This is a good one, friends.
If you or anyone you know needs some comfort food, or if it’s cold outside, or if you like to eat, or if it’s a day of the week that ends in “y”, make this now. You’ll thank me.
Creamy Chicken and Homemade Noodles is a big batch of creamy, rich gravy that smothers bites of beautifully simmered chicken and thick, chewy homemade noodles.
Also, you can make it ahead in the crock-pot or just make it stove-top–whichever suits your time purposes. Modify it to suit your taste and time-frame with homemade or store-bought ingredients.
I ALWAYS make mashed potatoes because that’s how I eat this–over buttery, mashed yumminess. And I make homemade cream of chicken soup, but you can save time and use cans of store-bought if you need to.
Begin by cooking your chicken breasts or thighs in about 6 cups of chicken stock. Another option (which I do when I have the time) is to cook a whole chicken in a crock pot filled with water, salt, pepper, and any seasonings on low overnight. Remove the meat in the morning and put it in the fridge. Put all the bones back in and let them cook in the broth until dinner time to get as much nutrition as you can out of the bones. Then, use 6 cups of the stock (broth) for the rest of the recipe and refrigerate the additional.
Or use almost 2 boxes of chicken broth. Whatever you have time for.
Add in two cans of cream of chicken soup. You can also make it yourself if you have five extra minutes with just a few pantry ingredients. Instructions at the bottom of the post.*
If you’re using the stovetop, this should cook within an hour or so. Otherwise, you can use the crock-pot for 6 hours on low.
When the chicken is fully cooked, shred it with two forks, and add it to the pot. Or get your pre-cooked meat from the fridge and add it in.
Separate the noodles and let them dry for at least an hour if you’re able. Some folks insist that egg noodles need to dry for a few hours, but I’ve not found much difference when I’ve cooked them immediately, so if you have time, dry them, but if you’re in a pinch, cook those beauties up.
When the soup base is incorporated and hot, drop the noodles in, and let them cook at least 30 minutes. If you’re using a crock pot, give the noodles an hour to cook before serving.
Serve over mashed potatoes or bread or both if you need a starch fix.
And you’ll feel all better and I might be your new best friend.
*Pinch of Yum provided me with this awesome recipe for homemade Cream of Chicken Soup concentrate which is just like the can without any mystery ingredients. You can whip it up in minutes and enjoy it anytime in a recipe that calls for a can. I make one batch for my Creamy Chicken and Homemade Noodles recipe.
To begin, in a saucepan, combine 2 1/2 c. chicken broth with 1/2 c. milk and bring to a low boil. While that’s heating, in a small bowl whisk together the following ingredients: 3/4 c. flour with approx. 2 1/2 T. seasonings of your choice. I use 1/2 tsp. onion powder, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. kosher or sea salt, 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning, 1/2 tsp. parsley, and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Whisk an additional 1 c. milk into the flour and seasonings. Whisk the milk and seasonings into the hot broth/milk mixture and that’s it — homemade cream soup!
- 2 24-oz containers of chicken stock
- 2 cans of cream of chicken soup
- ½ tsp. pepper
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts or bone-in thighs (just remove the bones when the chicken is cooked)
- ½ c. butter
- Noodles:
- 3 c. flour
- ½ tsp. salt
- 3 eggs
- ½ c. milk
- 2 T. butter
- Cook the chicken in 6 cups of chicken broth in a pot on the stovetop for about an hour or 6 hours on low in the crock pot. See post for directions on how to start with a whole chicken and make stock.
- Add in two cans of cream of chicken soup or one recipe for homemade cream of chicken soup as seen in the directions in the post.
- Shred the chicken and add back in.
- Add in 1 stick (1/2 c.) butter and ½ tsp. pepper.
- To make the noodles, mix the flour, salt, eggs, milk, and melted butter in a mixing bowl.
- Divide the dough into two balls and let them rest on a flour sprinkled counter for 10 minutes.
- Use a rolling pin to roll each ball of dough out to ⅛-1/4" thickness and cut into strips with a pizza cutter or sharp knife. Separate the noodles so they can dry well.
- Drop cooked noodles into the soup base and let them cook at least 30 minutes, or if using a crock pot, at least an hour.
- Serve over mashed potatoes and/or homemade bread.
Can these be made the day before and put in the fridge overnight I am planning to make these for thanksgiving dinner and would like to make the noodles the day before this will be my first attempt at chicken and noodles
Absolutely! You can dry the noodles even on a cooling rack (like for cookies) and once they are completely dry, store them in an airtight container right on the counter.
What a great Thanksgiving idea! I hope all goes well for you. Thanks for commenting!
Since this comment, I tested the crock pot cook times and included them in the post. It is now crock pot friendly!
One more question-If cooking in the crockpot, at what point would you add the noodles? I’m assuming they need more than the 30 minutes like you would do on the stove top?Nicole
That’s such a good question! I haven’t made them in the crock pot so I am guessing to answer you. I would think they’d take longer. I don’t think you can ruin then by trying for an hour or so. I’m wondering, though, if a higher temp would cook them better?
No, Nicole, they are not crispy-dry like store noodles. They just firm up quite a bit on the outside so they are not doughy-soft. Within at least three hours I’ve always had mine turn out fine. If I think of it, I flip them over sometime during the drying process. Good question! Thanks for asking! :o)
I’ve never made noodles before…how dry should they be? Dry like the noodles you buy in a bag at the store?Nicole