Easy Chicken Soup in the Oven

Remember the delightful smell of roast turkey, that permeates your home on the holidays? Well, the turkey roasting pan seems to be the secret. The lid keeps the turkey moist, and locks a lot of that incredible aroma right there in the pan.

Despite the fact that it is covered, the aroma still wafts through every corner of the house. I have made chicken soup on top of the stove many times, but it does not seem to have the same hearty taste or "yummy" fragrance, as when it is made in the oven. Try it, and I think you will agree!

• Frozen chicken pieces, legs, thighs, and/or breasts- you'll need about 9 pieces to make 12 man-sized servings
• Turkey roasting pan with lid
• Noodles - 1 package, thick or thin, whole wheat, white or egg noodles
• 1 large onion, sliced or chopped
• 1 cup of chopped celery
• 1/4 cup dried parsley
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic or garlic salt, to taste
• 2 T. of flour - whole wheat or white
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cutting board
• Sharp knife
• Fork
• Potholders
• Water - 2 quarts, or you can substitute chicken broth or chicken stock, if you prefer
• Oven
• Hearty appetite

1 - Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Get your turkey roasting pan out, and let's get started. Wait until your oven has reached 350°F, before you put the roasting pan filled with your soup ingredients in, so any bacteria will be rendered harmless.

This is especially important when you are cooking chicken, as there have been far too many cases of people becoming ill from eating tainted or bacteria-laden chicken or other poultry.

2 - Get all of your ingredients in one place.

Place your roasting pan on the stove top or the counter where you'll have room to work, and let's get started. Take the chicken pieces you are going to use out of the freezer, separate them, rinse them well under running water, and lay them aside.

Peel and chop the onion and the garlic into small pieces and chop the celery into small chunks. If you wish to use fresh parsley, as opposed to dried, you will need about 1 cup of fresh parsley, as opposed to 1/4 cup of dried. Rinse it well, and mince it finely with a sharp knife.

3 - Ready to put the parts together...

Lay the chicken pieces in the bottom of the roasting pan, and pour the 1/2 cup of olive oil over them. Add water, until it covers all of the chicken parts completely, about 2 inches above the chicken. Sprinkle the parsley over the chicken, water, and olive oil mixture, and then add the rest of the ingredients, except for the noodles.

Add salt and pepper, to suit your own taste, put the lid on the roasting pan, and put roasting pan into the oven. You will be adding the noodles, later.

Now, here's the fun part! Go do something else for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

4 - Remove the chicken from the roasting pan...

Careful - it is hot! Use a pair of forks, or tongs and spare your fingers.

Put it into a bowl or a wire rack to cool a bit, and set it aside. Once you are able to handle it without being burned, you can remove the meat from the bones. Once that is done, add the separated chicken back into the roasting pan. Taste the soup, to see if you need to add more seasonings to it. Now, is a good time to do it, so all of the flavors blend together to please your palate.

After you have it seasoned to your liking, open the package of noodles, and put the entire contents into the soup. Stir them in, put the lid back onto the roasting pan, and place it back into the oven.

5 - This goes fast, as the chicken is fully cooked!

Place the cooked pieces of chicken, one at a time, on the cutting board. Pull as much of the meat off the bones, as you can, and discard the bones.

Carefully remove the skin, and trim off any gristle and excess fat, and discard that also. If desired, you can cut up a little of the chicken fat to put back into the pot for flavor, but it is not necessary. That is, unless you are cooking for my husband!

Chop the chicken meat up into bite-sized pieces, and put aside into another bowl. Continue removing bones, and cutting up the meat, until you have done all of the pieces. This is usually only a 5 to 10 minute operation.

Take your roasting pan out carefully again, place it on top of the stove, and put all of the chopped up chicken meat back into the soup. Mix the 2 Tablespoons of flour with about 1/4 cup of cold water - emphasis on cold, until it is smooth and creamy. Dump that into your soup, and stir the soup thoroughly.

Put the lid back on, shut the oven door, and do something else for 30 minutes or so. We have left the chicken soup in the oven for a lot longer than that - about another hour, with the same delicious results.

Take the roasting pan out when you're ready to eat, dish it up, garnish it with fresh or dried parsley, or other herbs, if you like - and that's all there is to it! This soup is thick, hearty, filling, and easy to make, and has become a favorite with all who have enjoyed it. Try it, next time you have better things to do, than standing over a hot stove, minding the chicken soup!

I am sure you noticed that we did not give you the nutrients, or the caloric content, or exact measurements for some of the items, as we rarely measure things out when we are cooking.

We just know that this in these hectic times, our Easy Oven Soup is a breeze to make, and everyone who tried it thought it was marvelous.

You could just as easily make this with turkey, duck, goose, veal, pork or beef, and it would still turn out to be a great dish!

All photos portrayed here were taken by the author: Always-Writing