20-Minute Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe - Crunchy Creamy Sweet (2024)

FAQs

What adds sweetness to soup? ›

Sugar: A pinch of sugar softens the edges of anything that tastes too sour or harsh (looking at you, tomato-based soups).

The best options for thickening soup are cream or half and half. Plain yogurt or even freshly grated cheese works well and adds an extra layer of tangy, salty flavor. Add the dairy at the end and avoid bringing the soup to a boil since this can cause yogurt, cheese, or cream to split.

If your soup is too sweet, you could try adding an acidic ingredient such as lemon juice or vinegar to balance out the sweetness of the carrots. You can also add some savory ingredients such as garlic, onion, and herbs to add more depth and flavor to the soup.

Make ahead: This soup is best made ahead of time when you are using homemade egg noodles (they don't get soggy like regular store bought noodles).

For a deeply flavorful chicken soup, get some boneless, skinless chicken thighs, season them, brown them in a skillet, then finish them in a 375 F oven. You can refrigerate them until you're ready to make the soup, then simply dice them up and add them to the soup at the very end.

It may sound a bit strange and unusual for some, but vinegar is a common ingredient in some soup recipes, and there is a good reason for it. If you think about it, vinegar is really a flavor-enhancer (umami). That's why it is so often used in cooking, sauces, and salad dressings. The same is true with soups.

You can use milk instead of heavy cream, but you won't get quite the same flavor or consistency.

Yogurt, Sour Cream, and Crème Fraîche – Dairy like yogurt, sour cream, and crème fraîche can add a creamy acidity to soups, but can curdle and be unpleasant if cooked over heat for too long, so swirl these in last.

Add More Veggies: Swirl in fresh spinach or kale at the end of cooking for more of a vegetable-heavy soup. Substitute the Noodles: Try potatoes, winter squash, rice, quinoa, or grains. Add hearty veggies (like potatoes) to the pot along with the onions and carrots.

Why add vinegar to chicken noodle soup? ›

Add Vinegar To Begin With To Avoid Oversalting

By adding a splash of an acidic ingredient to your soup as you cook it, you'll reduce the need to add as much salt, while still highlighting and deepening the flavors in the pot.

The sweetness comes from the caramelisation of vegetable, most often onion and/or pepper (capsicum). Chop very finely and cook in olive oil until with salt until the process starts and they have become a deep golden brown.

If you've just dumped the water and discovered that the pasta is still crunchy, the easiest thing to do is simply put it back in boiling water. When you do this, it's important that you stay by the stove the entire time, testing the pasta every 30-60 seconds to make sure you don't end up overcooking it.

To deep-fry the noodles, heat an inch of oil in a deep pot (shallow pans will boil over) to 340°F (170°C). Fry the noodles in batches until they are crispy and golden brown. You may need to flip them over once if there are any noodles sticking out of the oil.

Egg noodles

The addition of egg to the dough makes the noodles chewier and shinier than regular pasta. Often ribbon-shaped, egg noodles eagerly absorb liquids, so they work well in sauces, casseroles, and soups.

Sweet potatoes, of course! They give the soup its sweet flavor, vibrant color, and luscious texture. An apple – It brings out the sweetness of the sweet potatoes.

Adding spices can enhance the taste of food. Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice, mace, cardamom and star anise are commonly associated with sweetness. These spices are often used in baked goods and pair especially well with fruit dishes. Vanilla extract can also make food seem sweeter, perhaps due to its aroma.

Sour: The general go-to here would be lemon juice, although lime will also work. Orange juice will only add more sweetness as will some kinds of vinegar. White wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar are good choices but shy away from balsamic because of its inherent sweetness.