Jewish holiday, Friday night dinner, feeling under the weather or just because – Chicken Soup is always our family favorite! Just like my grandma used to make, this homemade chicken soup recipe,with Matzo Balls and Egg Noodles, is easy enough for even the most cooking challenged!
There are tons of recipes that promise a great soup in half of the time to make it, but be warned, you will trade time for quality. Authentic chicken soup takes some time to make, but the rich and savory taste will make it worth the wait. Don’t be afraid to make chicken soup from scratch – it isn’t as hard as you think and the taste is worlds better than canned soup!
Listen, I am all about short cuts, but not when it impacts the taste. This is simply the best chicken noodle soup you will ever make. You will never eat chicken soup in a can again after you taste the rich and tender chicken broth and oodles of egg noodles, vegetables and matzo balls. Make extra and freeze it! It warms up like a dream!
Nothing cures a cold like a home remedy of a bowl of traditional Jewish chicken soup. My Grandma Lee had the best Jewish penicillin chicken soup recipe. This was a staple on Friday night Shabbat dinners, Rosh Hashanah, Passover or just for a weeknight dinner. She would often make a big Tupperware full of chicken soup and matzo balls for me to take up to school (she wanted to make sure I ate well when I was away!)
How to Make Homemade Chicken Soup
Many people claim a homemade chicken noodle soup recipe, but they use canned or boxed chicken soup in their recipe. Trust me….there IS a difference! If you want that true homemade chicken soup taste, read on!
My sister, Julie, got her famous recipe right from my Grandma Lee over the phone.As most of you know, I am not the cook in the family….. that’s my sister, Julie. So, while I would ask my grandma to make it for me, Julie had the foresight to ask her to teach her how to make it.
She talked her through the whole thing. She never wrote it down, but we did! Below is our best approximation of the basic recipe she taught us.
Everyone likes their chicken soup a bit different. Grandma strained hers so it was clear and then added the pieces of carrots back in. We like a few more bits in it so I don’t strain it. Sometimes we chop up the onions and celery and leave them in as well. We never make it exactly the same twice. We throw in a bit more a bit less, but somehow it always comes out tasting just like it’s supposed to!
How long can you keep homemade chicken soup?
Chicken soup can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Beyond that I would recommend freezing it in either a container or heavy duty freezer bags. Either way, I usually keep the noodles and matzo balls separate and put them in the soup when I am ready to warm it up.
They say that chicken soup helps to clear the nasal passages and it acts as an anti inflammatory which helps with the cold symptoms!
Chicken Soup Recipe
4.78 from 18 votes
Jewish Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
Author — Jennifer Fishkind
Serves — 8
Jewish holiday, Friday night dinner, feeling under the weather or just because – Chicken Soup is always our family favorite! Just like my grandma used to make, this homemade chicken noodle soup,with Matzo Balls and Egg Noodles, is easy enough for even the most cooking challenged!
Place the chicken and the onion in a large stock pot
Fill with cold water
Bring to simmer
Skim fat from the top before adding in remaining ingredients
Add in carrots, celery, dill salt and pepper
Simmer partially covered for at least an hour to an hour and a half
You will know when it is getting close when the chicken begins to fall apart
Cook for another 1/2 hour after that
Remove the chicken, onion, celery and dill from the pot
Add in egg noodles and cook as directed on the package
Remove the chicken from the bone and add it back to the pot if desired
*The secret of the perfect Matzo Ball: Use the packaged stuff. Manischewitz Matzo Ball Mix. I have had many a homemade matzoh ball in my day, but the best ones come straight from the box. They have it proportioned perfectly, so I never bother with trying to figure it out myself. Save yourself the aggravation, follow the directions on the box and make the perfect ball!
Chicken soup has been a popular home remedy for the common cold since at least the 12th century. Eating chicken soup while you have a cold will not do you any harm, but it will not cure your cold. Drinking warm liquids, such as soup, may give you relief from your symptoms for a short time.
Not only does acid brighten your soup, but also balance the flavor including the saltiness that comes from the broth (store-bought chicken broth and stock, or bouillon, are typically high in sodium).
If your little one is battling the flu or a cold, chicken soup can help in a few ways. It may support the body's immune response, provide hydration and replenish electrolytes, moisten mucus, and even soothe a sore throat.
When you simmer a fresh chicken — complete with bones, skin, and meat — you extract the collagen from the bones. This collagen in the bones is what is causing your soup to gel. It's completely natural, and it only happens in rich, well-made chicken stock. It can be a little freaky, though, if you're not expecting it!
Even the warmth of chicken soup can help. Drinking the liquid and inhaling the vapors increase the temperature of nasal and respiratory passages, which loosens the thick mucus that often accompanies respiratory illnesses. Compared with hot water alone, studies show chicken soup is more effective at loosening mucus.
The steam from chicken soup may open up congested noses and throats. Soup also provides fluid, which thins mucus and helps prevent dehydration. Chicken soup is believed to contain an amino acid that is similar to a drug used to treat some respiratory infections.
Bone broth serves as a great way to replenish the fluids that you're losing, while also providing your body with valuable electrolytes from the sodium in the broth. These electrolytes will also help you absorb the water more easily.
Stock is generally made from bones, and broth is generally made from flesh. In both cases, they are often supported with aromatic vegetables, but in the case of stock, left unseasoned for maximum flexibility in recipes, whereas broth will usually contain at least salt and pepper.
Whichever way, the key is to not to break down the gelatin (the cooked form of collagen) in the process. Even though the bone broth is still nutritious, you know you want that collagen too amiright? Over-boiling is the sure way to kill off the gelatin, so take care not to.
Ensure you've added enough salt and black pepper. Too little salt means your soup's flavors will remain hidden. When you know your soup is salty enough, move on to other seasonings like herbs and spices.
When chicken cooks in soup, an amino acid called cysteine is released. Cysteine thins mucus in the lungs, aiding in chest decongestion and faster healing. Chicken also provides a great source of protein that is particularly helpful to muscles when your body feels weakened and drained during illness.
One notable study showed that chicken soup diminishes the presence of white blood cells associated with inflammation in upper respiratory conditions that often plague cold sufferers, suggesting that it encourages a more effective immune response and helps symptoms clear up quicker.
The steam from chicken noodle soup also has a mild anti-inflammatory effect. Heat relaxes the muscles, it soothes discomfort in sore throats, it dilates blood vessels to increase blood flow.
According to the study, undertaken by Nebraska Medical Center, chicken soup achieves these results by inhibiting something known as neutrophil chemotaxis. Basically, white blood cells behave differently after chicken soup, resulting in added anti-inflammatory activity.
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