Chicken Noodle Soup with Soft Carrots
By Jude Horak, UC patient. Flare-friendly. Dinner.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total
- 55 min
- Serves
- 4
Chicken noodle soup is the food everyone tells you to eat when you are sick, and most versions I found were built on sauteed onion, garlic, celery, and a good grind of pepper. None of those are on my flare list. So I worked out a version that keeps what matters, which is tender chicken, soft noodles, and carrots in a clear broth, and drops the rest. It leans on thyme, salt, and a little lemon instead of aromatics. The egg noodles cook right in the pot for a few minutes longer than the package says so they turn properly soft, and the carrots go in early enough to lose all their bite. I make it on the first evening a flare feels like it is settling in, and I keep a container of it in the freezer for the days when cooking is not happening. It tastes like the soup you remember; it just does not fight back later.
Why it works for UC
Skinless chicken breast poached in broth is lean, soft protein with no plant fiber to break down. Pasta in the form of egg noodles is made from refined flour, and cooking it past al dente leaves very little texture, which is why white pasta is grouped with white rice and white bread on low-residue guidance. Carrots cooked until they yield to a spoon lose the crunch that can be harder to handle during a flare. A clear, skimmed broth keeps the soup low in fat, and skipping onion, garlic, and pepper removes the ingredients that most often bother me.
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
- 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into thin coins
- 2 cups wide egg noodles
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 1/4 teaspoons fine salt, plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves, optional
Method
- 1Pour the broth into a large pot, add the chicken breast, thyme, bay leaf, and salt, and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook fifteen to eighteen minutes until the chicken reaches 165 degrees F in the thickest part.
- 2Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let it rest. Skim any foam or fat from the broth, then add the carrot coins and olive oil and simmer ten minutes.
- 3Add the egg noodles and cook for the package time plus two or three minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are fully soft with no chew left in the center.
- 4Shred the chicken into small pieces with two forks, discarding any tough bits, and return it to the pot. Simmer two minutes to heat through.
- 5Remove the bay leaf, stir in the lemon juice and parsley, and taste for salt. Serve hot, making sure each bowl gets a fair share of noodles and carrots.
Tips and swaps
- Chicken breast dries out fast. Pull it the moment it hits temperature and shred it while the carrots cook; it will finish softening back in the broth.
- If you plan to freeze the soup, leave the noodles out and cook them fresh when reheating. Frozen noodles turn mushy in a way even I do not love.
- Wide egg noodles are the most tender; thin spaghetti works too but breaks apart more.
- Adding a little onion or garlic back is a remission experiment, not a flare one. I test one at a time.
What a serving gives you
A generous bowl has around 25 grams of lean protein from the chicken, carbohydrate from the noodles, and vitamin A from the carrots. The broth supplies fluid and sodium, which are easy to lose during a flare and worth replacing with food rather than only water. Fat stays around a few grams per serving as long as the broth is skimmed, so it fills you up without feeling rich.
Questions about this recipe
Can I use rotisserie chicken to save time?
Yes, and I do it often. Pull the skin off and shred only the breast meat, since the skin and dark meat carry more fat. Add it in the last two minutes just to heat through. You lose the flavor the raw chicken gives the broth, so use a good store-bought broth and simmer it with the thyme and bay leaf for ten minutes before adding the carrots.
Does this soup freeze well?
The broth, chicken, and carrots freeze beautifully for up to three months. The noodles do not; they soak up liquid and turn to paste after thawing. My method is to freeze the soup base in two-serving containers without noodles, then boil a handful of fresh egg noodles into it while it reheats. It takes five extra minutes and tastes like it was made that day.
