Name: Hearty Chicken, Vegetable, and Noodle Soup
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 3 tablespoon unsalted butter; 1 onion, chopped; 1 celery rib, sliced thin; 2 carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds; 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme; Salt and pepper; 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth; 4 ounces egg noodles (about 2 cups); 1 rotisserie chicken, skin discarded, meat shredded into bite-sized pieces (about 3 cups); 1 cup frozen peas

Why This Recipe Works

A chicken noodle soup recipe can be made into a quick, easy, and satisfying weeknight meal, but it doesn’t always taste particularly good. The broth can be thin, the chicken bland, and the noodles mushy. To avoid these pitfalls, we turned a supermarket staple: store-bought rotisserie chicken. It worked perfectly for this recipe. We discarded the skin and shredded the meat into bite-size pieces. The noodles in our soup cook in the broth with the vegetables—which adds even more flavor to our Hearty Chicken, Vegetable, and Noodle Soup recipe.

Before You Begin

Light 'n Fluffy brand egg noodles are the test kitchen's favorite.

Instructions

Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook onion, celery, carrots, thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon salt until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in broth and simmer, covered, until vegetables are softened, 10 to 15 minutes.

Add noodles to pot and simmer, uncovered, until tender, about 5 minutes. Off heat, stir in chicken and peas until heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.