Chicken (or Turkey) and Noodles

This is one of my favorite ways to use up leftover turkey, but you can also substitute chicken, and it's just as fabulous. I like to use a rotisserie chicken (hence being featured in "Rotisserie Week")--I use about half the chicken and save the rest for other meals. (I don't know if this equals 4 cups of chicken, like it calls for. This is one I just eyeball and decide if it looks like enough chicken.) Most of all I love how easy this recipe is, but it is SO delicious! I know 96 oz. sounds like a lot of chicken broth, but it equals three of the boxes of Swanson broth. The carrots are optional, but we really enjoy them. We usually have enough to have one meal and lots of leftovers, or I can freeze the rest for another meal later. It is best served over mashed potatoes. Sorry, I have looked and looked, but I can't find where I got this from originally.

You can also add cauliflower and butternut squash purees!

Printable Recipe

Chicken (or Turkey) and Noodles

96 oz. of turkey or chicken broth
3 carrots, sliced
1/2 cup of diced onion
1/2 tsp of salt

1/4 tsp of pepper
1 bay leaf
1 lb. of frozen noodles (I like Reames brand)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I've tried whole wheat, but it didn't thicken the soup like I wanted)
1 1/2 cups of milk
4 cups of cooked turkey (or chicken)
Salt
Mashed potatoes, prepared


In a large pot, heat broth and carrots to boiling.

Add onion, salt, pepper, bay leaf, and frozen noodles and bring to a boil again. Then reduce heat to keep from boiling over but let it still bubble freely. Cook for 10 minutes.

In a bowl, stir flour and milk together and then add to the bubbling pot. Cook until the juices are somewhat reduced and slightly thickened.

Remove bay leaf.

Add chicken or turkey (and purees, if using). Salt to taste.

Serve over homemade mashed potatoes. You can probably add frozen peas to this, but I haven't tried it yet.



This makes a wonderful freezer meal. If you want to freeze it, I do not add the noodles during cooking. Instead just let the soup cool, divide into the portion size that you like and freeze. Since the noodles are already frozen, just keep the noodles with the broth in the freezer.

When you want to make this on a later day, thaw, remove from freezer bag and then bring to a boil. Add noodles and boil for 10 minutes.