Homemade chicken noodle soup (in the slow cooker)

[Brenda]

OK, I've managed to make home made chicken noodle soup where the noodles aren't mush (don't cook them in the slow cooker all day - lesson learned) but today the soup has no flavor to it.

I put salt/pepper in it, chicken broth and chicken oxo but it's blah. Any ideas?

[Emma's#1fan]

I usually add a small piece of celery, carrots, peas, onion, a little garlic, a pinch of paprika, salt, and pepper. I cook it in chicken broth. I do not have a recipe but you do not want to taste the paprika. It enhances the flavor. I go light on the garlic as well. Again, it is to compliment the soup, not be a main flavor.

[Jackie]

Brenda, I've found the secret for stuff like that is to cook the noodles BEFORE putting them into the crock pot. They need to be boiled to avoid mush. Same with macaroni stuff.

I add carrots, onion, and celery to mine usually. You could also add extra chicken boullion. Did you add water to it, or just broth?

ETA: OOPS! That's what the OXO is. I'd never heard of it, and looked it up!

[ABall]

add some paprika, it will make it more colorful.

also I usually ad parsley flakes, dehydrated onion, garlic powder, onion powder and dill weed

[Brenda]

Thank you all for the ideas. After I cooked it (blah for flavor) Dh suggested I should have used onion soup mix.

Jackie, the first time I ever made it in the slow cooker I added the noodles at the beginning and it was paste when we went to eat... lesson learned (this time I added them when everything else was cooked).

I used broth and added water to it as well but it was still blah... have some great ideas for my next attempt... thank you everyone

[Jackie]

Originally Posted by Brenda

Thank you all for the ideas. After I cooked it (blah for flavor) Dh suggested I should have used onion soup mix.

Jackie, the first time I ever made it in the slow cooker I added the noodles at the beginning and it was paste when we went to eat... lesson learned (this time I added them when everything else was cooked).

I used broth and added water to it as well but it was still blah... have some great ideas for my next attempt... thank you everyone

Me, too!!! Only there use to be a "mix" where all you had to do was dump the package in the crock pot, add water, and let it cook all day. It took a while for me to understand why the noodles just dissolved away. It bugged me that the company making the mix didn't have the sense to realize this would happen; maybe that's why the mix isn't made anymore!

[Brenda]

We still have a vegetable mix of some sort here but I've never used it because it's frozen (comes in an ice cream type of tub), expensive and I prefer using fresh vegetables (which are cheaper than the frozen mixture).

I just like playing around with slow cooker recipes and seeing what I can come up with... what ever it is doesn't usually last long because the boys LOVE IT !!

[Jackie]

I want to make chicken quinoa soup tonight. I figure I'll do it just like chicken noodle, but substitue the quinoa instead. Tuesdays is often hectic for us, because Rachael has classes all day at the community college, then Carl comes home, picks up Phillip, and leaves right away for the computer class he teaches. Phillip did have soccer practice, so Carl would take him straight from computers to that, and then straight from practice to Youth Group (where the girls would already be!) Good news is that with Rachael driving, she takes herself and Faythe to youth group, and brings all three kids home. So Tuesdays worked best if there was dinner in the crock pot, and people could get it as they run in and out.

[Emma's#1fan]

Originally Posted by Jackie

You could also add extra chicken boullion. Did you add water to it, or just broth?

ETA: OOPS! That's what the OXO is. I'd never heard of it, and looked it up!

LOL!!!
I had to look it up too. I never heard of it before this thread.

[ziesha001]

Hey me too tried it once and loved it too !