My 4 year old daughter wanted to make chicken soup. Time would not allow us to make my usual crock pot recipe. So, I visited allrecipes.com and found this already 5 star rated recipe and it lives up to that rating! My daughter had the greatest time making this with me. We followed the recipe to the "T" and loved every bite! I know anyone who tries this recipe will thoroughly enjoy it! Its restaurant quality in our opinion. My husband and I have recently returned from London. There we dined in many fine restuarants of which none have come close to this recipe. A chicken consomme from our 5 star hotel did not compare to the flavors of this recipe. Try it, enjoy it then share it with others.

Despite being married and having three children, I never made chicken soup before. I hadn't even so much as bought a whole chicken. But the kids were sick, and with stroke of genious, it hit...Aha! Make chicken soup! So, off to store we go, sick, crabby, "I don't want to ride in the cart" 2 year old and the baby, secure in the sling. I look for and find some chickens. They look smaller than I thought. I look through all 50 of them, looking for the biggest one. They are all about 3 pounds. So I ask an employee where the regular sizd chickens are, you know, the turkey-sized ones. Well, chickens, as it turns out, are not as big as turkeys, and the employee laughs. Ok, so now I have chicken, and I leave store. I call grandma on the way, asking what to do with it. She tells me to clean it. Ummm....how? She tells me, and I respond, "I stick my hand up WHAT???" That's not somewhere I'd like to touch. Grams reminds me its just a chicken, I can wash my hands later. Ok, big breath. I can do it. I clean and cook chicken. I cool it, bone it (ick) and then make soup. Now, to rate this recipe....its great! I've gotten over my fear of whole chickens, and I'll make it again! I did add garlic, peas, and spinach to boost the nutritional value. I didn't add the chicken soup mix, wanting it to be natural as possible. All in all, great recipe. Thanks for sharing it and helping me get over the hurdle of whole chickens!

I've made this many times and I love it. I have enhanced/extended it by adding a package of dry Knorr Leek Soup. It makes it a little creamy and adds vegetable content and color. I usually use a cooked rotiserie chicken and cook up the carcass for stock after cutting off the meat.

I know it's not quite fair to rate a soup that you have not made as the recipe states...but it was an excellent starting point and for someone who have not made CNS from scratch before I needed a starting point. As with almost all recipes, I fixed it a little more to my liking and to what I had on hand. I wouldn't buy a whole chicken simply to boil and make a soup out of. That's what leftovers are for...to make soup. Take a broiled chix...eat it and then boil the carcass in enough water to cover. Shred leftover meat, keep aside. Drain boiled carcass..toss bones, keep broth. Add to broth 2 tbsp chix boullion, 2 cubes beef boullion, sliced carrot, onion, celery and chix. Add the following spices as you see fit: Thyme, basil,parsely, pepper, red pepper flakes (Careful! 1/2 tsp goes a LONG way) noodles of your choice and simmer for 30-40 mins and voila! Easy chix soup!

Can someone tell me how much liquid do I use. This is unclear to me. Also where do I find chicken soup mix, I have no problem finding chicken noodle mix, but not just straight chichen soup mix. thks so much

This recipe turned out well for me with three bone-in chicken breasts. Note she doesn't say how much water to cook the chicken in so the spices and seasonings are all approximate amounts depending on how much water is used in the soup. This recipe is just right for the experienced chicken soup maker but for those new to it, beware you have to put in seasonings to taste. I used medium shell pasta and it worked out well.

This was FANTATIC! I used chicken breasts since we are white meat eaters. I used 32 ounces of chicken stock instead of broth for more flavors and less salt. I've made it twice and just can't force myself to put the packet of chicken soup mix in it. We like diced potatoes and corn in our soup so I addes about 4 small potaotes and 1 cup of corn. Both times, this was the best chicken soup I've ever made. Thanks for the recipe!

Awesome soup! This was my first time making homemade chicken noodle soup and it was fantastic. I left out the soup packet and subsituted 1 chicken bouillon cube for the 2 beef bouillon cubes that the recipe called for. My husband said it tastes just like his grandmothers. Thanks for the recipe...it's definitely a keeper.

I made this soup for my boyfriend who has a cold and it was excellent! I used 4 chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken and since my boyfriend does not like onions I put 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic instead. I also added more celery, 2 cut up potatoes and sliced zucchini. The soup was so hearty that I probably did not need to add the pasta. Thank you so much for this!!! We loved it!

This was very good. My husband and I have bad colds and this was a satisfying meal - made us feel much better! I used such a big pot though that I feel I had too much water and the way I read the recipe it seemed you were to keep the water even though you did add broth later. I also added salt and pepper and a bay leaf while I was cooking the whole chicken. I did feel it was a little light on the vegetables, but that could be due to my having a little too much water.