More than any other time of year, late winter strikes me as the time for hearty soups. Sure, sometimes you want something light and elegant, but in the cold of winter I don’t think there is anything better than warming yourself from the inside out with a warm drink or food. Soup is essentially the king of comfort foods, and chicken noodle is the most classic, iconic soup. 

I will apologize in advance because this article is not particularly helpful for vegetarians and vegans. I know that there are artificially flavored broths and many excellent chicken substitutes, and this article is also about that sort of soup. However, for the sake of simplicity, whether or not your noodle soup has real chicken, I’m going to call it chicken noodle soup. 

At its most basic, chicken noodle soup is just chicken, noodles and a flavored broth. That is what Campbell’s Condensed Chicken Noodle Soup is. The next level for a canned chicken noodle soup is adding carrots and celery. That’s what makes the difference for Progresso Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup and Campbell’s Chunky Classic Chicken Noodle Soup. The next level of complexity comes in the quality of ingredients, as in Wolfgang Puck Organic Free Range Chicken Noodle Soup and Annie’s Organic Chicken Noodle Soup. 

Not to be a radical, but I think a soup ought to have more than chicken, noodles and two vegetables. In a perfect world we would all have the time, skill and energy to make our soups from scratch. We live in a world that’s far from perfect, though. This doesn’t mean you have to settle for the celery-carrot-noodle-chicken “decadence.” If you want a hearty soup to feed your body and soul in the winter time, I’ve got a few super easy suggestions. 

First, let’s talk broth. Most canned soups have very sodium heavy broths. Consider looking at the reduced sodium options if you want it to taste closer to a home made soup. Or, you could buy a carton of broth and build your soup from the ground up by adding your choice of pasta. 

Canned soups also don’t tend to be very generous with meats. If you’re a person who wants more meat in your soup then just cut up a chicken breast or purchase frozen chicken pieces meant for stir fry. Cook it ahead of time on the stovetop, or buy precooked. 

Next, and in my opinion most importantly, do yourself a favor and add more vegetables. There is no wrong answer here. Do you like peas? Throw some frozen peas in your soup! Bell pepper? No reason not to! Greens like spinach or kale? Who is stopping you? Personally the veggie must-have for my chicken noodle soups is sweet corn. 

Lastly, there are other extras you can add. My mom-mom always adds sliced hard boiled egg to her chicken noodle soup and I definitely appreciate it. I would also suggest you consider adding rice or legume like beans or lentils. It’s your soup and your life. Make it what you want it to be.