit strange and unusual for some, but vinegar is a common ingredient in some soup recipes, and there is a good reason for it. If you think about it, vinegar is really a flavor-enhancer (umami). That's why it is so often used in cooking, sauces, and salad dressings. The same is true with soups.
A lot of types of bacteria (and sometimes other microbes) produce waste products that can taste "sour." And soup/stock is a good growth medium for microbes, which is why most food safety organizations recommend only keeping soup for 3-4 days in the fridge.
Lemons are a chicken soup game changer. Why? They brighten up and balance the salty, rich flavors of the dish, and make all of the ingredients come into line. Like a vinaigrette on a salad, the pickle on a burger, and the sour cream in a coffee cake, a squeeze of lemon gives chicken soup a game-changing brightness.
Salt and pepper are the basic ones. Adding soup base is another good way to kick it up a notch as is adding a little acid. You can use lemon juice or vinnegar but be sparing, a little is awesome but too much is overpowering.
While broth and stock both get richer and richer the longer you cook them, the problem is that the chicken meat will dry out and get tough if you let it go too long.
You can thicken soup by adding flour, cornstarch, or another starchy substitute. For the best results, never add flour or cornstarch directly to your soup. If you do, it will clump up on top. Instead, ladle a small amount of broth into a separate bowl and let it cool.
For a hearty and flavourful soup, Chicken Thighs or Legs are ideal. The darker meats along with the bones provide a stronger taste compared to white meat (breast), creating a richer broth with plenty of flavour. Add them in along with your broth (or stock) after your soffritto is done.
Aromatics are combinations of vegetables and herbs (and sometimes even meats) that are heated in some fat – like butter, oil, or coconut milk – at the beginning of a dish. The heated fat helps these ingredients release addictive aromas and impart deep flavors into the dish that's being cooked.
Every cuisine has a method for adding depth via ingredients. Oftentimes it's umami packed ingredients like miso paste, soy sauce, oyster sauce, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce or anchovies. Those ingredients have complex flavors on their own and lend them to a dish when they are added.
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