Vegetarian Chicken Noodle Soup
Try this Vegetarian Chicken Noodle Soup recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Vegetarian Chicken Noodle Soup recipe, or contribute your own.
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 medium onions chopped
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 medium carrots sliced
- 4 celery ribs sliced
- 8 fresh thyme sprigs
- 1-14 oz. package extra-firm tofu frozen overnight, thawed, pressed for 30 minutes (i use the tofu xpress), and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 4 quarts no-chicken broth
- 12 oz. dried wide egg noodles
- 1/2 c. fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped
- Carbohydrate 7.13954255090242 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 3.5539671814117 g
- Fiber 1.86217650704348 g
- Protein 0.920958528957769 g
- Saturated Fat 0.509420859356705 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (67g)
- Sodium 32.1314136578603 mg
- Sugar 5.27736604385894 g
- Trans Fat 0.147133636218465 g
- Calories 60 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Cook and stir for 3 minutes; add tofu. Cook for an additional 5 minutes or until vegetables are softened, but not browned.
- Add broth and bring to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, add egg noodles and simmer for 8 minutes. (The noodles will be slightly undercooked, but don't worry--they'll continue cooking after removed from heat. This way, the noodles won't be mushy.)
- Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley before serving.
Adding the egg noodles too early guarantees a pot of starchy sludge instead of a clean, structured soup. When dried egg noodles boil alongside aromatics for the entire duration of cooking, they absorb too much liquid and disintegrate into the broth. Keeping the simmer time to precisely eight minutes ensures the pasta retains enough structural integrity to finish cooking off the heat without turning pasty.
Freezing extra-firm tofu overnight fundamentally alters its internal moisture network, creating sponge-like pockets that readily absorb surrounding flavors. Pressing this thawed block for thirty minutes removes excess liquid so the protein can properly sear and absorb the savory notes of the no-chicken broth during the five-minute vegetable saute. Skipping the press step results in watery cubes that release trapped water directly into the oil, lowering the pan temperature and steaming the onions rather than browning them.
Utilizing a heavy Dutch oven provides the thermal mass required to sweat onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and thyme evenly over medium heat without scorching the garlic cloves. Because garlic burns easily and turns bitter at high temperatures, keeping the heat moderate during this initial three-minute window allows the aromatic compounds to release into the extra-virgin olive oil safely. Stirring continuously distributes the fat coating evenly across the vegetable surfaces, preparing them to receive the broth.
Finishing the dish with fresh flat-leaf parsley provides a clean, herbaceous contrast that cuts through the rich sodium and savory profile of the broth base. Stirring the parsley in right before serving prevents the delicate volatile oils in the leaves from degrading under sustained heat. Adjusting the salt and pepper at the very end of cooking accounts for the reduction that occurs during the boil, preventing an overly salty result.
