Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken noodle soup is the most requested bowl in any house where someone is tired, cold or under the weather, and the slow cooker version is the kindest way to make it: the broth turns deep and golden over hours, the chicken cooks to the point where it shreds with a spoon, and the whole house smells like someone is taking care of you. The one way to ruin it is also the most common — pasta cooked in the pot from the start, swelling into bloated, broth-clouding mush. This recipe adds the pasta at the end, on purpose, and that single timing decision protects everything else.

It belongs in our Slow Cooker & Casseroles collection with our Split Pea Soup and Creamy Potato Soup — the trio covers smoky, creamy and clear-broth comfort. The photograph shows the soup made with small shell pasta, which catches broth in every cup and is the shape in the ingredient list; wide egg noodles are the classic alternative and are timed the same way in the steps.

The base is deliberately plain in the best way — onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, bay — because chicken noodle soup should taste of chicken first. A squeeze of lemon and a handful of parsley at the end are the brightness that keeps a long-cooked bowl tasting fresh.

Whole breasts in, shredded chicken out

Resist the urge to dice the chicken before it goes into the cooker. Whole breasts poach gently in the broth for hours, staying moist in a way that small cubes never do, and they shred into long, tender strands that distribute through every bowl. Cubed chicken, by hour four, is chalky at the edges and lost in the broth. Shredding also lets you pull out any gristle cleanly before the meat goes back. Thighs work equally well and are more forgiving if the soup cooks an extra hour — use the same weight, boneless and skinless, and skim the surface once before serving.

The pasta rule, and why leftovers change it

Pasta drinks broth continuously, hot or cold, which is why soup cooked with the pasta in it is wonderful for twenty minutes and gluey by dinner. Cooking the pasta at the end, in the finished soup, gives you the best bowl today — and for leftovers, the honest move is to store the pasta separately, or accept that tomorrow's soup will be thicker and more stew-like, loosened with a cup of broth as it reheats. Many cooks in this house quietly prefer day two. If you know the whole batch is destined for the freezer, leave the pasta out entirely and cook fresh pasta into each reheated portion.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts (680 g)
• 1 medium yellow onion (about 150 g), diced
• 3 medium carrots (about 240 g), sliced into coins
• 3 celery stalks (about 240 g), sliced
• 3 garlic cloves (about 9 g), minced
• 7 cups low-sodium chicken broth (1.65 litres)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (1.5 g)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (6 g), plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (1.5 g)
• 6 oz small shell pasta or wide egg noodles (170 g)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (15 ml)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (15 g)

Amounts are for the yield below. US customary measures first, grams in brackets for scale users.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Load the slow cooker. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic to a 6-quart slow cooker. Lay the whole chicken breasts on top of the vegetables, pour in the broth, and add the thyme, bay leaves, salt and black pepper. Keeping the chicken on top of the vegetables, bathed in broth rather than sitting on the dry cooker base, helps it poach evenly.
2. Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours, or on HIGH for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the chicken is completely tender and shreds easily and the carrots are soft. The soup can hold on the warm setting for about an hour after this point, but start the pasta promptly once you shred the chicken — the clock that matters is the pasta's.
3. Shred the chicken. Lift the chicken onto a board and shred it into generous strands with two forks, discarding any gristle. Fish the bay leaves out of the soup and throw them away. Return the shredded chicken to the cooker and stir — the broth should be golden and deeply chicken-flavoured; if it tastes at all thin, another 30 minutes with the lid ajar concentrates it.
4. Cook the pasta in the soup. Turn the cooker to HIGH if it was on low. Stir in the shell pasta or egg noodles, cover, and cook for 12 to 18 minutes, stirring once halfway, until the pasta is just tender with the faintest bite left in the centre. It will keep softening in the hot broth as you serve, so stop a minute earlier than you think — carryover is real, and firm pasta is the entire point of this recipe.
5. Brighten at the end. Stir in the lemon juice and the parsley, then taste and correct the salt — slow-cooked broths almost always want more than you added at the start. The lemon should lift the soup without making it taste of lemon; add it a teaspoon at a time if your lemons are large and sharp.
6. Serve. Ladle into warm bowls, making sure every serving gets its share of chicken and pasta, and serve with crusty bread for dunking, exactly as the photograph suggests. A grinding of black pepper and an extra scatter of parsley at the table finish it properly.

Nutrition estimate

Nutrition figures are estimates calculated from standard ingredient data for the yield stated. Your actual values will vary with brands, substitutions and portion sizes — treat them as a guide, not a guarantee.

Storage & reheating

The soup keeps in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, with one honest caveat: the pasta keeps drinking broth, so leftovers thicken into a hearty stew — loosen with extra broth or water when reheating and the bowl comes right back. For the best leftovers and for freezing (up to 3 months), store or freeze the soup without pasta and cook fresh pasta into each reheated portion. Reheat gently to a simmer on the stove; avoid hard boiling, which shreds the chicken further and turns the pasta soft.

Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

Recipe by Ahsan ul Haq, FryDaily editor · Published 20 October 2026

Golden broth, shredded chicken, pasta added last so it stays tender-firm.

Yield: 6 servings  ·  Scale: 1x2x3x

Prep15 minutes

Cook5 hours

Total5 hours 15 minutes

Servings6 servings

Calories284 kcal

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts (680 g)
• 1 medium yellow onion (about 150 g), diced
• 3 medium carrots (about 240 g), sliced into coins
• 3 celery stalks (about 240 g), sliced
• 3 garlic cloves (about 9 g), minced
• 7 cups low-sodium chicken broth (1.65 litres)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (1.5 g)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (6 g), plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (1.5 g)
• 6 oz small shell pasta or wide egg noodles (170 g)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (15 ml)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (15 g)

Tick ingredients off as you prep, and tap a step below to mark it done as you cook. Scaling adjusts the listed amounts - seasoning to taste stays your call.

Instructions

1. Load the slow cooker. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic to a 6-quart slow cooker. Lay the whole chicken breasts on top of the vegetables, pour in the broth, and add the thyme, bay leaves, salt and black pepper. Keeping the chicken on top of the vegetables, bathed in broth rather than sitting on the dry cooker base, helps it poach evenly.
2. Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours, or on HIGH for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the chicken is completely tender and shreds easily and the carrots are soft. The soup can hold on the warm setting for about an hour after this point, but start the pasta promptly once you shred the chicken — the clock that matters is the pasta's.
3. Shred the chicken. Lift the chicken onto a board and shred it into generous strands with two forks, discarding any gristle. Fish the bay leaves out of the soup and throw them away. Return the shredded chicken to the cooker and stir — the broth should be golden and deeply chicken-flavoured; if it tastes at all thin, another 30 minutes with the lid ajar concentrates it.
4. Cook the pasta in the soup. Turn the cooker to HIGH if it was on low. Stir in the shell pasta or egg noodles, cover, and cook for 12 to 18 minutes, stirring once halfway, until the pasta is just tender with the faintest bite left in the centre. It will keep softening in the hot broth as you serve, so stop a minute earlier than you think — carryover is real, and firm pasta is the entire point of this recipe.
5. Brighten at the end. Stir in the lemon juice and the parsley, then taste and correct the salt — slow-cooked broths almost always want more than you added at the start. The lemon should lift the soup without making it taste of lemon; add it a teaspoon at a time if your lemons are large and sharp.
6. Serve. Ladle into warm bowls, making sure every serving gets its share of chicken and pasta, and serve with crusty bread for dunking, exactly as the photograph suggests. A grinding of black pepper and an extra scatter of parsley at the table finish it properly.

Calories: 284 kcalProtein: 29 gCarbohydrates: 26 gFat: 6 gSaturated fat: 1 gSodium: 680 mgFiber: 3 gSugar: 5 g

Recipe by Ahsan ul Haq · FryDaily. Printing? This card is designed to print cleanly on its own.

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