Homestyle Chicken and Noodles
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It appears winter is officially here. If it wasn’t already obvious by the holiday decorating and end-of-year scramble, the -20 windchill temperatures this week deeeeeeefinitely sealed the deal.
With weather like that, I—like many people, I’d imagine—want pure comfort food. This homestyle chicken and noodles is just the thing. I’ve been making this meal for a couple of winters now, and it remains a family favorite as well as one of the easiest things I make. The ingredients are simple and minimal and, considering it’s the ultimate level of comfort food, it’s pretty healthy (unless you eat far too many delicious egg noodles. Errm…).
All you do is simmer some bone-in chicken, onions, celery, and carrots; add some egg noodles and a milk slurry and you are on your way to a cold-weather classic. Although this recipe doesn’t take long from start to finish, I have in the past simmered the chicken/vegetables on a Sunday and then after work Monday brought the mixture to a boil, cooked the egg noodles, and proceeded from there. Any way you do it, it is, as both my kids would say, “easy peasy lemon squeezy.”
Homestyle Chicken and Noodles
Ingredients
- 4 chicken leg quarters or 6 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 heaping tsp. dried thyme or a few sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 4-5 carrots, sliced
- 2-3 celery ribs, sliced
- 1 lb. frozen egg noodles
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup milk
- 2 Tbsp. flour
Directions
- In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, combine the skinned chicken, onions, carrots, celery, broth, bay leaf, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and when cool enough to handle, shred or chop the meat and discard the bones.
- Bring the mixture in the pot back up to a boil and add the egg noodles. Cook for 15 minutes, or as long as the package indicates, and then stir in the peas. In a screw-top jar, combine the milk and flour. Shake vigorously to combine and then add to the pot. Simmer for a few minutes until the mixture has thickened. Stir the chicken back in and simmer until warmed through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.