This soup uses a store-bought rotisserie chicken as its base and keeps the pasta separate to prevent it getting mushy. It’s similar to my mom’s chicken soup, but with a longer cook time and smaller pasta.
Ingredients
- 1 grocery store rotisserie chicken (I like the seasoning used by Stop & Shop, but pick your favorite, the chicken’s seasoning will affect the final taste profile of your soup.)
- 2 medium onions
- 4 medium-large carrots
- 2 celery stalks
- Herbox chicken bullion cubes
- To taste: salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley
- 1 lb Barilla Mini Farfalle
- Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
Recipe
Unlike my mom’s version, this one is designed to simmer all day long. In fact, if you can make the stock the day before so it can simmer as long as possible, it will be even better.
The Stock
This step is easier if you buy a warm rotisserie chicken and break it down as soon as you get home with it, but a cold one will work just as well. Break down the chicken, removing all of the meat from the bones and shredding or chopping it into chunks. Set it aside in the fridge. The skin can be removed and set aside for snacking (air fry for a few minutes to crisp it up!) or used in the stock.
Once the meat is removed, put the remaining carcass into your pot ( I use a 3QT Dutch Oven) and add water until the chicken is submerged. Simmer for at least 6 hours.
The instruction there assume you’re buying the rotisserie chicken specifically to the Make this soup, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Often when I buy one for a meal, I’ll save the carcass and use it to make soup the next day, or toss it in the fridge to make stock for another meal in the future. The first part of this recipe can be followed to make a stock to freeze or for any number of other soups!
The Soup
While the stock is simmering, prep your veggies. You can do this when the stock is just about done, around when you’d like to eat, or earlier in the day and set them aside for later, it depends on what you’ve got going on the rest of the day.
- Peel the onions and cut off the ends but leave them whole.
- Peel the carrots and slice into 1.2″ rounds
- Remove the ends of the celery and slice a similar size to the carrots.
About an hour before you’d like to eat, turn off the heat and gather a colander and a large pot or bowl (it needs to hold all of your stock temporarily. We’re going to strain out the carcass. Place your colander in your bowl or pot, and pour the stock + carcass into it. Discard the carcass, and pour the stock back into your cooking pot. If you have a mash sieve, pour the stock through it when returning it to the pot for remove small bits of detritus.
Return to the stove and put the heat on medium. Add the onions and cook until the middles start to pop out, then add the carrots and celery.
While the veggies are cooking, ad a bit of each of your seasonings (onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and celery). I got with a few shakes of each and then taste, adding more and adjusting until I’m satisfied. There’s not right or wrong way here, it’s whatever you like. At this point, if you feel like your stock doesn’t have a strong enough chicken flavor, you can also add a bouillon cube or two.
The Pasta & Chicken
While the carrots and celery are cooking, make your pasta. I use Mini Farfalle, but you can use whatever you like. Cook according to package directions and drain. Toss with a bit of butter or olive oil to prevent sticking and set aside, covered so it stays warm.
Add the chicken to the soup in the last 5 minutes or so before serving to warm it up. I usually put about half the meat into the soup and reserve half to make chicken salad the following day for lunch, but you can add all the chicken back in if you like (if you do, you may want to use more veggies and pasta as this will make more servings of soup than I usually do).
Serving
Do not add the pasta to the soup on the stove. Instead, each individual serving should have pasta and soup combined in the bowl. This prevents the pasta from getting soggy both during the meal and when packing away any leftovers. Serve with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese and enjoy!