Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup (2024)

A delicious hot bowl of Crock Pot chicken noodle soup is one of our favorite quick and easy meals when it’s chilly outside! This chicken noodle soup is one of our favorite slow cooker recipes because it’s is easy to prepare and leave to cook. The ingredients are lean chicken breast, flavorful herbs, hearty root veggies, and large egg noodles.

For decades (or longer!), people have used their favorite chicken soup recipe as comfort food to eat as we power through a cold or the flu. While chicken noodle soup isn’t a cure-all chicken recipe, it sure can bring you a tiny bit of relief when you’re not feeling well.

Slow cooker chicken noodle soup is a comforting and easy-to-make meal that is perfect for chilly days.

Using a slow cooker to prepare this chicken noodle soup makes it super easy. All you have to do is add the chicken to the crockpot, then add the diced vegetables. Drop in some fresh herbs that include fresh rosemary, fresh or dried thyme, and bay leaves to add tons of flavor and aroma.

The Size of Your Slow Cooker

We like making this chicken noodle soup and other soups in a 6-quart Crock Pot. If you have a smaller crockpot, make a half recipe. This chicken noodle soup recipe only requires 5 1/2 hours to cook if you cook it on low heat. If you need it to be done sooner, you can slow cook it on high for 3 1/2 hours.Packing up some chicken noodle soup in a thermos for taking for lunch when you meal prep is a yummy, healthy treat. You can also freeze your chicken soup for enjoying later. Be sure you eat the frozen chicken noodle soup within 3 months for the best quality.

Chicken Type

We like to use boneless skinless chicken breast to make this Crock Pot chicken noodle soup. However, you also use bone-in chicken breasts or skinless chicken thighs to make this recipe. If you’re cooking the chicken with the skin still on, the chicken skin will add more grease to the soup, so you’ll need to take that into consideration with the nutrition facts. If you don’t want to deal with frozen chicken, you can buy a rotisserie chicken and use that instead.

You can use frozen chicken for this recipe, but you need to cook it by itself first. If you cook the frozen chicken breasts for longer with the vegetables, the vegetables can become mushy. One thing you can do is cook the frozen chicken in an Instant Pot first, then add the cooked chicken to the crockpot when it’s done. The Instant Pot will cook the frozen chicken quickly. Just another reason to love an Instant Pot chicken!

Add Herbs and Vegetables

We love all of the hearty root veggies in this recipe. Onion, carrot, and celery give this creamy chicken noodle soup the classic flavor we’ve all come to know and love. If you want, you can add butternut squash, bell pepper, fennel, zucchini, potatoes, corn, or fresh green beans to your chicken noodle soup. Be sure to cut the veggies into similar-sized pieces so that your soup cooks evenly. You can use yellow onion or white onion to make this recipe. We’ve even used green onion.

Fresh and dried herbs make this soup recipe aromatic and fragrant while also adding dimension to the chicken vegetable soup. To infuse the cooking liquid with herbs, we use fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, and dried bay leaves. The garlic adds just the amount of spicy notes that slowly mellow out as the soup cooks.

You can use either chicken stock or low sodium chicken broth to make the simmering liquid more flavorful. The chicken stock will add more flavor and richness because when it’s prepared, the gelatin from the bones adds flavor. If you don’t have any chicken broth in the house, you can make some with chicken bouillon and water.

The Best Pasta for the Crock Pot Chicken Soup

When cooking homemade chicken noodle soup, egg noodle is best. You can buy dried egg noodles or make homemade egg noodles. Note that if you use homemade egg noodles, the cooking time for the noodles will be just a few minutes. Egg noodles are soft, but they have a tender bite the goes perfectly with vegetables and chicken. If you don’t have egg noodles handy, you can use other pasts. Rotini is delicious, as is ditalini. Broken-up fettuccine or linguini also work well.

Pasta that’s made with semolina will take a bit longer to cook than egg noodles. Add them to the crockpot once the vegetables and chicken are finished cooking. You can also prepare the egg noodles separately in a pan on the stovetop if you want to speed up the cooking time.

Making Chicken Noodle Soup in a Slow Cooker

Chicken noodle soup is easy to prepare. Add the vegetables, chicken, chicken broth, and herbs to the crockpot. Cover the crockpot with a lid and cook on low for 5 1/2 hours or on high for 3 1/2 hours. Chicken breast is lean meat, and it will become dry if you cook it for too long in the crockpot. We recommend using a kitchen thermometer and checking the chicken every 30 minutes beyond the recommended cooking time.

When you remove the chicken from the crockpot, be sure to keep it covered, and don’t shred the chicken until it’s ready to serve. This will help you avoid moisture loss. Once the rest of the soup is ready, add the egg noodles to the crockpot and cook for about 30 minutes or until the noodles are perfectly tender.

Once the egg noodles are fully cooked, add the chicken back tot he crockpot to get it warm. It will take about half an hour. Then, you can spoon your homemade chicken soup into bowls and enjoy!

What to Serve with Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

Here are some foods that are perfect to serve with your Crock Pot chicken noodle soup.

• Homemade bread
• Grilled Cheese Sandwich
• Green salad
• Homemade biscuits

More Recipes for the Slow Cooker

On our site, we have lots of delicious crockpot recipe ideas.

• Crockpot recipes
• Vegetarian crockpot recipes
• Beef crockpot recipes
• Crockpot chicken recipes

FAQ

Can you make chicken noodle soup with raw chicken?

Yes, you can cook slow cooker chicken soup with raw chicken. The chicken breast is added to the soup at the same time as the veggies. The chicken breast (or chicken thigh) cooks along with the vegetables and herbs in the delicious simmering broth, adding more flavor to both the soup and the meat. Make sure the meat is completely cooked, and use a kitchen thermometer to ensure that the chicken is between 160 and 165 degrees Fahrenheit before you shred it.

If the meat is still pink and raw, you know it’s not done. If you want to cook your homemade chicken noodle soup with frozen chicken, thaw it first or cook it in the Instant Pot.

Can you cook noodles in the crockpot?

Absolutely! The dried egg noodles are added to the crockpot about half an hour before serving. This keeps the noodles from becoming overly soft and absorbing too much of the chicken broth.

Do you cook the egg noodles before you add them to the crockpot chicken soup?

You don’t have to pre-cook your egg noodles. They’ll cook perfectly right along with the other ingredients toward the end of your cook time. You don’t want the noodles to absorb too much of the cooking liquid, so if you need to, add more chicken broth before adding the noodles to the crockpot.

If you want to speed up cooking time, you can prepare your noodles on the stovetop before adding them to the crockpot.

How to Prevent Mushy Noodles

To keep your noodles from becoming mushy when you make crockpot chicken noodle soup, be sure you add the egg noodles to the crockpot after the veggie and chicken are done. If you’re cooking your homemade chicken noodle soup on low in your crockpot, turn it to high before adding the noodles.

If egg noodles cook for too long, they become mushy. Depending on what shape and size of noodles you use, they take between 25 and 30 minutes to cook. If you use a different type of pasta, check the noodles every 10 minutes to see how they’re coming along.