Soups are always a bit of a challenge with a low sodium diet, but are sooooooo welcome when you get one right. And this creamy chicken noodle soup with homemade dumpling-liked noodles gets it oh-so right.
I don’t know how winter is going in your neck of the woods, but I can tell you that in western Montana it has been full of snow and cold and it seems to be dragging on and on and on. Rather than being upset about the cold and the snow, I am taking advantage of the cold weather by making as many cold-weather foods as possible. This means testing soups, stews, chilies, casseroles, and other oven-friendly yummies. When summer rolls around I will be happy to have fresh veggies and grilled everything, but for now I am happy to hunker down and make completely different dinners.
So how do we keep the sodium in this soup low without loosing the oomph? I start by searing the chicken, which adds a ton of flavor to the base. From there I use a bit of flour and milk to make it creamy, and add a bit of lower sodium soy sauce to boost the flavor. But what I think really makes this soup stand out is the noodles. I make a homemade egg noodle dough and to keep it simple, I pinch off the noodles instead of rolling the dough out and cutting it into strips. The pinched noodles are way easier to make and I like them better (they are thicker and almost like a dumpling). If you prefer the thinner, rolled noodles, you can definitely do that too – this dough will work great for that application as well.
The only part of this recipe that is a tad bit tricky to explain is pinching off the dough. It is super easy, but if you haven’t done it before it is a little hard to explain concisely in a recipe. See the pic below? Those pinched off pieces are my noodles. I just keep pinching pieces of dough off, squeezing them a little between my thumb and forefinger to flatten them, until the dough is gone. I drop the pieces of dough directly into the pot of soup as I pinch, so they don’t take up a bunch of counter space, either (see the recipe below).
And there you have it – comfort food at its finest.
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
SODIUM COUNT: 201.7 mg per serving (1.5 cups soup); 1210 mg in the entire pot of soup
- Yield: 6 1x
Ingredients
Noodles:
- 1 cup flour
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup cold water
Soup:
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 pound chicken breast ((thinly sliced))
- 2 tsp butter
- 2 medium carrots ((peeled and sliced))
- 2 medium celery stalks ((sliced))
- 1 small onion ((diced))
- 1 clove garlic ((minced))
- ½ tsp rubbed sage
- ¼ tsp ground thyme
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 4 cups unsalted chicken broth ((like Swanson))
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup 1% milk
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2/3 cup frozen peas ((check for sodium-free))
Instructions
Noodles:
- Put the flour in a mixing bowl and make a well. Add the egg and enough cold water to make a stiff dough (about 1/4 cup cold water). Set aside.
Soup:
- In a large kettle, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken breast in the pan, until browned and cooked through. Remove the chicken from the kettle and reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Melt the butter in the pot, being careful not to burn. Immediately add the carrot, celery, onion, garlic, sage and thyme. Sautee for about 3-5 minutes or until veggies begin to soften.
- Add the flour to the kettle and stir into the veggies. Cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth a little at a time, stirring well after each addition to ensure that the flour is evenly incorporated. Stir in the water and bring to a boil. Cover and let simmer for about 7 minutes.
- Make the noodles by pinching off dough directly into the boiling pot of soup. Once you’ve pinched off all the dough, simmer the noodles in the soup for about 8 minutes.
- Stir in the chicken, frozen peas, milk, and soy sauce. Cook for about 4 more minutes, or until the peas are heated through.
Notes
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION – Yield: 6 servings, 1 ½ cups each
Sodium: 201.7 mg, Calories: 255.7 Total Fat: 4.6 g, Saturated Fat: 2.0 g, Cholesterol: 84.1 mg, Carbohydrates: 26.5 g, Fiber: 2.3 g, Sugar: 1.8 g, Protein: 24.9 g.
Delicious! I cannot help but change things myself.
First some omissions. When do you add sage and thyme, a very important part (I included them with the veggies)? When do you put the chicken back in (I did it after the ‘noodles’)?
Now for the changes. When adding the broth I realized where ‘creamy’ came from & sifted another tsp or two into it (gradually).
The noodles. I’m a ‘Pie Guy’. I used much less than a quarter cup of H2O to incorporate the flour into it. ‘Pinching’ was a sticky mess (the additional flour probably helped ‘creamy’). The next time I will roll. Consider my PA Dutch Grandma’s ‘Pot Pie’ recipe (if may):
1C flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 C fat (Crisco, etc)
mix like pie dough
add egg
H2O as needed
Actual dumplings are also an option!
For all that, thanks for the recipe! It will be the basis for future
Jim
★★★★
Thanks so much for the comment! You sound like me; I just can’t help making changes to recipes. 🙂
First, your instincts were right with the sage, thyme and chicken. I did not know I left out those instructions, but the recipe is updated now, so thank you.
You mention a pot pie recipe, which is funny because I have tested two pot pie recipes recently (one beef and one chicken – both yummy, so they will probably come to the blog soon). I will keep your pie dough recipe in mind for my next tests; it looks like a great base.
Thanks again,
Kathy
I’m excited to make this recipe and all your others. What I wanted to share with you is a website I found for very low sodium and no sodium products. One product that I’ve purchased is soy sauce which only has 145mg per Tbsp. It’s China Town Low Sodium Soy Sauce, the website: http://www.hearthealthymarket.com there are lots of great products on there and some you can find at grocery stores. There are pickles, olives, and the pickled garlic is wonderful. Hope this helps
Rhonda T.
Thanks so much. I’ll be sure to check it out!
Brava! I was planning on making chicken noodle soup with pasta when I found your recipe. I do like dumplings so I thought I would give it a try. Like Jim, I found the dough a little sticky so I continued to add flour until the consistency was good. I used poultry seasoning (without salt) and added a little cayenne pepper and garlic. The dumplings are so nice and now I have lunch for the next couple of days. Thanks so much!