20-Minute Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe - Crunchy Creamy Sweet (2024)

FAQs

What adds sweetness to soup? ›

To add sweetness without sugar, try coconut, vanilla, or date, suggests Clean Eating Magazine, but for many soup recipes, sugar can help turn up the flavor volume of the original recipe.

You might consider using more umami-forward vegetables, such as mushrooms, that also pair well with chicken to tie together the richer flavors in the dish. Alternatively, vegetables like corn, peas, and tomatoes will bring out some sweeter notes to the soup.

The best options for thickening soup are cream or half and half. Plain yogurt or even freshly grated cheese works well and adds an extra layer of tangy, salty flavor. Add the dairy at the end and avoid bringing the soup to a boil since this can cause yogurt, cheese, or cream to split.

There are several ingredients you can add to chicken noodle soup to enhance its flavor. Some popular options include fresh herbs like thyme or parsley, spices like garlic powder or paprika, and savory ingredients like diced tomatoes or mushrooms.

A little bit of sugar can help balance and intensify flavours too. A little bit of sugar can balance out excess sourness and bitterness, but too much sugar will just overpower the other flavours and make everything taste sugary.

Add peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme, poultry seasoning, basil, and parsley.

The sweetness comes from the caramelisation of vegetable, most often onion and/or pepper (capsicum). Chop very finely and cook in olive oil until with salt until the process starts and they have become a deep golden brown.

Whether you use a few tablespoons or a few cups, cream gives soup a silky mouthfeel and rich flavor. You can definitely add milk or other dairy as well, though it will taste gradually less creamy as you go down in percent.

Can I use milk instead of cream in soup? ›

Cream and milk can be used as substitutes in soup recipes, but it will affect the texture and flavor of the soup. Milk is a thinner liquid than cream and is generally used to add a creamy texture to soups without the added fat content. It will also give a slightly tangy flavor to the soup.

If you started the soup with broth, stock or water, I would wait until the end to add the cream. You can warm the cream, or “temper” it, which is what I do. Take about half a cup of the hot broth and slowly add your cream to that, stirring constantly.

Vinegar, much like salt, is a flavor enhancer — it not only imparts its own taste and acidity to a soup, but in small quantities, it helps to bring out the brightness of other ingredients as well.

Add Some Herbs

Mix the sauteed herbs into the broth to add flavor to a boring canned soup. You can also toss a sprig of rosemary or fresh sage into the pot while you heat up the soup. Whether you add the herbs together or separately, you can really change and personalize the flavor of your soup.

To add both deep flavor and an underlying sweetness, add some tomato paste (about 1 tablespoon per quart of stock). This work especially well for broths destined for soups like minestrone and rich, aromatic stews.

Some suggestions that I use: 1) add a rind of Parmesan cheese while the soup is bubbling for some additional saltiness. The rind will disintegrate while it simmers, 2) add some diced apple for natural sweetness and texture, 3) add some diced parsnips.