Healing Ginger Lime Chicken Noodle Soup

This ginger lime chicken noodle soup is a twist on a classic that's brightly-flavored enough to be springy, and warming enough to be wintery -- perfect for cold winter nights or transitional seasons. Flavored with ginger, garlic, limes, and cilantro, this soup is so nourishing!

this recipe

Friends, this simple twist on a classic homemade soup is HERE for you this winter, whether you need healing soup powers for sick days, or just a simple and healthy weeknight meal that will warm you up.

Jump to:

• The Ingredients
• Substitutions & Variations
• How to Make This Soup
• Chicken Noodle Soup FAQs
• Other Cozy Soup Recipes
• 📖 Recipe

The Ingredients

You'll need:

• A whole chicken - We'll make our own simple broth easily by simmering a whole chicken.
• Water - For simmering our fresh chicken.
• Olive oil
• Onion, garlic, celery, carrots
• Fresh ginger or ginger paste - I actually prefer a store bought ginger paste or partially dried ginger here for convenience, but grating fresh ginger will work perfectly, or even powdered ginger in a pinch. Not to mention, ginger health benefits are amazing!
• Lime
• Cilantro
• Brown rice noodles
• Salt & pepper

Substitutions & Variations

There are always shortcut and substitution options to make these recipes work for you. For this ginger lime chicken noodle soup, here are some I suggest:

• Leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken - If cooking a whole chicken is something you just don't have time or patience for, you can use leftover chicken (maybe even from a previous night's whole roasted chicken?)! My favorite shortcut is to use boneless chicken thighs, so I don't have to deal with chicken bones and still get that dark meat flavor. Add in some store bought chicken broth, and you have delicious homemade soup. I use this method in my chicken tortilla soup, so feel free to check that out as an example!
• Powdered ginger: In a pinch, hit your spice cabinet for ginger if you don't have anything fresh.
• Other noodles - I used brown rice noodles for a whole grain, gluten free option, but classic egg noodles or other kinds of noodles are always delicious.
• Grains - You can also skip the noodles and add in barley, rice, farro, or any other grain -- they all taste delicious in soup!

How to Make This Soup

First you'll start by cooking your chicken. For this recipe you can either boil it in water and salt on the stovetop, and use the water after for broth. Or, if you're using leftover chicken, you can skip this step altogether and simply chop or shred the chicken you have.

After the chicken has cooled, you can shred it off the bone and discard the bones (or save for bone broth, aka chicken stock!). For broth, you can either:

1. Use the water used for boiling the chicken as is.
2. Discard the water used for boiling and use store bought chicken broth (organic/free range, if possible!).
3. Skim some of the fat off using a fat separator (affiliate link). My mom used to take this step for all her homemade soups, but sometimes I skip this step or just do it partially.

Remove the broth and chicken from your stock pot or other soup pot, and set aside until you're ready to use.

In the same soup pot, sauté all of your aromatics in some extra virgin olive oil. This includes your onion, garlic, ginger, carrots, and celery. I like to add a sprinkle of salt to the veggies as they soften while cooking, for added flavor.

Convenience Tip: Ginger paste is a life saver when it comes to soups and other recipes calling for grated ginger! It's so much easier and a lot less to clean up.

If you want to add any other veggies to the soup, you can add them with the carrots and celery to sauté and bring out their flavor.

Once the veggies have softened, you'll the broth and shredded chicken to the pot. Bring the entire soup to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and allow to simmer for at least 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, add in the brown rice noodles and cover the soup again, making sure the noodles are completely submerged in the broth. Leave the pot covered for five minutes to cook the rice noodles.

Finally, squeeze in a couple juicy limes worth of lime juice and a bunch of chopped cilantro. Give the soup a stir, and taste, adding more salt if necessary. Finish with freshly cracked black pepper, and serve with a couple lime wedges for each bowl (don't skip this part -- it adds so much flavor to the soup!), plus some crusty bread and butter. You could also top with homemade sourdough croutons!

Chicken Noodle Soup FAQs

1. How do I freeze chicken noodle soup for later? After allowing the soup to cool completely, you can freeze ginger lime chicken noodle soup in an airtight container for up to three months. Since liquid expands when frozen, make sure to leave a little room in the top of the container.
2. Do I need to cook the chicken from scratch? Nope! You can use leftover chicken and simply skip over the first three steps of the recipe (below). You'll need 6-8 cups of liquid to add to the soup in Step 5.
3. Can I use different vegetables in my soup? For sure! Add other veggies at the same step as the carrots and celery and cook for a few minutes to bring out their flavor.

Other Cozy Soup Recipes

• Chili: If you like chili, healthy sweet potato turkey chili and classic beef chili and some of my favorites! I also adore this vegan chili from Oh She Glows.
• Blended soups... with crispy toppings: Thai-spiced butternut bisque (with curry-roasted chickpeas!) and harissa tomato soup (with grilled cheese croutons!).
• This spicy peanut soup with sweet potatoes + kale.
• Soups on my list to make: this red posole and this chicken pozole verde.