Slow-cooker Chicken Soup

Method

How it goes together

1. 01

   Step 1

   Cook the onion – Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 3–5 minutes until soft.

   Softening the onion in oil first draws out its sweetness and removes the raw, sharp edge it would keep if it went straight into the pot of water.

2. 02

   Step 2

   Prep the chicken – Rinse the chicken (including the inside of the carcass). This creates a clearer broth.

   Rinsing washes off loose blood and bone fragments, especially from the cavity, which is what clouds a broth as it cooks.

3. 03

   Step 3

   Cook – Place the whole chicken, water, salt, celery, carrots and cooked onion into a slow-cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours (see the stovetop method below).

   Held at a low, steady heat the chicken bones and connective tissue release gelatine slowly, giving a broth with body rather than a thin, boiled-out one. The vegetables go in whole so they flavour the liquid without collapsing.

4. 04

   Step 4

   Shred the chicken – Remove the chicken, celery and carrot from the slow-cooker. Shred the chicken and cut the celery and carrot into bite-sized chunks.

   Lifting everything out lets you shred the meat and cut the vegetables to a spoonable size, and stops the celery and carrot breaking apart into the broth.

5. 05

   Step 5

   Add the noodles – Place the egg noodles in the remaining liquid. Cook for 15 minutes over low heat or until the noodles are cooked to your liking. Sprinkle with fresh parsley.

   The noodles cook in the broth, so they take on the chicken flavour, and their starch gives the liquid a slightly fuller texture.

6. 06

   Step 6

   Finish and serve – Return the chicken, celery and carrot to the broth. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

   Seasoning at the end lets you judge the salt once the broth has cooked down and the noodles have absorbed some of it.