12 Chicken Noodle Soup Recipes to Warm Your Stomach (and Your Soul)

Out of all the steaming hot bowls of chicken noodle soup out there, it’s safe to say that none of them can beat the one someone makes for you when you're feeling under the weather—whether you’re nursing a cold or just having a crappy day. Even if we're talking Campbell's chicken noodle soup dumped straight from the can, the nourishment provided by that extra dose of love really can't be beat. (You might even say that the healing power of this classic soup is proof that “emotional eating is bad” is one of those healthy eating food rules you can throw out.)

But no one ever said you can’t make a big pot of soul-nourishing soup for yourself on a down day—or, really, anytime you get hit with a craving. (Like, say, on a freezing winter day when you need maximum coziness because those telltale signs of a cold are starting to creep up on you.) In fact, you can make a pretty damn great chicken noodle soup for yourself.

Chicken noodle soup is a dish that really only calls for a handful of basic ingredients and a little bit of time on the stove or slow cooker to give those flavors a chance to mingle and work their magic. We're often talking 30 minutes, people. And there are plenty of awesome shortcuts that will speed things up without sacrificing flavor, like picking up store-bought stock, pre-chopped onions, celery and carrots, or rotisserie chicken.

While the classic might seem hard to beat, there are also so many twists you can put on it to kick things up a notch. Once you have the basic chicken noodle soup formula down, you can take it in a million different directions because it is A) versatile and B) pretty forgiving. Make it creamy! Toss in an extra helping of herbs or spices! Switch up your noodles! Throw in whatever veggies you have that are about to go bad! Heck, you can go totally off script and add something as unexpected as miso or Thai curry paste, and the end product will be fantastic. Or maybe you want to swap out the chicken for a chicken-like plant-based protein—you won’t miss a beat, because half the flavor in the broth is coming from the veggies and herbs anyway. Chicken noodle soup is just that kind of dish. (It’s also meal prep-friendly, as one of the better kinds of soups to freeze.)

So, will these chicken noodle soups give you that same feeling of being cared for by the one person who really, truly gets you when the world is bringing you down? Sadly, they will not. But doing something kind and caring for yourself—like making a giant pot of fragrant, filling homemade soup—comes in as a close second, especially when it's this easy and this good.