Ingredients
Ingredients, Shopping List amounts, and highlighted step quantities follow your servings. Keep temperatures, piece sizes, and cooking times as written; larger batches may need more pans. Check any flagged step against the ingredients.
Check off ingredients as you prep.
- 1 whole chicken, about 3 1/2 pounds, giblets removed
- 12 cups cold water
- 1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered
- 2 medium carrots, divided
- 2 celery stalks, divided
- 1 large leek, white and pale green parts only, divided and washed thoroughly
- 4 fresh parsley sprigs, plus 1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 whole blade mace
- 8 black peppercorns
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided, plus more if needed
- 4 ounces fine egg vermicelli or broken thin egg noodles
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Allergen check: Egg recognized in these ingredients. Check package labels and substitutions.
Step by step
- Set the chicken breast-side up in a 6- to 7-quart Dutch oven and pour in the cold water. Add the onion, 1 roughly chopped carrot, 1 roughly chopped celery stalk, half the leek in large pieces, the parsley sprigs, bay leaves, mace, peppercorns, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Bring it slowly toward a simmer over medium heat; this is the old-fashioned part, when the kitchen begins to smell like somebody has been looking after you all day.
- As foam gathers on the surface, skim it away with a spoon. Once the broth reaches a gentle simmer, reduce the heat to low and partially cover the Dutch oven. Cook for 55 to 70 minutes, keeping the broth at an occasional lazy bubble rather than a boil. The thickest part of the breast and thigh must reach at least 165°F; the leg joints should also move easily.
- Transfer the chicken to a rimmed tray and let it cool until comfortable to handle. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing lightly on the vegetables before discarding them. Wipe out the Dutch oven, return the strained broth to it, and skim off excess surface fat while leaving a little behind for flavor.
- Thinly slice the remaining carrot, celery stalk, and leek. Bring the broth back to a gentle simmer over medium heat, add the sliced vegetables, and cook for 8 minutes, until nearly tender but still bright enough to remind you they were fresh.
- While the vegetables simmer, remove and discard the chicken skin and bones. Tear or cut about 4 cups of meat into small spoon-friendly pieces; reserve any extra chicken for another meal.
- Add the vermicelli to the Dutch oven and simmer according to its package timing, generally 4 to 7 minutes, until just tender. Stir during the first minute so the fine noodles do not gather into one homesick little knot.
- Return the chicken to the soup and warm it gently for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the chopped parsley, remaining 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and ground black pepper. Taste the broth and add only as much additional salt as it needs. Remove the bay leaves or any stray mace, ladle the soup into warm bowls, and let that golden broth do what good soup has always done. DUNZO!
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A little more about this recipe
Timing
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
Yield & storage
Original yield
Storage
Cool promptly and refrigerate in airtight containers for up to 4 days. The noodles will continue absorbing broth, so store them separately when possible. Freeze the soup without noodles for up to 3 months; thaw overnight in the refrigerator, reheat to 165°F, and add freshly cooked noodles before serving.
From Tony’s kitchen
This is the clear, golden chicken soup that feels like it has been waiting on a Dutch stove all afternoon: tender chicken, fine noodles, sweet carrots, leeks, and the quiet warmth of mace. The Dutch oven does the patient work, turning a modest bird and a handful of vegetables into the kind of supper that fogs the windows and settles everybody around the table.
Nutrition • per serving
Ingredient notes
Ingredients & allergen check
Major-allergen signals: Egg
- Whole chicken, about , giblets removed
- cold water
- yellow onion
- carrots
- celery stalks
- leek, white and pale green parts only
- fresh parsley sprigs, plus finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- bay leaves
- whole blade mace
- black peppercorns
- kosher salt
- fine egg vermicelli or broken thin egg noodles
- freshly ground black pepper
Check every package label. Brands, substitutions, shared equipment, and cross-contact can change allergen exposure.
