Completely ready from scratch in under 45 minutes, this is likely the best soup you've ever made, if not eaten. You should already have most, if not all, the ingredients on hand, except maybe the chicken (more on that later).
Ingredients
1 medium onion (diced)
3-4 large carrots (sliced)
2-3 stalks celery (sliced)
2-3 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tsp Thyme
Bay leaf
8 cups chicken broth (See notes below)
1 lb(ish) shredded chicken (see notes below)
Noodles (see notes below)
1 tbsp soy sauce
Salt and pepper
Parsley
Instructions:
Dice onion into smaller pieces, and finely chop the garlic.
Slice carrots and celery to what you consider 'spoon' size
Add onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to large pot and add a touch of oil. Scramble fry till onions begin to soften.
Add in thyme, bay leaf, and give it another stir, then add broth.
Bring to a fast, rolling, boil, then reduce to simmer. Cover and let cook for 10 minutes.
Remove bay leaf (do this before doing anything else, otherwise it'll get lost).
Add chicken and noodles.
Let simmer for about 5 minutes to heat up chicken and soften noodles.
Stir in soy sauce.
Salt and pepper, to taste, and add parsley.
Let heat for 5 minutes more and serve.
Notes:
Shredded chicken: I like to use leftover chicken, buy rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and enjoy a fresh meal, then pull the meat off the bones and discard the carcass.; throw it in the fridge to use the next day or freeze it to use next month, it's a cheap and tasty source of protein. The amount of meat you add to the soup is dependent on what you want to end up with, add more if you like or add less, it's your choice, 1 pound is a rough suggestion.
Noodles: I purposely left it vague so you could choose how much you want in there, most packages will have suggested serving so go with that. Add as much or as little as you like, I suspect the first time you make it you'll add too much (I know I did) but add a bit more broth and you've just got more soup.
Broth: Use what broth you like or have on hand, as long as you have at least 8 cups worth you're good. Be it bouillon cubes, dry power, liquid concentrate, or canned it'll work, but try to get a decent quality whatever you do. Personally, I'm partial to this stuff.
Step 10: I hate when people say 'season to taste' but there it is. Depending on how much soup you made a ½ tsp of kosher salt will likely do the job, I use fresh ground pepper and add what feels right, but if you're using ground, maybe the same ¼ tsp, a little pepper goes a long way. As for parsley, you don't have to add this, it just adds a bit of color, if you don't have it on hand don't worry about it, it won't affect the end product; if you need a measurement, use 1 tsp.