This easy Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup is a classic soup that is perfect for cold winter days or if anyone in your household is feeling under the weather! This warm & cozy soup recipe is full of tender chicken, carrots, celery, and the perfect seasonings, all served over spaghetti noodles (or your favorite noodle of choice).
The BEST Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup
During our cold season here in Minnesota, a classic chicken noodle soup is a must! When we aren’t making our classic chicken soup on the stovetop, you can find us keeping things super simple and making this chicken noodle soup in our slow cooker. It makes for a warm and cozy dinner at the end of a cold day. We have always served this flavorful soup over spaghetti noodles, but you can use any of your favorite types of noodle (i.e. egg noodles, rotini, etc.).
Looking to make a version with leftover turkey meat? We also have a homemade Turkey Noodle Soup recipe that you have to try!
Why This Recipe Works
- Bone-In Chicken Breasts: Using a skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts results in a greater depth of flavor!
- Veggies aren’t mushy: We add veggies closer to the end of cooking so they don’t get super mushy!
- Noodles aren’t mushy: We cook these separately so they don’t soak up that yummy broth or over-cook!
See Also: 30+ Best Soup Recipes
What You Will Need
- chicken stock – either grab your favorite from your local grocery stores or make your own homemade broth for even more depth of flavor!
- bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts – we highly recommend using chicken breasts or chicken thighs that have the bone-in and the skin-on to get the most flavor, but you can also use skinless, boneless chicken breasts or thighs.
- sweet yellow onion & head of garlic – perfect for bringing great flavor to your soup base, option to add more or less garlic depending on your taste preferences.
- bay leaf, kosher salt, & ground black pepper – simple seasonings that are a must for any homemade soup.
- fresh thyme – a fresh herb that is a nice compliment to these traditional soup flavors.
- carrots & celery – the traditional vegetables that are a must for any chicken noodle soup!
- your favorite noodles – we used spaghetti noodles, but you can use egg noodles or even zoodles if you want!
What Kid Of Noodles Do You Use For Chicken Soup
For us, we grew-up enjoying chicken noodle soup with classic spaghetti noodles. Sometimes we keep the spaghetti noodles whole and sometimes we break them into smaller pieces to make them more bite-size. However, many people are used to enjoying their soup with egg noodles or another type of noodle. The best part of this recipe is that you can use ANY noodle you want, you could even use zoodles!
Can I Put Frozen Chicken In The Slow Cooker
No, it is not advised to place frozen chicken in your crockpot. It takes too long for the chicken to thaw and then sits in the “danger zone” (a time when bacteria grows) for a while before being fully cooked. So you will want to make sure you fully thaw your chicken before placing it in the slow cooker.
How to Make Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
- Place your fully thawed chicken and chicken stock to the crockpot.
- Add onion, garlic and fresh thyme (as well as salt and pepper).
- Turn your slow cooker to either the high setting for 4 hours or the low setting for 8 hours.
If cooking on HIGH: 1 hour before cooking time is done remove the chicken breasts, discard the skin and bones and shred the meat. Place back into the slow cooker along with the carrots and celery.
If cooking on LOW: 2 hours before cooking time is done remove the chicken breasts, discard the skin and bones and shred the meat. Place back into the slow cooker along with the carrots and celery.
Cook your noodles of choice separately on the stovetop. Then you can either add the fully cooked noodles to the slow cooker before scooping it into bowls or you can place the cooked noodles in a bowl and ladle the soup over the top.
Storing Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
Once your soup has cooled a bit there are two different ways you can store your leftovers in order to enjoy them later:
- refrigerator: simply ladle your soup into airtight containers and store in your fridge for about 3-4 days and reheat on the stovetop or microwave when you are ready to eat.
- freezer: for best results you want to freeze your soup before adding the noodles. If you freeze the soup with the noodles in it, the noodles will become very mushy in the thawing and reheating process. Just place the soup in a freezer-safe container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you are ready to eat you can thaw, reheat, and enjoy over freshly cooked noodles.
Other Chicken Soup Recipes You Might Like
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Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 hours
- Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 14 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Description
Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup – a simple and delicious recipe for slow cooker chicken noodle soup that will warm your soul!
Ingredients
- 64oz chicken stock
- 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
- 1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3–4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 head garlic, cut off the top
- 3 medium carrots, sliced
- 4 celery stalks, sliced
- your favorite noodles
Instructions
- Add chicken stock, chicken breasts, onion, bay leaf, salt, pepper, fresh thyme and garlic to a slow cooker.
- Cook on LOW 8 hours or on HIGH 4 hours.
- If cooking on HIGH: 1 hour before cooking time is done remove the chicken breasts, discard the skin and bones and shred the meat. Place back into the slow cooker along with the carrots and celery.
- If cooking on LOW: 2 hours before cooking time is done remove the chicken breasts, discard the skin and bones and shred the meat. Place back into the slow cooker along with the carrots and celery.
- Approximately 20 minutes before everything is done cooking, cook your favorite noodles on the stove-top until they are al dente.
- Taste soup and add additional salt, as-needed.
- Serve soup with noodles and enjoy!
Notes
- Chicken Stock: you can use chicken broth if you want but chicken stock will provide more flavor.
- Chicken Breasts: You can use boneless chicken breasts if you want, the flavor won’t have quite as much depth, but then you won’t have to worry about discarding the skin and bones later. Chicken thighs (boneless or bone-in) would also work!
- Carrots + Celery: You can certainly add these right away if you want, but I personally do not like mushy vegetables in my soup – which after slow cooking for 8 hours, the veggies will definitely be quite soft. It’s up to you!
- Noodles cooked separately: Cooking the noodles in the slow cooker can be really tricky as you have to keep in mind that as the noodles cook they are going to soak up a lot of broth in the process. Additionally, slow cookers seem to vary a lot (some run hot, some don’t) so it is actually quite hard to pinpoint an exact timeframe for how long your noodles would need to cook. You can definitely cook your noodles in the slow cooker if you want, but I would suggest compensating for this by adding more broth and to watch them really closely so they don’t over cook and get all mushy and gross. My preferred method is to just cook my noodles separately and then serve them together.
- Whole30/Paleo: to make this Whole30/Paleo simply check your ingredients on your chicken stock and serve with zoodles instead of noodles!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 108
- Sugar: 3.7 g
- Sodium: 303.7 mg
- Fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 15.6 g
- Protein: 6.9 g
- Cholesterol: 9.8 mg
Keywords: slow cooker chicken noodle soup
Priya Reddy says
Very good dish with proteins, thanks Erin for sharing