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Hit by a cold or just need something comforting to dig into? Try making this Chicken Soup Without Noodles recipe. It’s a great low carb and nutritionally dense meal that tastes like a hug in a bowl. Enjoy this wholesome and filling bowl of low calorie chicken noodle soup as a quick weeknight dinner or anytime during soup season!
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Soups are an excellent meal option, especially during the colder months of the year. They’re super cozy, fill you up, can be tweaked and customized to your liking. They're also often nutritionally dense too with lean protein and lots of vegetables.
My lemon chicken soup and healthy beef vegetable soup are on repeat in my household, and on days when I’m really craving for something extra comforting, I end up making my healthy chicken pot pie soup.
This time, I decided to try a classic chicken noodle soup, with a healthier, low carb spin.
Why You’ll Love This Chicken Soup Without Noodles Recipe
- Comfort food: There’s just something incredibly comforting about a bowl of chicken soup, and this chicken no noodle soup packs in just that.
- Low carb: The soup is packed with protein and veggies and low in carbs, making it a great healthier meal.
- Quick to make: You’ll need just around 20 minutes of hands-on cooking time to make the soup. And oh, everything comes together in one pot, which means less mess to clean up afterwards.
- Meal prep friendly: This hearty soup is perfect for meal prep too. You can make it in a big batch over the weekend and freeze it for months.
Ingredients
- Spaghetti squash: Choose a good, unblemished, and ripe spaghetti squash.
- Chicken: I used chicken breasts here, because I love the texture of shredded chicken. You can use chicken thighs for some extra flavor or chopped chicken if you don’t prefer shredded chicken.
- Veggies: To bulk up the soup, I used a mix of white onions, celery, and carrots. These add to the nutrition and also give a lot of flavor to the soup.
- Seasonings and herbs: I kept the seasonings simple and just used some basil, oregano, and bay leaves. You can use your choice of seasonings to bring in different variations. And of course, some salt and pepper.
- Chicken broth: This will be the base of the soup. You can use a homemade or store-bought version.
- Olive oil: To saute the veggies. You can use any cooking oil of your choice too.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations & Dietary Modifications
- Rich and creamy: Lend some creaminess to your soup by adding some milk into the mix towards the end. To keep it dairy-free, use coconut milk.
- Spicy soup: If you don’t mind a kick of heat, add a pinch of cayenne or red pepper flakes to make the soup spicy.
- Veggie packed: Add some extra nutrition and flavor to the soup by adding in other veggies like mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers, broccoli, green beans, corn and greens like spinach and kale.
- Vegetarian: Use a vegetable or mushroom broth as the base, and pick a vegetarian protein source like tofu, chickpeas or beans instead of chicken.
How to Make Chicken Soup without Noodles
Ready to make this healthy chicken noodle soup? Here’s the step by step process you’ll need to follow.
Step 1: Add chicken and veggies. Add the chicken breasts, veggies and seasonings to your slow cookers.
Step 2: Add chicken broth and cook. Pour the chicken broth over the ingredients and cook on low for 6 hours.
Step 3: Prep spaghetti squash. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Peel the spaghetti squash, slice lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds.
Step 4: Season spaghetti squash. Drizzle some olive oil over both sides of the squash and season with salt and pepper.
Step 5: Cook squash. Place the squash flesh side down and bake for 45 minutes.
Step 6: Cool and shred. Allow the squash to cool down for 5-10 minutes and then use a fork to shred the flesh of the spaghetti. The strands should resemble noodles.
Step 7: Add squash to slow cooker. Remove the chicken breasts from the slow cook, shred them and add them back in. Add in the shredded squash.
Step 8: Finish up and serve. Cook the soup for another 20 minutes and serve hot.
Storage Directions
- Storing: Store the leftover low carb chicken noodle soup for 3-4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If you want it to last longer, transfer it to a freezer-safe container after it has cooled down completely, and freeze it for up to 6 months.
- Reheating: You can reheat the soup in the microwave, pausing at every 30 second mark, or in a pan over medium heat until it has warmed through.
Serving Suggestions
Enjoy this bowl of no noodle chicken soup on its own, or serve it with a simple salad side like my version of this healthy Olive Garden salad or air fryer sweet potato fries.
If you’re a soup with bread kind of person, you can try making a healthier, low carb homemade bread like cauliflower bread or zucchini biscuits. They both taste fantastic with a bowl of this comforting soup.
Recipe Tips
- Meat swap: Swap the chicken in the recipe for cooked ground turkey to make a low carb turkey soup. Turkey is another great lean protein source you can consider using as an alternative to chicken.
- Make it quick: If you don’t want to use chicken breasts or just want to make things quicker, you can use rotisserie chicken too!
- Noodle fix: You can also use some zucchini noodles aka zoodles instead of spaghetti squash if you want to. This is another great low carb option to pick.
- Soup consistency: This soup is meant to be brothy and the spaghetti squash helps to thicken it up. If you really prefer a thicker consistency, you can add a simple slurry made using cornflour and water into it towards the end. Let the soup simmer for a couple of extra minutes after you do this, and the soup should have a thicker texture.
More Delicious Chicken Recipes
If you tried this chicken soup recipe without noodles or any other recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below.
Healthy Chicken Soup (No Noodles)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 large Spaghetti Squash
- 1 lb Chicken Breasts
- 1 cup White Onion diced
- 2 cups Carrot diced
- 2 cups Celery diced
- 6 cups Chicken Broth low sodium
- 1 teaspoon Basil
- 2 teaspoons Oregano
- 3 Bay Leaves
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a slow cooker except the spaghetti squash for 6 hours on low.
- After 6 hours, preheat the oven to 425 F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the spaghetti squash in half, lengthwise. Remove the seeds and place on the sheet pan flesh side up. Spray with olive oil, salt and pepper then flip them over so the flesh side is down on the pan. Bake 45 minutes.
- Remove spaghetti squash and cool 5-10 minutes then using a fork, shred the flesh of the spaghetti squash away from the skin.
- Add the shredded squash to the slow cooker and stir. Cook 20 minutes more then serve!
Video
Notes
- 1 serving is approximately 1 1/2 to 2 cups
- For more depth and flavor, you can also add bouillon to this recipe.
- Cooked ground turkey or ground chicken can used instead. You can also use a rotisserie chicken if you don't want to mess with the raw chicken. This will reduce the cooking time to 2-3 hours on low.
- Swap the spaghetti squash noodles for zucchini noodles if you prefer.
Nutrition
I have made a similar soup with broccoli slaw, add it to the crockpot with everything else, its delish
I think step #2 contains an error. It mentions using butternut squash. I thought only spaghetti squash was in the recipe.
Thanks for the catch - it's been corrected!
Does the spaghetti squash get soggy? How about re-warming for leftovers?
It never has for me and I've even frozen it and it keeps well.
I made this last week. It was delicious, but I think next time, I'll store the squash separate from the soup for leftovers. The noodles seemed to disintegrate over a few days. That, or my minds eye thought there were more noodles in there! Lol!
If I plan for leftovers, should I add squash as I eat it? Or, will it store well mixed together? I'm wondering if it bloats or gets mushy when stored? Excited to try!
I've always stored the squash in the soup and never had a problem. Frozen too!