Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

• Rotisserie chicken – You will need just 1 cooked rotisserie chicken with the breast meat removed. If you prefer dark meat use that instead.
• Vegetables – carrots, celery, and onion are the basic vegetables in chicken noodle soup. I also add fresh spinach and a can of diced tomatoes to this soup.
• Herbs – I like a combination of fresh dill and parsley. I also use some dried parsley, dill, and chives.
• Seasonings – salt, black pepper, maggie seasoning sauce, and chicken bouillon cubes.
• Pasta – I like to use rotini pasta for this soup, but any short noodle will work.

Instructions

In a large 6-quart french oven place the cooked rotisserie chicken in the pot. Followed by carrots, celery, onions, fresh dill and parsley, salt, black pepper, jaggies seasoning, chicken bouillon cubes, and 10 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for one hour.

Using a strainer over a large bowl carefully begin removing the chicken Once you’ve removed all the chicken from the pot begin sifting through the chicken pulling meat off the bones. The chicken will essentially fall apart in the strainer. I placed all the chicken in a bowl, shredded and at that time looked for any tiny bones that might have slipped through.

Discard the carcass and place the shredded chicken back in the pot. Then pour in any broth that might have been captured in the bowl under the strainer. Add a can of diced tomatoes, the dried parsley, dill, and chives, as well as the 2 cups fresh chopped spinach. Mix and set to the side. *The spinach will begin to wilt due to the heat of the soup.

In a separate pot bring water to a boil for pasta. Add one tablespoon salt and once the water comes to a boil cook the rotini pasta. Cook for 10 minutes on high heat. Drain and set pasta to the side.

Ladle chicken soup into bowls and top with a few spoonfuls of rotini pasta. Store all leftovers (separately) in air-tight containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or freeze chicken soup.

Tips & Tricks

Here are a few of my favorite tips and tricks when making Chicken noodle soup rotisserie.

• Noodles – Like I stated above I like to use rotini noodles (spiral egg noodles) for this recipe. But you can also use home-style, medium, or even wide egg noodles instead.
• Broth – You can skip the step of making the broth and just boil the vegetables using store bought chicken broth. I suggest two 32 ounce boxes of chicken broth and about 20 minutes of boil time to get the vegetables soft enough.
• Chicken – If you don’t have a rotisserie chicken you can use any cooked chicken or even drained, canned chicken in a pinch.
• Chicken Fat – Whenever I get a rotisserie chicken and if it’s not packaged in a box. I will take the time to drain the chicken fat and save in either a container or ziplock baggie to freeze and use for future meals. Chicken fat can be use in the place of oil or butter and gives off so much flavor.
• Leftovers – Store all leftovers (separately) in air-tight containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or freeze chicken soup.