This is a great recipe, but can be made a lot easier with a couple of modifications. I would recommend substituing chicken broth for the water and not use the chicken soup base. Chicken soup base creates a more artificial flavor. Boil the chicken in the chicken broth. Instead of a whole chicken, I cut boneless skinless chicken breasts into pieces. After boiling the chicken in the broth for 1/2 hour, add the other ingredients already chopped (onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, celery, carrots -- I didn't put in the lemon grass) and cook for 1 more hour. Then add the noodles and the celery leaves and cook until the noodles are done. The whole pot can remain heating on the stove on low until your guests arrive. I upped the recipe to serve 30 people and it worked great!

This recipe is delicious, but takes MEGA time! The directions are also a bit confusing and I was not sure what "Chicken Base" was. So I finally found something that is called "Better than Bouillon" that is basically a bouillon cube type product which is almost a liquid, it is kind of like paste. It was not clear if you are supposed to use 1/4 cup of that in its pure form or 1/4 of the prepared broth. After tasting it was clear it calls for 1/4 cup of the pure bouillon paste which is essentially chicken flavored salt. I also used "no yolk" egg noodles and you can't even tell the difference and there is a lot less cholesterol. Good stuff my family loved this!

This is the perfect Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe. Really it is the homemade chicken broth that makes it! FYI the Chicken Soup Base is the boullion granules. Our grocery carries it in 4 oz. containers, the recipe calls for 2 oz. or 4T to make measurement easy. The boullion adds salt/herbs and a little more flavor. You could also use Vegetable Base if you have it on hand or the store is out of Chicken. My husband is sick and he had two bowls, hopefully he'll be feeling better in the morning. If you are looking for a Chicken Noodle soup recipe and you have the time to put into it look no further this is the one!! Oh, one last thing, don't skip the lemon grass it is a really special addition. If you have not purchased it or used it before here are some tips: it is a tough green stalk, looks like a pale thicker version of a green onion and is usually sold individually. Peel the outer couple layers because they are likely dry and tired and then slice much like a green onion (cut off the hard end first). It is hard, even after cooking and not so great to eat/chew so remember to strain with the other ingredients. Hmmm...it really rounds out the flavors.

YUUUMMMMMMY!! Just like my Mom used to make. My husband & Children loved this! Try cooking the noodles before adding them to the soup, as they consume a lot of the broth. For the chicken base, I like to use "Wyler's chicken (garlic & herb) Shakers" it isn't as salty as other types. Good recipe! Thank you Alan!

A good, basic chicken soup recipe. We enjoyed it for dinner, and I froze the rest (without noodles) for dinner another night. Another reviewer mentioned the noodles seeming to be too much. That may be bacause the soup was allowed to stand too long before serving. Noodles or rice in soup will continue to absorb liquid and grow in size if allowed to stand too long.

Confused on the carrots and celery. Youuse 2/3 oc celery and 1 lb carrots in the begining. Drain the stock, then add chopped celery ad sliced carrots later. What happens to the origanl carrots and celery. It says to cook until carrots are done,

i make chicken soup all the time and this is very similar to mine, however most people are correct when talking about the noodles. Never cook in the broth, always cook them seperatly and add only the amount you want in your individual bowls to save on broth, then just fridge the noodles and reheat with leftover soup as needed. also, we ALWAYS with any homemade soup grate lots of ramano or parmesan cheese on top for a delicious salty and pefect topping to the homemade soup. you won't be dissapointed doing this!!!

This soup was awesome! My family absolutely loved this (even the picky ones). It's a bit time consuming but certainly worth it. Actually, I did the broth one night and stored it in the refrigerator. The next evening I skimmed off the fat (much easier when the broth is cold) and finished off the recipe. I added 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic to the broth. Also, my family doesn't eat broth (don't ask me why) so I doubled the noodles which soaked up all the yummy broth. It actually turned out as chicken noodles rather than soup. They still loved it, though.

Great Soup on a cold winters day! The only changes I made was I added some chicken breast (which I precooked), instead of the lemon grass I added some lemon juice at the end, I also add some fresh ginger which realy kicks it up.

The whole neighborhood loved it. I added 1/2 cup white wine to de-glaze the chicken pan. I slighly braised chicken breasts (that's all I used) before cutting and adding to final mixture. GREAT!