Growing up in Central Pennsylvania, I have been surrounded by my share of Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. One of the dishes that is a popular one for church sales and fire company dinners is chicken corn noodle soup. It’s exactly what it sounds like – chicken noodle soup with corn in it.
When the weather turns cool and rainy (or when I’m sick), the canned chicken noodle soup just won’t do it for me… I start to crave the homemade chicken corn noodle soup that I grew up with. Last week we had a few chilly and rainy days, so it seemed like the perfect time to whip up a batch of soup. I didn’t have a recipe (well, maybe I do have one, but I didn’t bother to look for it), and I’ve never actually made it myself before, so I was flying by the seat of my pants (or strings of my apron?). In the end, everything came together pretty easily, and it was exactly what I had been hoping for.
I started with a whole chicken and made a giant batch of soup. It freezes well, so don’t be afraid to pop a few containers of soup into your freezer for later in the winter when you need a warm, comforting bowl of soup!
Chicken Corn Noodle Soup
(serves 10-12)
For the chicken broth:
- Whole chicken (4 1/2 – 5 pounds)
- 1 small head garlic, cut in half crosswise
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 ribs celery, cut into chunks
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- Few sprigs of sage
- Few sprigs of thyme
- Water to cover (about 8 cups)
For the soup:
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large carrots, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
- 4 ribs celery, diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 large onion, diced (about 1 cup)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 4 ears corn, steamed and cut off the cob
- 1 pound egg noodles
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Start by preparing the chicken broth and cooking the chicken. Place the chicken in a large heavy bottomed pot or dutch oven. Add the garlic, carrots, celery, black peppercorns, Kosher salt, sage, and thyme. Add enough water to just cover the chicken and vegetables. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium heat and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours.
Carefully remove the chicken from the pot and transfer to a large cutting board. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the chicken from the bones and shred with two forks. Meanwhile, strain the remaining vegetables and herbs from the chicken broth, and set the broth aside.
To prepare the soup, heat the olive oil in a large soup kettle or dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Cook the vegetables in the olive oil, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until tender.
Add the reserved chicken broth to the vegetables. Stir in the poultry seasoning. Bring to a boil. Stir in the shredded chicken, corn, and egg noodles. Continue to cook, stirring occasionaly, until the noodles are soft – about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and black pepper, and serve immediately.
Note – I like my soup to be thick and not have too much broth. You could add additional chicken broth or water to the soup after adding the chicken, corn, and noodles, if you like more broth in your soup. Season with the salt and pepper after adding the additional liquid.
I have never heard of Chicken Corn Noodle Soup; your recipe looks terrific. I love making Chicken Noodle Soup, but I’ve never added garlic and sage when making the broth. Sounds like a great addition.
Ooh I think this is a fabulous soup! I love corn in soup.
This soup looks perfect Jen. It has comfort written all over it.
Chicken noodle soup is my all-time favorite comfort food. This version looks delicious! I’d love to see more Pennsylvania Dutch recipes :)
My favorite comfort food in winter is chicken and dumplings; this is so similar with the exception of noodles for dumplings and the addition of corn…a must try!
great comfort soup for a cold winter day :) i could use a bowl right now!
Another recipe I must make! I still need to make your coconut corn chowder, too. :-)
You grew up in PA? I was born there, in a city called Holland. My family moved out to CA when I was a few years old… My mom said that before the move, my cheeks were always red so she thought that I just had naturally red cheeks, but after the move they turned to normal skin color and that’s when she realized that it was because of the cold weather! So I can definitely see how handy a nice bowl of hot soup is a necessity out there. :) Your soup looks delicious… The air is definitely getting crispier out here so I can’t wait to start making some soups of my own.
There’s just nothing that compares to homemade chicken noodle soup. I love the addition of the corn!
Wow…this is comfort in a bowl for sure! I can almost smell it through my monitor! :) I need to make up a pot a freeze it! Thanks for sharing!
Hooray for PA Dutch cooking! I love chicken corn noodle soup too. My nana was 100% Pennsylvania Dutch and taught my mother her recipes, which are now mine. I can’t make soup from ready-made broth. The one thing I can’t make is fasnachts. Boy I miss them!
What? No hard boiled eggs? We had this soup at least once a week in my South Central Pennsylvania high school, and I’m pretty sure it had eggs. I hated this soup then, but crave it now. Thanks for reminding me to make some.
I too grew up in Central PA (Lancaster), last year while I was still eating chicken, I had an intense craving for Chicken Corn Soup and called my Mom up for her recipe.
While not entirely traditional, we used creamed corn in our recipe in addition to frozen corn with great success. And yeah, why not hard boiled eggs? Those are a necessity for any “traditional” chicken corn soup ;-)
Betsy and Stef… It’s funny that you both mentioned hard boiled eggs. I don’t think I’ve ever had chicken corn noodle soup with hard boiled eggs! Weird! Granted, it’s probably good because I really don’t like hard boiled eggs, so I never would have made the soup. :)
I grew up in York PA and there were definitely hard boiled eggs in my grandma’s soup! LOL. Thanks for the recipe. I live in south TX now and it’s not quite cold yet but I’m thinking about whipping some up tonight anyway. Maybe I’ll just crank the a/c, throw on a sweater, and pretend!
That looks great. Depending on my moods, I would add some strange ingredients to my chicken noodle. I love the addition of corn.
I’ve been craving soup lately. I guess it’s the fall weather that’s been messing with my taste buds.
What a fabulous soup for the fall. I love Chicken noodle soup and what a great idea to add corn! How seasonal.
Delicious soup! I love this time of the year and often call it “soup weather” :) We try to make a big pot on Sunday and then eat it throughout the week. This soup is something I will definitely try!
although a vegetarian, I am mesmerized by your dish!- wow- you are so detailed- great shots too~
I am Pa Dutch myself. I must admit though I never mix the two together. I either make chicken noodle soup or chicken corn soup. Your recipe is very appealing with the thyme and sage. I will have to give it a try. I look forward to following your tweets on twitter.
i love chicken noodle soup,i will definitely try
I tried this last night and my soup turned out terrific! Thanks for the recipe :)
Another comment from PA Dutch Country (Lancaster County). Always had this with hard boiled eggs at my dear old Grandma Adams’ house (maiden name- Grosstafon)and love the combination.
PS: I’m making a big pot right now!
Barry
what’s a head of garlic??????????????