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Chicken Noodle Soup

A comforting soup of chicken, carrots, onions, and noodles simmered in broth.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Chicken Noodle Soup

Time15–20 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a soup pot over medium heat.

  2. Add the diced carrots and onions, and sauté until tender.

  3. Add the thyme, bay leaf, and minced garlic. Stir well and cook for 1 minute.

  4. Add the chicken broth, chicken breast, pepper, a dash of salt, and stock cube. Simmer for 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Cook the chicken and noodles

  1. Remove the chicken from the broth, and let it cool.

  2. Shred the chicken into smaller pieces.

  3. Bring the pot of broth to a boil, and add the noodles.

  4. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

  5. Add the shredded chicken, and simmer for 1 minute.

  6. Remove from the heat and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

369Calories
33 gProtein
18 gFat
20 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Thyme + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,608 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Boneless chicken breast
Provides protein and becomes tender, shreddable meat as it simmers in the broth.
Carrots
Add sweetness and a firm texture that holds up during simmering.
Onion
Builds savory depth as it softens in the oil.
Noodles
Absorb broth and add body, making the soup more filling.
Chicken broth
Forms the liquid base that carries the flavor of the whole soup.
Garlic
Adds aroma and savory flavor when cooked briefly in oil.

The step that matters

Simmering the chicken in the broth. Simmering gently until the chicken is fully cooked keeps the meat tender and juicy, while boiling hard can toughen the proteins and make it dry and stringy.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, thyme, garlic, chicken, pepper):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Okrafits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, thyme, garlic, chicken, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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