Chicken Noodle Soup with Broccoli and Whole-Wheat Pasta
⏱ 10 min prep · 🍳 10 min · 🍽 4
Sunday's rotisserie chicken doesn't stay appealing for long once it's reheated the same way twice. This soup gives the leftovers a completely different life: shredded chicken goes straight into a tomato-based broth with whole-wheat pasta and broccoli cut small, and the whole pot is ready in about twenty minutes from a cold start.
It sits closer to a thick tomato soup than a clear broth — hearty enough to be the whole meal with nothing on the side, and mild enough that picky eaters at the table rarely make it an issue. Adding the broccoli in small pieces near the end keeps it from going grey and mushy.
Slotted in as the fixed Monday-night dinner after a weekend rotisserie chicken, it becomes one of the few meals all week that doesn't require any decision-making.
Ingredients
- 1.500 dl fullkornpasta
- 0.500 stk grillet kylling
- 1.000 stk løk
- 1.000 stk rød paprika
- 1.000 ss nøytral olje
- 12.000 dl vann
- 2.000 stk hønsebuljongterning
- 1.000 boks hermetiske tomater
- 1.000 ss tomatpuré
- 0.500 ts sukker
- 200.000 g brokkoli
- 0.500 ts salt
- 0.500 ts pepper
Instructions
Kok pasta etter anvisning på pakken, eller bruk rester.
Del kylling i passende suppebiter, hakk løk fint og del paprika i biter.
Sauter løk i olje til den er blank, tilsett paprikabiter, buljongterninger, vann og hermetiske tomater, kok opp og rør inn tomatpuré.
Tilsett pasta, kyllingbiter og brokkoli i suppen og kok opp, smak til med sukker, salt og pepper.
This recipe is the one to make when there's a supermarket rotisserie chicken sitting in the fridge with no clear plan for the rest of it. It's forgiving on quantity — a cup of shredded chicken or three, you just adjust the broth to match what's left on the carcass. Broccoli swaps easily for carrot, leek, or zucchini, whatever's about to turn in the crisper drawer, as long as it goes in diced small near the end of cooking. For kids used to seeing their food kept separate on the plate, soup format is a quiet way around the usual vegetable standoff.
FAQ
Can I freeze this chicken soup?
Yes, but freeze the broth with the chicken, tomatoes, and vegetables on their own — not the pasta. Whole-wheat pasta turns soft and slightly mushy after freezing and thawing. Cook fresh pasta right before serving and stir it into the thawed broth instead.
Can I use raw chicken breast instead of rotisserie chicken?
Yes. Dice the chicken small and brown it with the onion before adding the bell pepper, broth, and tomatoes, so it has time to cook through in the simmering soup. Plan on a few extra minutes of cooking time compared with using already-cooked rotisserie chicken.
How long does the soup keep in the fridge?
3-4 days in a sealed container. The pasta keeps absorbing liquid as it sits, so the soup thickens more each day — keep extra water or broth on hand to thin it out when reheating.
How do I adjust this for younger kids?
Cut the broccoli, bell pepper, and chicken smaller than you would for the rest of the table, and go easy on added salt since stock cubes are usually salty enough on their own. For the youngest eaters, a small portion can be blitzed with an immersion blender for a smoother texture and served lukewarm rather than hot.
Can I swap out the whole-wheat pasta for something else?
Yes — regular pasta, pearl barley, rice, or cooked potatoes all work, you just adjust the cooking time to match whichever you pick. Pearl barley is the most filling of the options. If anyone in the family eats gluten-free, double-check the stock cubes too — not all of them are.
Does this soup fit into a regular weeknight rotation?
It works well as the fixed dinner the night after a weekend rotisserie chicken, since the leftovers are already sitting in the fridge without any extra planning. At around 20 minutes from a cold start to a finished pot, it's one of the faster dinners to schedule into a busy midweek.