With the return of cold and rainy weather this week, I made an old-fashioned “chicken” noodle soup using the newfangled meatless wonder, Gardein. As a youngster, I slurped the kind of chicken noodle soup that came out of a can. For some inexplicable reason, it’s a fond memory.
Re-made vegan style, it has the same comfort food feel as the original. I used Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base for a chicken broth taste. I really like this stuff, it adds a savory flavor but it’s not overwhelmingly chicken-like. All of their vegetarian bases are vegan certified. They also have regular meat bases, so make sure to read the labels carefully.
Like most soups, it’s even better when allowed to sit after cooking so the flavors develop a bit more and the noodles get really soft. Once cooled, the soup can also be frozen into individual serving portions for a future rainy day.
Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup
Makes about 7 cups
6 cups water
1 tablespoon vegan chicken base bouillon
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 medium leek, white and a little of the green part, sliced into 1/8″ rounds
2 medium carrots, sliced into 1/8″ rounds
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 7-ounce package Gardein chick’n filets, diced
2 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
4 ounces dried whole wheat linguine noodles
Dissolve the bouillon in one cup of boiling water, set aside.
Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and leeks, sauté until translucent. Add the carrots and celery and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add the bouillon broth and the rest of the water, bay leaves, granulated onion and salt and pepper to taste. Increase the heat to bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add the veggie chicken pieces, parsley and the noodles broken into thirds. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaves before serving.
you have totally inspired me to drag out the Quorn chikn fillets i have in the freezer and make some soup. i cant wait to try your recipe!
I am totally with you on the childhood chicken noodle soup memories. I am definitely going to need this soup for my next snuffly nose :)
Thanks, now I know what I’m making for dinner on the rainy day :-)
This is exactly what I’ve been craving- Perfect for a rainy day! I just need to pick up a suitable faux chicken, and I’m making this asap.
That looks perfect, just what I needed! Thanks for posting the recipe!
So I made this last night, it was awesome! I didn’t have vegan chicken bouillon, so I used some of this Chick’n broth powder I made a few months back from Vegan Dad’s blog. I just dissolved 1/3 cup in the boiling water. It worked great! Thanks, I thought I would never have this again. :-) btw: I think I am seriously addicted to your blog!
That really DOES look like chicken noodle soup. I shouldn’t read your blog when I’m hungry.
My 6 year old daughter is going to LOVE this recipe! Thank you!!
This recipe looks really awesome! Mine is pretty similar except I use chow mein udon noodles from the Asian market (they seem to be a dead ringer for egg noodles) and tofu marinated in faux chicken-stock for the “chicken” analog.
just made this delicious recipe with seitan.. great!!!!
Thank you for an awesome recipe. I just made this tonight, basically following your instructions with a few minor personal variations, but it was EXCELLENT. Even had a neighbor come by to inquire as to what smelled so good. Very impressed, thanks!
That looks great for a cold day.
Great soup, didn’t last the night
I loved this. Thanks! I didn’t use the bouillon though, I used the “no chicken” broth. I live in a small town and for me to get bouillon like that, I would have had to drive into town. The broth worked just fine, the color of my soup is a little off, but the taste is there. I also made my own eggless egg noodles. I like the thick noodles.
Your soup totally got me laid. I can think of no better endorsement.
I used brown Basmati rice (did not have any noodles) tossed in a few things from the frig and wow chicken soup with rice!
Great stuff only had bouillon cubes so used those.
I was looking for a way to veg up some chicken soup, and am happy to know there’s a good imitation chicken out there. That tip on the “Better Than Boullion” was just icing on the cake. Thanks!
The main thing I was thinking is isn’t it better to dice and pre-sear the gardein chick’n? That way it could be seared and a little more ‘chickn’ like and flavorful–what do you think?
sara – I saute the onion and leek to get their flavor and then the rest of the vegetables. I don’t think the Gardein chick’n really has that much of a “chicken” flavor, the texture is similar though. The chicken flavor really comes from the Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base, so it’s actually the seasonings that’s giving it that flavor.
I just made this(eating it as I type) and I didn’t like it. Tasted like a rubber boot. I omitted the chik filets and used tofu instead and that was actually the highlight of this dish. I relished every bite of that tofu but had trouble finishing the rest.
I’m pretty sure it was the just broth I used that made this recipe bad. I couldn’t find any vegan Better than Buoillon and subbed with some other organic vegetable and it didn’t smell very good.