Easy Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup

This thick and hearty Easy Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe is going to be your new favorite cozy soup recipe. So simple to toss everything in and allow the rich, flavorful chicken add all of the flavor! Comfort food at it's easiest!

Welcome to 2020!

New year, new decade, SAME me! Isn't that just the best way to do it?!

Kicking off this fresh, new year in the coziest way I know how--a simple, comforting chicken noodle soup. What better way to warm up to a brand new year, right?

If we are being honest, I am not a huge fan of chicken noodle soup. I find it to be a bit boring and bland. But go figure, it's my husband's favorite, so I had to figure out how to make one I would love.

And it had to be super duper simple. And full of hearty flavor.

I made this Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup 3 times over the course of about 2 1/2 weeks. It's safe to say it is AMAZING. You will enjoy it even if you are not sick with a cold (which is the only reason I ever thought chicken noodle soup should be used for)

What's to love about this super simple recipe?

1. It is so so so so simple to make. Everything gets popped into a pot or the slow cooker and it's not much more than that. Ok, so you do have to chop up some veggies, but heck, nowadays you can find soup starters in the frozen section at the grocery so that's even an option!
2. You can make it stove top or in the slow cooker. Haven't tried it in the Instant Pot just yet, but you at least have a couple options for now. I prefer it in the slow cooker to give it even more time to absorb flavor, but I did not have any issue in the least with the stove top version.
3. It is chunky, hearty and bursting with flavor. The reason for all the flavor is that you use rotisserie chicken that is already cooked and seasoned. I grab one at our grocery often and typically make this soup now if I have any leftover. Sometimes I pop the entire thing in. The meat literally falls right off of the bone. And it's so delicious.

Since our toddler is refusing meat a lot these days, it takes us two days to fully eat off of a rotisserie chicken. I hate seeing it go to waste if we don't get a chance to use it all up before it goes bad.

This soup has been a great way to up cycle leftovers and that makes this mama happy!

What you need to make this recipe:

1. cooked rotisserie chicken: About a two pound chicken should do the trick. If yours is a bit more that's ok. I have tossed it in with 1/4 of the chicken already eaten and thought it was fine as well. I throw the entire thing in, bones and all. Typically I pull of the breast meat and cut it up, but everything else I keep on the bone. If you don't want a lot of hassle with pulling bones out, you can just throw the thigh and wing bones in or something along those terms. I have done that as well when I am feeling extra lazy.
2. chicken broth: technically you could use water since you are almost making your own bone broth. But I am not one to ever say no to more flavor so I opted for broth instead.
3. celery
4. carrots: whatever this recipe says, know that I almost always double the amount. I am a sucker for broth soaked carrots. I pick them out all the time for myself. Like the person who picks out the cookie chunks in the cookie dough ice cream, only very very very different actually.
5. onion: I use a yellow onion.
6. seasonings: I use a combo of thyme, parsley and oregano. This hits the nail for me. The rotisserie chicken we usually get doesn't have too crazy of seasoning so this is the right balance.
7. bay leaf: If we are being transparent, I always add a bay leaf to my soup but also don't know a thing about them.
8. corn starch: one of the main reasons I think I have never liked Chicken Noodle Soup that much is because I am not super big on broth. I find it to be too thin. The addition of some corn starch adds a nice thickness to the broth.
9. pasta: I use rotini, regular pasta. I have not tried this recipe with any other aside from regular and whole wheat. If you are using another type, such as a rice pasta or another gluten free option, you will probably be better off cooking the pasta separately and then adding it to the soup. I am not certain of the cook times of those pastas either.

Notes and Pro-Tips:

• Biggest thing for this soup: DO NOT OVERCOOK THE PASTA. You can add pre-cooked pasta to the soup if you desire instead of adding it in dry. You do NOT want to overcook the pasta or it will disintegrate or become very mushy. Make sure you are adding dry pasta very close to the time you plan to serve the rotisserie chicken noodle soup.
• Be careful when eating this chicken noodle soup as there may be a few stray bones from the chicken. If you are feeding the kiddos, check their soup before serving. The bones can be a slight nuisance, but the rich and delicious flavor you get makes it so worth it to me.
• This soup is pretty thick, even with 12 cups of broth since some gets absorbed into the pasta. Have some extra on stand-by if you want to thin it out a little.
• Need something delicious to pair this rotisserie chicken noodle soup with? Try this Havarti Grilled Cheese with Avocado and Baby Arugula. My personal FAVORITE!

Try these other soup recipes:

• WHITE BEAN, KALE AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP
• CHUNKY ITALIAN VEGETABLE SOUP
• SLOW COOKER CREAMY CHICKEN AND WILD RICE SOUP
• BLACK BEAN AND RICE SOUP
• MAPLE ROASTED SWEET POTATO CARROT SOUP
• SLOW COOKER SWEET POTATO CHILI
• PUMPKIN QUINOA CHILI
• TOMATO TORTELLINI SOUP

DID YOU MAKE ONE OF MY RECIPES? LEAVE A COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW! I ALSO LOVE TO SEE YOUR LEMONS + ZEST RECIPES ON SOCIAL MEDIA–TAG ME @LEMONSANDZEST ON INSTAGRAM OR FACEBOOK!