Chicken & Noodles (Stove-Top or Crock Pot)
This one-pot recipe for creamy chicken with egg noodles made with just 5 ingredients (plus salt & spices) is the best for comfort food made easy!
Anytime I want quick comfort food, this is my go-to recipe. I almost always have the ingredients in the pantry and a few chicken breasts in the freezer or fridge so when I’m craving something easy and comforting, you can bet this is what I’m making!
I decided to make it for you last Friday and was pretty bummed that the store-brand egg noodles I bought cooked way faster than the ones I usually buy so everything wasn’t as picture perfect as I’d hoped (the next time I make it, I’ll buy my usual noodles so you can see it in all its glory!).
I’d just finished taking the photos about the time The Angel Baby and The Boy would be rolling in from the high school down the road. As I was cleaning up, I blinked and EIGHT hungry teenagers were standing in my kitchen.
Evidently, everyone was hanging out at our house before the big football game which was totally fine except I wasn’t expecting them. These kids, especially the boys, have grown used to Ms. Mandy always having plenty of good food around so my heart fell a bit when I didn’t have anything to offer them.
You probably think I’m crazy for that but when you’re someone like me who genuinely loves to feed people, hungry teens are the absolute best people to have around your kitchen! Plus, I love these kids and have watched a lot of them grow up since they were in kindergarten.
I grabbed a loaf a bread and cheese and started heating a skillet to make them grilled cheeses and reluctantly lifted the lid on the Chicken & Noodles to see if anyone wanted some. Since they’re kids, the dish was almost cold and already not my best batch, I didn’t expect them to want any.
WRONG! Some started with a polite, I’ll try a little, others filled their bowls full, but by the time they left a few hours later there wasn’t even a broken piece of noodle left in that pot! God bless their little hungry hearts, they made my day!
HOW LONG DO THE EGG NOODLES NEED TO COOK?
I’ve made this dish dozens and dozens of times in the past without jotting down the recipe. When I made this batch (with the purpose of documenting the recipe and taking photos for you) I used store-brand egg noodles and was shocked at how quickly they cooked and started to fall apart.
I typically use Mueller’s brand or No Yolks and have to cook the noodles about 5 minutes to parboil them then let them rest for another 20 until they’re the perfect texture. The store-brand noodles were practically disintegrating after cooking for just a few minutes (you can see that the noodles look overcooked in these photos… GGGRRRRRRRRR!!!).
I suppose it’s a good thing this happened to me, otherwise I would have written the recipe based on the better noodles and you may have ended up with a pot of mush and been cussing me if you used the store-brand noodles.
My advice is to use Mueller’s or No Yolks wide or extra-wide egg noodles because evidently, all egg noodles are not created equal!
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Chicken & Noodles (Stove-Top or Crock Pot)
Ingredients
- 3 large boneless chicken breasts
- 4 cups (32-oz) chicken broth
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 10-oz cans cream of chicken soup
- 1 12-oz bag egg noodles
Instructions
- Add broth, water, melted butter, salt and remaining spices to a large pot or dutch oven then mix well.
- Place chicken breasts into broth, cover, then heat over medium heat until broth starts to boil. Reduce heat to low then continue cooking, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove chicken from broth to cool.
- Once chicken is cool, cut into bite-sized pieces or shred with two forks; set aside.
- Add cream of chicken soup to broth then whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil then add egg noodles and chicken.
- Once simmering, reduce heat to medium, cover then cook for 2-5 minutes or until the noodles are approximately halfway done (too firm to eat but can be bent in half without breaking). There’s no need for all the noodles to be submerged as they will sink into the broth as they cook and soften.
- Turn off the burner, keep covered, then let the pot rest until noodles are done and sauce has thickened a bit. The amount of time needed for the noodles to finish cooking can range from 5 minutes to 20 depending on the size, thickness, quality, variety, etc. of the noodles.
- Add broth, water, melted butter, salt and remaining spices to a large slow cooker then mix well.
- Place chicken breasts into broth, cover, then cook on Low for 5-6 hours or High for 2-4 hours. Remove chicken from broth to cool.
- Increase crock pot temperature to High (if not already set there) and cover while chicken cools.
- Once chicken is cool, cut into bite-sized pieces or shred with two forks. Add chicken and uncooked noodles to crock pot. There’s no need for all the noodles to be submerged as they will sink into the broth as they cook and soften.
- Gently stir to coat noodles. Cover then continue cooking for 20-40 minutes or until noodles are done, gently stirring once or twice to ensure the noodles cook evenly.
Notes:
- Read the notes above the recipe about how long to cook the noodles.
- Do not prepare the cream soup first or add water to it.
- Feel free to use a rotisserie chicken instead of cooking the breasts. Add about 1/2 cup more broth or water.
- Use whichever Cream of Something soup you like or combine two. Sometimes I make this with one chicken and one celery and I’ve used onion in the past too. I’m sure mushroom is great but none of my family likes mushrooms so I rarely use it.