If you're looking for a fast chicken noodle soup recipe, look elsewhere. BUT, if you want a rich, flavorful, and slow-cooked homemade chicken noodle soup recipe, make this the one you try.
Place the chicken in a stock pot. Add the celery, onion, garlic, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, parsley, and black peppercorns on top. Season liberally with salt. Add water, covering the chicken by 1 inch.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 3–4 hours, skimming off any foam or scum that floats to the top.
Cool the chicken:
Remove the chicken and garlic halves from the broth and set them aside cool.
Hard simmer the broth:
Bring the broth to a hard simmer (just below boiling) for 30 to 40 minutes or until it reduces slightly and takes on a dark golden color.
Strain the broth:
Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve. Discard solids. Wipe out the pot and return it to the stovetop.
Prepare the chicken and garlic:
Discard chicken skin and pick meat from the bones. Shred the meat into bite-sized pieces. Discard carcass. Pop the garlic from the paper and transfer to a small bowl.
At this point, you may refrigerate the broth, chicken, and cooked garlic for 4-8 hours and remove the congealed fat from the top of the broth. Or you can continue on with the recipe as-is and simply remove any congealed chicken fat from the soup the next day.
Sauté the soup aromatics:
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the stockpot over medium heat. Add the diced onion, celery, and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, for at least 10 minutes until they begin to soften and char. Season lightly with salt.
Cook the garlic paste:
Melt the butter into the aromatics. Once bubbly, add the reserved, cooked garlic and mash it into the aromatics until a smooth paste forms.
Simmer the soup:
Add the shredded chicken to the pot along with the strained broth. Add an additional 3–4 cups water or enough to cover the soup ingredients by 2 inches. Simmer for an additional 20–30 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Note: you may need to add more water, as necessary, depending on how salty and reduced your broth became from the hard simmer. Just taste and add ½ cup of water at a time as necessary!
Cook the noodles:
Taste the broth and adjust the seasonings as necessary. Bring to a boil. Add the noodles and cook for 8–12 minutes or until just al dente.
Finish the chicken noodle soup:
Once the noodles are tender, reduce heat and add the white pepper, dill, parsley, and lemon juice. Cook an additional 5 minutes. Once the herbs are bright green and the noodles are tender, turn off the heat.
To serve:
Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with crusty bread. Enjoy!