Instant Pot Chicken Zoodle Soup | Easy Chicken Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why do you put lemon juice in chicken noodle soup? ›

I use a bit of lemon juice in mine to brighten up the flavor, and it adds such a welcome element. I love to use a fun pasta shape for a soup like this, such as farfalline or gnocchetti.

If you love food with some zing to it, drizzling in some hot sauce can be a great way to bring on the heat and give your soup an extra edge. Or, mix in some parsley, dill, or other fresh herbs to lend different tasting notes to your meal.

If you're making this to eat later in the day, or you anticipate leftovers, cook the egg noodles in water separately and add them to individual servings. This prevents the noodles soaking up excess broth, which can make them mushy and reduce the amount of broth in your soup.

Cold-poaching the chicken breasts, then removing them until the end of the cooking process, guarantees a perfectly tender and juicy texture. Using stock reinforces the flavor of the broth, creating a more deeply flavorful soup.

It can take a cacophony of flavors and sync them into perfect harmony. It both balances and awakens them. Plus, if you accidentally add too much salt to your soup, a little vinegar will tame the saltiness.

Add flour or cornflour

Put a tablespoon of either into a small bowl and stir in 2-3 tbsp of the soup until you have a smooth mixture. Stir this back into the soup and bring it to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes to allow the starch granules to burst to thicken, and to cook out any flour flavour.

Depending on the soup's flavor profile, you could shake in some cumin or red pepper flakes. Go green: Add some spinach or chopped kale or pesto. Get zesty: A squirt of lemon juice or zest could brighten up an otherwise flat soup. Starchy things: Homemade croutons, crushed tortilla chips, or oyster crackers.

Brown or Sear the Meat

If you are adding meat to a soup, sear or brown it in a sauté pan before you add it to the soup. This adds a deeper savory flavor to the whole soup. This trick is especially useful for things like chicken and sausage, which can sometimes get bland and rubbery while floating in a brothy soup.

There are several ingredients you can add to chicken noodle soup to enhance its flavor. Some popular options include fresh herbs like thyme or parsley, spices like garlic powder or paprika, and savory ingredients like diced tomatoes or mushrooms.

Should you pre cook egg noodles before adding to soup? ›

➜ How to cook egg noodles

If you're going to use fresh noodles right away, always cook them before adding to the soup. Boil them separately in a pot of salted water for two minutes (photo 1). Drain the noodles and rinse with cold water (photo 2). That way, you stop the cooking process, and the noodles stay al dente.

Stir an egg into soup.

When you remove the broth from the heat, crack an egg into the hot broth and stir slowly. The yolk and white will poach slowly in the liquid and absorb the flavor of the soup and ingredients, adding heartiness and rich texture to your broth.

Seasoning the Soup: If you feel the soup is missing some zing, add a bit more salt. You can also add a pop of flavor with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a dash of fish sauce (we use this trick for store-bought stocks and broths often) or Worcestershire sauce.

Keep the soup at a steady simmer: Keep the pot partially covered and at a low simmer. You should see slow but steady bubbles and wisps of steam coming from the pot (although don't reduce the temperature so low that the water falls below 165°F or else the chicken won't cook through).

You can cook the chicken at a high-enough temperature to kill bacteria by turning up the heat on the broth, but for a much safer and tastier method, brown your chicken first. Browning or searing the chicken in a separate pan is not only far more foolproof, but adds richness and extra umami to your soup.

Always Add An Acid To Your Soups

Lemon is arguably even more essential in richer soups like wild mushroom and rice, curried split pea, or even white bean and bacon. This is because the delicate balance of flavor profiles requires that acidic, lemony zing to cut through the fats in the soup.

Here's why: Lemon juice helps to tenderize meat, but when left for too long, it will break down the proteins too much, making the meat tough and rubbery… sometimes even mushy. So, if you want tender, juicy, and flavorful chicken, make sure to only marinate the chicken for 2-3 hours.

Like pickling, smoking, and curing, the practice of rinsing chicken with lemon juice probably started out as a way to neutralize any off-aromas in the meat and cut down on bacteria.

Soaking your chicken in lemon juice may be an effective way to neutralize odors and rinse off some bacteria, but it won't act as a complete disinfectant. Rather, it's a safer alternative to washing your chicken off in the sink, and the lower pH environment will help prevent new bacteria from growing.