Hidden Veggie Soup
on Feb 19, 2023, Updated May 29, 2024
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This hearty and healthy Hidden Veggie Soup is packed with secret š„ vegetables, making it a great way to sneak in extra nutrients for picky eaters. The blended veggies create a smooth and creamy base without the need for added cream, keeping it light yet satisfying. Perfect for āļø chilly days or when you’re feeling under the weather, this soup is a comforting classic with a healthy twist. Serve it with a slice of crusty bread or a fresh green salad for a complete and wholesome meal.
Why You’ll Love Hidden Veggie Soup
You’ll love this Hidden Veggie Chicken Soup because it’s an enjoyable and delicious way to eat a variety of š§ vegetables without even realizing they’re there! The blended veggies create a creamy, rich texture that makes the soup feel indulgent without adding any cream, so yes, this soup is dairy-free! This soup is perfect for meal prepping, because it stores and reheats well, making it perfect for quick lunches or dinners throughout the week. Whether you’re serving it to picky eaters, looking for a nutritious meal, or just craving a š warm bowl of soup, this recipe is sure to become a family favorite.
How to Prepare
š¦ Prepare a liquid base in a pot with a combination of water and unsalted broth or just water.
š„ Add vegetables (scallions, bell pepper, carrot, celery, onion, and garlic) and bring to a boil.
š Add chicken to the boiling mixture, skim off foam, and season with salt. Taste and adjust the seasoning at the end.
š„ Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover with a lid, and simmer for 45 minutes or until vegetables are soft, chicken is fully cooked, and broth has reduced.
š§ Remove chicken, let cool, then shred. Discard any bones or skin.
š„ Remove vegetables with a slotted spoon, blend in a blender with two ladles of broth until smooth, and return the mixture to the pot.
š„ Break egg noodles into pieces, add to the pot, and bring to a boil. Cook noodles for 5-10 minutes.
šæ Remove soup from heat, add parsley for garnish, and stir. Optionally, add freshly squeezed lemon juice to each bowl before serving. Enjoy!
Nonna’s Tip š„£
When blending hot soup, do so in batches, filling the blender no more than half full. Remove or loosen the center cap of the blender lid, cover with a dishcloth, and hold down the lid to prevent spills and burns.
Variations and Substitutions for Hidden Veggie Soup
This soup is your culinary canvas! But remember that if you are changing or adding ingredients you may have to experiment and adjust quantities or cooking times.
- Substitute the egg noodles for quinoa, orzo, brown rice, pastina, broken-up angel hair or spaghetti, or couscous. There are so many options for this aspect of the soup! Choose what you ā¤ļø love.
- Feel free to try this recipe with different šæ herbs like dill, thyme, or basil for added flavor.
- Try adding other vegetables to your soup, like peas, spinach, or kale.
- The soup can be made š„¬ vegetarian by omitting the chicken. For a vegan version, ensure that all other ingredients (like broth) are vegan.
- For enhanced flavor, add a Homemade Chicken Bouillon Cube to the broth along with the water. Alternatively, you can swap half or all of the water for chicken or vegetable broth.
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Best Served With
- Some crusty bread like my No Knead Peasant Bread
- A fresh salad such as a Caesar Salad
Common Questions
I love any broths by Kettle and Fire; you can click HERE and use my code THEMODERNNONNA for 20% off!
I use Redmond Real Salt, please note that depending on the salt you use, your dish may be less or more salty. Salt is always to taste. Always taste and adjust as you cook.
Absolutely! Feel free to use fide, orzo, or pastina in this soup instead of egg noodles. You can even break angel hair pasta or spaghetti into small pieces and use that instead. This soup is extremely versatile so be sure to make it your own.
Allow the Hidden Veggie Chicken Soup to cool to room temperature before transferring it to an airtight container. Then, place it in the refrigerator within two hours of cooking. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
If you have more leftovers than you can consume in a few days, freezing is a great option. First, portion the soup into airtight containers or resealable freezer bags, but be sure there’s some room for expansion to prevent containers from cracking. Then, label the containers with the date. The soup can be stored in the freezer for up to 2-3 months.
When you’re ready to enjoy your leftover soup, simply thaw it in the refrigerator overnight if frozen. To reheat, use a microwave, stovetop, or an oven. Make sure to heat it thoroughly until it’s steaming hot. You may need to add a bit of water or broth to adjust the consistency.
Start by preheating a thermos with boiling water and keep it closed. While the thermos warms up, heat the soup on the stove. This entire process should only take about 10 minutes. Once the thermos is ready, empty the hot water and add the soup, leaving some space at the top to prevent a vacuum seal, which would make it harder to open.
Yes, you can make this soup vegetarian by omitting the chicken and using vegetable broth instead of water.Ā
For enhanced flavor, you can add any seasonings you enjoy. You can also add a bouillon cube (or 1 tablespoon bouillon paste) to the water/broth, or use Vegeta as my mom does.
I add 8 to 10 cups of water or broth depending on how much chicken and noodles I use. You can definitely add more if you see that it’s way too thick at the end.
Yes, you can make this with boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs. You can also use bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and thighs, and remove the bone and skins after cooking.
If you donāt feel confident, you can most definitely use a meat thermometer to check and ensure that your meat has reached the correct internal temperature.
Hidden Veggie Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 cups water
- 5 cups chicken broth, or veggie broth
- 4 scallions
- 5 mini bell peppers, any colours
- 1 carrot, peeled
- 1 celery rib
- 1 yellow onion, peeled
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- salt, to taste
- 5 chicken thighs , (or breasts)
- 130 grams egg noodle pasta, broken into little pieces (or any pasta of choice)
- fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish
- fresh lemon juice, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Fill a big pot with water or Ā½ water and Ā½ organic unsalted broth (you want 10 cups of liquid total). Add in the scallions, bell pepper, carrot, celery, onion, and garlic and let it come to a boil. Once boiling, add the chicken. Skim off any foam with a spoon. Season with salt. Make sure to taste and adjust the seasoning at the very end of cooking.
- Once everything is boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and semi cover the pot with a lid. Let simmer for 45 minutes or until the veggies are all super soft, the chicken is fully cooked and white throughout, and the broth has reduced.
- Remove the chicken, let it cool, and shred or cut it. If the chicken has bone or skin, discard and/or compost it. Remove the whole veggies with a slotted spoon and transfer them in a blender with two ladles of the broth.
- Blend until everything is nice and smooth and add the blended mixture back into the pot with the shredded chicken. Break the egg noodles into little pieces and add them to the pot. Bring everything to a boil. Once the noodles are cooked, about 5 to 10 minutes, take the soup off the heat.
- Note: Hot soupĀ (or any hot liquids for that matter)Ā will steamĀ and expand in a blender, which can push the top off andĀ cause a mess and burn hazard. When pureeing hot soup, do so in batches.Ā Fill the blender 1/3 to 1/2 full, remove or loosen the center cap from the lid of the blender. Cover the lid with a folded dishcloth and hold it down when blending.
- Add parsley for garnish, and stir. Freshly squeezed lemon juice is lovely in each bowl. Enjoy!
My Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
It might just be me but I feel like this ends up making way more than 3 servings because this feeds us for 2-3 nights AND is my lunch for 2-3 days, although my husband and I usually end up eyeballing it and adding more veggies, and chicken thighs are huge in our current country, which results in a heartier soup I think. We both love veggies but thought this recipe looked delicious, and it is! This is our third time making it, and is now being demanded by my family for when we move back to the states. We’ve used random (potentially egg?) noodles found at the supermarket, ABC noodles sent from the US, and some ABC noodles from our town that has a sister city in Italy (no pastina or egg noodles in our country so this is as close as we can get.) We absolutely love this recipe!
So happy you love it! Sounds like your family has great taste š
Delicious… this is my third soup of yours I have made and I love it!!
That makes me so happy to hear Michaela
Love this soup! I always keep my pasta separate and add it when I’m ready to serve. That way it doesn’t get all soggy when reheating the soup. Making it next week for my daughter who is having her wisdom teeth removed. So much healthier than anything in a can!!
SO happy you love it as much as I do Catherine š
I have made this soup twice now and I love it. I used broad egg noodles each time but will switch up the pastas in the future ( orzo or stelline ). I recently saw you use gnocchi which is another great idea. Shredding the chicken while it’s still hot makes it a lot easier to pull it apart. After enjoying this soup with my girls, I froze the remaining portion in individual containers for lunches at work.
Aw Alida hope you love it with gnocchi
Excellent recipe especially because I live alone and enjoy easy to make, healthy food. I found it easier to use my hand blender wherever I can and not a blender. Easy clean up too! I just chopped my veggies up a little smaller.
Thank you from Belleville, Ontario Canada!
Thanks Edie. Means so much and happy you loved it
Another amazing hidden veggie soup! My family is crazy about these soups. Thank you!
Sheila you’re fabulous!
It was a rainy Sunday today and everyone in my house was sick – this soup was just what the doctor ordered. So delicious! Even my 2.5-year-old thought so.
I used the meat from leftover roast chicken thighs and just shredded that and added it in at the end with the pasta instead of boiling the meat with the veggies. I also use Stelline pasta which worked brilliantly.
Thank you so much for sharing this. Will be my go-to chicken noodle soup from now on.
So HAPPY Zoe! Thanks for the beautiful comment
Hidden veggie soups are game changers for me and my family! With each soup I am more confident and willing to try different combinations of veggies. We love having fresh soup and I love controlling how much sodium used. It’s really fantastic! I just wish I knew this trick, when I had younger children. :0)
Omg Becky so glad to hear that! Appreciate all the sweet words.
Hi, for the peppers- do you put them in whole or remove seeds?
Thank you š
Great question, Penny! I remove the stems and seeds. You can watch me cook the recipe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=NkSxxeToQRc&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fthemodernnonna.com%2F&source_ve_path=MzY4NDIsMjM4NTE&feature=emb_title
Could I use a chicken breast instead of thigh if itās all Iāve got?
Thanks!!!
definitely š
Sorry but I donāt understand your instructions with the broth and water.
5 cups water and broth but in the instruction you say to fill a pot with water or 1/2 water and 1/2 broth.
So do I add both the water and broth to the pot? All 10 cups?
Thanks
Hi Marie, sorry for the confusion. What I meant is that you can use ONLY water or 1/2 broth and 1/2 water. The total amount of cups will be 10 regardless
I was wondering the same exact thing!!
10 cups total either broth and water or just water but it’s 10 total š