Whenever we are searching for a recipe that the whole family will enjoy on a crisp evening we nearly always find ourselves fixing a big pot of Liz’s Creamy Chicken and Noodles.
Over the years the recipe has been shared with only a few privileged friends and only after they signed a lengthy confidentiality agreement. Not really, but she could have. It has taken me several years to learn and master the tricks that really send this recipe over the top. I’ll try to cover all the steps here as best I can but as with all great recipes, sometimes it just takes practice.
This recipe is really quite easy, the only caveat is that to make it great you need to allow yourself some time. That is why we will normally schedule this in our Monthly Menu Plan on the weekends. Allow yourself 4-5 hours to complete. So let’s get started.
The Process
Start by preparing a whole chicken in a large cooking pot on your stovetop. Rinse the chicken and add roughly chopped celery, carrots and onions. Season the water with salt and pepper and place over a medium fire and bring to a boil. Then reduce to low and let it slowly boil for 2-3 hours. We want to make a little chicken stock while we are at it. Remove from the heat and let set for 45-60 minutes to cool.
Once it’s cooled slightly, remove the chicken and strain the vegetables from the chicken stock, make sure to save as much of the stock as you can. It works great in all sorts of recipes, especially soup. But for our purposes we are going to use it all to cook the noodles. So transfer the chicken stock back in the large pot you used to cook the chicken and add only enough additional water to cook the noodles. Now, pick the chicken from the bones. We love leftovers so this recipe is quite large.
Cook the noodles according to the package directions and strain, reserve the liquid again. Add the noodles back to the pot and combine with the soup, milk and chicken. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add just enough of the reserve liquid to make it creamy.
Creamy Chicken and Noodles
- Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes
Description
Creamy Chicken and Noodles just like Mom used to make. Recipe from PocketChangeGourmet.com
Ingredients
- 1 (4-5 pound) whole chicken, cleaned inside and out
- Carrots (2), Onion (1) and Celery (4) to cook with chicken
- 2 bags (16 oz) extra wide noodles
- 2 cans cream of chicken soup
- Milk – fill the empty soup can
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot, place chicken, carrots, onion and celery, cover with water
- Bring to hard boil, reduce heat and continue to boil for about 2 hours or until chicken is tender and falls off bone
- Cool about 1 hour or until able to handle
- Remove from pan, reserving all of the liquid
- Bring reserved liquid and water, if necessary to boil, cook noodles according to directions on package
- Drain noodles, reserving liquid, add back to pan
- Add soup, milk and chicken
- Add a little reserved liquid at a time until desired consistency
- Serve with mashed potatoes and a veggie if you like
Notes
Cook time includes boiling chicken.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
Give this a try this weekend and I’m sure you’ll be adding this to your menu from now on.
4 Comments
Ooh! This sounds yummy! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!
My Grandmother used to make her Chicken and Noodles this way. She would make a pan full of homemade mashed potatoes to go with it. To serve it, Grandma would put a mound of mashed potatoes on a plate, make a deep well in the center, then top them with the Chicken and Noodles. Even on his death bed, this was the only food my Grandfather asked for. ?
Such a great memory Paula! Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
I made this recipe this weekend (with mashed potatoes and green beans). My family cleaned their plates and asked for seconds. Perfection! It is going into our rotation. Thank you!