I don’t know about you, but Fall gets me in the mood to make soup. When I was young, my parents would roast a chicken and then make chicken noodle soup afterwards, and now, I am following suit. The best way to make chicken soup after all, is to start by roasting a chicken. Two meals for the price of one! I highly recommend Bon Appetit’s recipe for roast chicken. It has become my absolute go-to, and is the perfect Sunday chicken with roasted vegetables. Not to mention, the schmalz! That ooey gooey chicken schmalz on the bottom of the cast iron is phenomenal.
Once you eat your roast chicken dinner and it has filled your home with the best of smells, look no further than this chicken noodle soup recipe, which involves boiling the chicken carcass for a couple of hours. Doing this utilizes all the leftover chicken meat AND makes the yummiest homemade chicken broth. From there, you can make your soup! And I’ll just say that this adaptation of Jenny Rosenstrach’s Chicken Noodle Soup with Orzo from Dinner: A Love Story is a revelation. Never would I have thought to use orzo, but Jenny recommends it, and I will never go back.
So, when you have a free Sunday and you’re looking for something delicious to roast for dinner, followed by a week’s worth of the coziest soup, try out this recipe and see for yourself!
Chicken Noodle Soup with Orzo
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 3 carrots peeled and chopped
- 3 celery stalks chopped (can also use a mirepoix mix for the above 3 ingredients)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup wine white is preferred but red will work too
- 8 cups chicken stock, divided (made with the roasted chicken)
- Leftover chicken pieces from whole roasted chicken
- 1 1/2 cups orzo
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley
- Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- In a large stockpot, place leftover whole roasted chicken (bones, meat, skin, everything) and cover with water. Boil chicken in water for at least 2 hours and up to 4 or 5 hours, making sure water covers the chicken throughout the time.
- After at least 2 hours, remove chicken to a plate. Strain water (now chicken stock) through a sieve and reserve as chicken stock for the soup in a separate container until needed.
- Place large stockpot back on stove over medium-low heat, and sauté the onion, carrots, celery, salt and pepper in the oil for 10-12 minutes.
- Add the wine and turn up the heat to high until the liquid has completely reduced. Add 6 cups of chicken stock and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, add the orzo and cook for 7 minutes.
- While orzo cooks, remove usable chicken from the whole roasted chicken, discarding bones/skin/inedible pieces, and place leftover chicken (ripped into bite size pieces) in the stockpot as the orzo boils.
- Once the orzo is cooked after 7 minutes, add up to 2 more cups of stock if the soup has gotten too thick (usually a good idea because the soup thickens as it cools). Taste and add salt and pepper as needed (may need 1-2 tsps of salt).
- For serving, scoop soup into bowls and top with chopped parsley and parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
Notes
