Alright y’all, buckle up ’cause today we’re tackling Paula Deen’s chicken noodle soup. Saw the recipe floating around, claimin’ it’s quick ‘n simple. Figured I’d put that to the test myself.
Gettin’ My Ducks in a Row
First thing, raided the fridge hard. Needed chicken breasts (boneless skinless, ain’t nobody got time for pickin’), a sad lookin’ onion rollin’ around the veggie drawer, some limp celery, carrots that still had some crunch, garlic that was startin’ to sprout (good enough!), chicken broth boxes, a bag o’ egg noodles, and the usual suspects: butter (Paula wouldn’t have it any other way), salt, pepper, dried thyme. Took way longer findin’ stuff than I’d like to admit.
Chop Chop Chop
Grabbed my trusty knife – kinda dull, gotta sharpen that soon – and started hackin’:
- Onion got diced up rough
- Celery stalks chopped into little half-moon bits
- Carrots turned into wonky coins (some thick, some thin – keeps it rustic, right?)
- Garlic got the ol’ smash ‘n mince treatment.
Chicken breasts went under the knife too, cubed into bite-size chunks. Felt like I was choppin’ wood for an hour, swear my arm got sore.
Butter Makes It Better (Allegedly)
Heaved my big ol’ soup pot onto the stove. Melted a hefty chunk o’ butter in there. Sizzle city! Tossed in the onion, celery, and carrots. Stirred ’em around like a crazy person ’til the onions went kinda see-through. Threw in the garlic at the last minute ’cause nobody wants burnt garlic nastiness.
Chicken Takes the Plunge
Dumped all those chicken cubes right into the veggie party. Kept stirrin’ and pokin’ ’til the pink was mostly gone. Didn’t need it cooked all the way through, Paula promised it’d cook more later. Smelled pretty darn good already.
The Broth Floodgates Open
Poured in those boxes of chicken broth. Whoosh! Liquid gold (hopefully). Sprinkled in the salt, pepper, and thyme. Gave it a big stir and cranked the heat ’til it started bubbly-boilin’. Once it went nuts, I dialed it back down, slapped the lid on kinda crooked, and let it simmer low ‘n slow. Timer set for 15 minutes – just long enough to clean up my veggie murder scene.
Noodle Nonsense
Timer dinged! Ripped open the bag of egg noodles and dumped the whole thing in. Those noodles soaked up broth like a sponge! Stirred constantly to keep ’em from stickin’ together in one big glob. Let ’em boil away for another what… 7 minutes? 8? Poked one to see if it was kinda tender. Felt good.
The Homestretch
Killed the heat. Took my biggest spoon and scooped up a tiny bit to taste. Whoa. Needed way more pepper than I thought! Shook the heck outta that pepper shaker like I was tryin’ to start a fire. Stirred it all in. Let the whole pot just sit there for a solid 5 minutes – thicken up a tiny bit and the noodles swelled even more. Man, my kitchen smelled like grandma’s house on a Sunday.
Verdict Time
Ladled myself a giant bowl. Steam burn my mouth? Worth it. Broth was rich (thank you, butter!), chicken was tender, noodles had that perfect bite. Absolute comfort in a bowl. Quick? Eh, quicker than some soups I guess. Simple? Mostly. Chopping ain’t fun but the steps themselves were dead easy. Gotta say, Paula ain’t wrong with this one. Kid took one bite and said “More noodles next time?” Knew it was a winner.
