Nothing says comfort food like a bowl of hot homemade Chicken Noodle Soup! I’ve been battling an epic round of flu this week and after not eating much for several days I rounded up the energy to hit up the grocery store to buy ingredients for this yummy version of a classic soup.

I like my veggies and chicken in larger chunks but you can of course chop to the size you and your family prefer. The recipe calls for chopped parsley at the end…I omit this step as I’m not a big fan, but if I have cilantro on hand I have substituted that.

Another thing I like to do is season the chicken with pepper when you remove it to chop and before returning to the crockpot. I’ve found it doesn’t need salt as it gets plenty of that as it is cooking. It’s also a good time to check the seasonings in the crockpot. You may need to add a bit of salt depending on how much you used at the beginning.

An important tip about noodles and the crockpot!! I’ve found that cooking noodles in the crockpot always turns them to mush so I prefer cooking the noodles separately when the soup is ready to serve. I then put a serving size of noodles in a bowl and fill the rest with the soup! This soup freezes great!! I freeze it without noodles and just cook fresh noodles once again when I’m ready to eat.

I like to serve it with a piece of crusty bread. It’s yummy for dipping into the broth :).

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 5 medium carrots, peeled and chopped (1 3/4 cups)
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
• 4 stalks celery, chopped (1 1/4 cups)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (3 – 15 oz cans)
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
• 1/4 tsp celery seed, finely crushed*
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 cups uncooked wide egg noodles
• 3 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• Saltine crackers or parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

• To a slow cooker, add chicken (un-cut), diced carrots, onion, celery, and garlic. Drizzle olive oil over top then add in chicken broth, water, thyme, rosemary, celery seed, bay leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook on low heat 6 – 7 hours.
• Remove cooked chicken and allow to rest 10 minutes, then dice into bite size pieces. Meanwhile, add egg noodles and parsley to slow cooker. Increase temperature to high, cover and cook 10 minutes longer (or until noodles are tender). Stir in lemon juice and toss in cooked, diced chicken. Serve warm with saltine crackers or top with Parmesan cheese if desired.
• *I just crushed the rosemary in the palm of my hand then for the celery seed, I placed it in a ziploc bag and crushed it with the flat side of a meat mallet.
• Recipe Source: Cooking Classy