Chicken and Noodles has to be our all-time family favorite. This is the ultimate comfort food to share with those you love. The carbs are high but your family will be feeling the love! My mother would serve this for a hearty supper (evening meal in the Midwest) or for Sunday dinner (noon meal). It is best made with homemade noodles, although we have found several commercial noodles (such as Kluski style noodles) that work well.
This time, I made my noodles from scratch, like my Mother did. She could whip up a batch so fast. I admit I’m slower and not as precise. After I moved away from Iowa, my Mother would visit and make several batches of noodles for me, always ready in the freezer when I was craving Mom’s chicken and noodles.
This is not your ordinary chicken and noodle soup…Instead, the chicken and noodles are served over mashed potatoes. Crazy, right? You won’t think so once you try it. It is a fabulous medley of flavors that is perfect for a cold, wintry night. However, daughter Megan has been known to request this for her August birthday dinner. We served this to her friends when she was a teenager and they thought we were crazy UNTIL they tasted it. Now her friends ask her when she is making chicken and noodles. The tradition continues.
EGG NOODLES
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks
7 to 8 tablespoons cold water
- Sift flour with salt into medium bowl.
- Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture. Add egg yolks and 4 tablespoons cold water. Beat vigorously with wooden spoon until well combined.
- Gradually add 3 more tablespoons water, mixing well with your hands. Dough will be stiff. If it is too stiff to knead, gradually add more water.
- On a lightly floured surface, knead dough until smooth, about 5 minutes. Cover with bowl and let the dough rest for 5 minutes
- Divide the dough into four parts. Work with one part at a time. Keep remainder covered with bowl until ready to roll out.
- Roll each part, on a floured surface, to about 14″x16″. Dough will be about 1/8″ thick. The shape does not need to be perfect. Work quickly before dough dries out.
- Make sure each side of the dough is lightly coated with flour. Starting with the long side, roll the dough loosely, like you would for a jelly roll. With a thin sharp knife, cut roll into 1/8″ strips for noodles. Arrange on ungreased cookie sheet to dry. Let dry overnight before cooking.
- Dried noodles can be stored in a cool place. They also freeze beautifully for use at a later time.
CHICKEN AND NOODLES
1 whole chicken
Salt and pepper
Water
Egg Noodles, Uncooked (or make your own)
Parsley to taste
Mashed potatoes
- Cover whole chicken, in deep pot, with water and boil until chicken is falling off the bone. Remove chicken from broth and cool. Once chicken is cool, pick chicken pieces off the bone and return to broth. Discard bones and skin.
- Refrigerate broth over night. Before proceeding, remove any congealed fat from top of broth.
- Heat broth and chicken and add more water to assure enough liquid to cook one package of egg noodles. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 30+ minutes or until noodles are done.
- Serve with a large bowl of hot mashed potatoes.
Fork Lore 
One of our family favs, too (here in Pittsburgh.)
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Good to know that other families enjoy this tradition! Mmmm…making me hungry just thinking about it!
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Never heard of the German way,noodle soup over taters. I make my own noodles, and I either use boiled chicken or beef. Let noodles simmer until really thick, mash taters, then apply all those noodles W/ chicky or beef to taters, then green beans and cottage cheese on the side….MMMMMMM GOOD…
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Thanks for your comments! This is making my mouth water…may need to make another batch soon!
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So happy I found this. My Hungarian Grandmother used to make this and it brings back such happy memories! Now I can make this for my Dad.
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I’m so glad it’s made your day. It is a family favorite at our house and hope your Dad enjoys it! I’d love to hear his feedback.
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I have been researching chicken and noodles! Your recipe and methods are the first I have found that is closest to what I remember. I introduced my New England born and bred husband to this dish – loves it! I will be doing a noodle demonstation in April for our community and would like to use your blog as an example if you would be so kind. Thanks.
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Sue, thank you for your sweet note. This is such a wonderful family tradition. I would be honored if you were to share this in your community.
Cathy
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I grew up in Columbus, OH and we had either chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes or beef and noodles over mashed potatoes nearly every weekend. It was my favorite dish. I am vegetarian now but have converted the dish to a vegetarian dish by substituting Quorn frozen veggie chicken and vegetarian chicken flavored broth. It is really quite yummy!
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Thank you for your comment. I will share your vegetarian version with my vegan/vegetarian friends. Great idea!
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This is a tradition from my Grandmother and we always have it for our Thanksgiving Dinner. Never knew where it orginated or why she made it. New members of the family always ask for the gravy then we tell them to use the Chicken and Homemade Noodles over mashed potatoes. Now they agree it isn’t Thanksgiving with the Homemade Noodles. My Grandmother’s family was from England and do not know where the tradition orginated.
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Patti, thanks so much for taking the time to share your family story. I love hearing of other families that share their love and traditions. Making me hungry for chicken and noddles even on this hot summer day!
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THANK YOU! My all-time favorite dish from my grandmother — the ONE thing i asked for Christmas after Christmas while she was still alive and able to cook was chicken and noodles. She taught me to make them once, but I think I was still too young to have really remembered and internalized it and while she left me a written recipe, it just isn’t the same. Now, my daughter needs a dish for her Heritage Day celebration here at school in California and the closest thing we can think of is grandma Gaga’s chicken and noodles. I’ve been searching all day for something that looks like the right ingredients and the right technique — no peas, no herbs, nothing green, just the goodness. And this is the closest I have found to just the way grandma used to make it. Thanks for that! Have a great and cozy day. For the record, my grandmother lived in a small town in Eastern Illinois. This is the Midwest at its best!
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Thank you so much for you comments and sharing your memories of good, old-fashioned, chicken and noodles. Good luck with your daughter’s Heritage event. I’d love to hear more about it.
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Great recipe and tutorial. My wife and I are both from rural Indiana farm country and grew up on this, I learned how to make it from my grandmother and my now 103 year old great-aunt when I was a kid and your version is very similar to our family recipe. My wife and I’s families, along with most everyone else in the part of Indiana where we are from, are of Bavarian/Palatine/Swiss ancestry and this is Midwestern German heritage cooking at its finest.
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Andrew,thank you for your note. I’m always delighted to hear family stories and memories as you have shared. It’s a tradition I know my girls will carry forward as one of their all-time favorites.
Cathy
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This has been a traditional dish in family as well. Here’s a variation that I like to make.
I’m never one to waste anything. After Thanksgiving, when the meat has been cleaned off of the bones, use the bones to make your own turkey broth. Then put the scraps of white and dark meat that are always left over back in the broth. Add the homemade noodles and tada! you have the best turkey noodles.
Even if I don’t make something out of my broth right away, I at least freeze it in large tubs. Here’s a tip: freeze your turkey meat in the broth. It keeps the meat from getting freezer burn and will taste as fresh as the day you froze it.
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Great idea Lori! I made chicken and noodles again this weekend and froze some for later. Nothing better on a cold winter’s night, than chicken and noodles!
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Thank you for having this recipe. Ive been searching for plain old chicken and noodles recipe ever since i left iowa 4 years ago. All the other websites have extra stuff in them and fancied it up.
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You are so welcome, Alicia. People that have never enjoyed this recipe don’t understand how it could be so delicious. Those of us that grew up with it, totally understand. Enjoy!
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