This week I made a healthy, nourishing chicken noodle soup, which is more of a broth. I had frozen stock in my freezer and leftover chicken wings, which I added to a big pot with some other chicken pieces and then gently boiled with veggies and the rest.

I've just recently been away, and this is kind of my reset soup. I make this when I feel like we need a bit of a detox, and everyone in my house absolutely loves it. There's nothing left over ever.

Years of Soups Boiled Down to One Pot

This soup is probably an adaptation of many many other soups that I've made in the past. I've just narrowed it down to these ingredients. I've been making this soup for as long as I can remember.

Years, probably since my whole adult life.

I always use those vermicelli noodles because I just love them. And my son also loves them. And they're light and fat-free.

But you can use jasmine rice, which is also really nice in the soup, or a pasta kind of form like Orzo. It's totally up to you.

Roadside Fennel and Chicken Thighs on the Bone

The soup is easy to make because it normally has all the ingredients that everyone has in their fridge, which are carrots, celery, and onion. I don't always put fennel bulbs in. If I see fennel bulbs at the shop, I'll normally grab them.

Otherwise, they grow here on the side of the road, and I'll just go and pick a whole bunch and add it to my soup.

I like to use chicken thighs here and drumsticks and/or wings. I wouldn't use just a plain chicken breast here. It wouldn't give you that same texture in the meat.

You want it to be still a bit tender, not dry and stringy. I think you definitely need spring onion for the soup. I think it just makes the soup really, really delicious.

You can even use leeks. If you've got leeks, just make sure you wash them really well.

If I didn't have vermicelli (but I always have vermicelli at the bottom of my cupboard), I would use jasmine rice. And I would cook some on the side and then have, like, a rice soup, which is also really delicious. I think good olive oil is also necessary for this soup because I like it when it takes on that green, rich look.

Frying the Base and Simmering for an Hour and a Half

Start by making the base.

1. Cut a whole onion, and chop a whole bunch of spring onions from top to bottom. Don't waste any bits.
2. Peel about four carrots and then chop them about the same size as you would chop the onion.
3. Chop two big cloves of garlic.
4. Fennel: I use that whole packet of fennel. I also just chopped it the same as the carrots.
5. Celery: use about three stalks of celery or so, cut to the same size.
6. Put it in a big pot with the heavy base and fry it off with a good glug of olive oil.
7. Add three pieces of defrosted chicken breasts on the bone, thighs, or drumsticks. Pretty much whatever you've got, but it should be on the bone.
8. Stir that a bit until everything kind of starts cooking.
9. Add your stock, in which case I had a ready-made stock that I'd frozen in the freezer. You don't have to use stock; you can just use water and then season it with a stock cube if you don't have the stock already. I just had it, so I used it.
10. Let this gently boil for about an hour and a half until the chicken is cooked.
11. Turn the heat off and take the chicken pieces out of the soup and put them in a side bowl. Let it cool down.
12. Once it's cooled down, take the flesh off the bone, give the skins to my dogs, and then put the flesh back into the soup.
13. Add two bunches of vermicelli, as you can see in the picture, and then let the vermicelli cook in that hot soup. I don't boil it; it just cooks very quickly because vermicelli cooks very quickly.
14. Cut up the vermicelli with some scissors or a knife, and make sure I've seasoned the soup well. Salt, pepper, a little bit of sugar.

And there you go. I will sometimes even add extra herbs like parsley and dill and fresh spring onion on top, and we all devour this.

Leftover Rotisserie Chicken Makes It Easier

What would make this easier is if you had leftover rotisserie chicken. You could use the whole carcass in the soup and let that make a nice stock or so. Take some chicken off the carcass, set it aside, and add it toward the end of the soup.

You could also, as I mentioned, swap out the vermicelli here for any other kind of starch you would prefer, jasmine rice, or some kind of pasta. You could actually just leave out all of it if you prefer. It comes out the same each time I make it.

My Son Begs for the Soup and Drinks the Stock

The whole family eats the soup, and no one ever complains. My son begs for the soup, which is quite funny because he won't eat carrots or celery or anything like that if it were on a plate. But in the soup, he loves it.

He loves picking out the noodles, and he drinks the stock at the end.

My husband also really enjoys the soup, and I will typically make it on the weekend, and basically there is nothing ever left. It's a good soup to make when everyone's feeling a bit sick. Or, if you're looking for a bit of a detox, I'll normally have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until it's all finished up.

This soup doesn't freeze nicely. You could freeze the base without the vermicelli. Unfortunately, vermicelli doesn't freeze well.

I've learned that one from personal experience. So make enough to finish it without having to freeze it.

Peas, Bay Leaf and a Big Squeeze of Lemon

You could take the soup in a completely different direction, as I sometimes have. You could add peas or even spinach at the end. It is very nice, also, if you cook it with some bay leaf and fresh thyme.

And if I do have lemons, which I always do, I have a big squeeze at the end. It just lifts it and does change the flavor profile a bit.

And if you've got cream, you could add cream. Or you could even beat an egg and stir it in for that silky finish at the end, which is not for me.

Serve with anything: crusty bread, a grilled cheese, anything. It's very filling and very quick to make.

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