Happy Food Friday! It finally feels like fall (let’s hope this weather stays). Here is a tasty spin on chicken noodle soup. I rarely use anything other than my insta pot when cooking soups, but I followed a recipe and cooked everything (except the orzo) on the stovetop! I’m listing the recipe and posting my changes in parentheses. Choose whichever option you like!

Ingredients for soup:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (I prob only used 1)
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 4 large carrots, finely diced (meh, I used more)
- 4 large celery stalks, finely diced (I also used more, love my veggies)
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced (I used a full one)
- 2 medium russet potatoes, finely diced (I didn’t even include these!)
- 1-1.5 c mushrooms** I added this veggie to recipe
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt (or more, to taste)
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast (I used 3-4 large chicken breasts)
- 8 sprigs thyme, bundled
- 1.5 cups frozen peas (poured the whole bag in there)
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream (used half and half)
Ingredients for roux:
- 1/4 cup butter (halved this)
- 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
Then you need about 1-1.5c orzo
Instructions:
- Place olive oil into a large stockpot and heat over medium/high heat.
- Add garlic, carrot, celery, onion, and potato (and mushrooms if you use) and saute for several minutes.
- Season with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
- Add broth and stir.
- Submerge raw chicken breast in the broth and add thyme bundle.
- Bring soup to a boil over medium/high heat.
- Once boiling, turn heat down to low and cover. Let simmer for 20 minutes.
- While the soup is simmering, prepare orzo. Once done, drain and set aside. *I did use insta pot for this (takes 5 minutes, how can you not!?)
- When the soup is done simmering, remove thyme bundle from the soup.
- Remove chicken breast from soup and shred.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium/high heat.
- Lower heat to medium heat and slowly add flour to butter. (I didn’t use full amount of flour). Mix with a whisk until mixture turns into a crumble. Remove from heat.
- Immediately add roux to the soup and turn heat back to medium/high heat and bring to a boil. Use a wooden spoon to break up the roux, makings sure there are no chunks in the soup.
- One boiling, turn heat off and stir in frozen peas, cooked orzo pasta, and shredded chicken and mix again.
- Finally, add 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and mix.
This recipe makes A TON of servings! I froze half and we ate the second half for several days after. I would say 12-14 servings, but the recipe gives nutrition facts for 1/8:
- Serving Size: 1/8
- Calories: 417
- Sugar: 5
- Fat: 13
- Carbohydrates: 46 (this will be much fewer without the potatoes)
- Fiber: 5
- Protein: 28
Enjoy! It is one of my new favorite soups!