Crock Pot Chicken & Noodles

This is the kind of bowl that warms you from the inside out, and the slow cooker does nearly all the work. Bone-in chicken goes in over a bed of vegetables and cooks low and slow for hours, until the meat slides off the bone and the water has turned into a deep, golden broth.

The bones are key here. Cooking the chicken on the bone is what builds that rich, savory broth you cannot fake with boneless breast.

Then the noodles go right into that broth. As they cook they release starch and drink up the liquid, thickening the whole pot into something closer to a stew than a soup, exactly as it should be.

Shredding the meat off the bones while the noodles cook is the only fiddly part, and it is worth it for tender, juicy chicken in every spoonful.

Stir the meat back in and ladle it into bowls. It comes out thick, hearty, and the kind of dinner that has people going back for seconds.

Kitchen Tips

• Use bone-in, skin-on chicken for the richest broth; the bones and skin are where the flavor lives.
• Lift the chicken out carefully, since it falls apart and can splash hot broth everywhere.
• Add the noodles only at the end so they cook through without turning to mush.
• For an even thicker pot, use egg noodles, which soak up liquid and bulk it up.

Variations

• Serve it ladled over mashed potatoes for a Midwestern classic.
• Stir in peas or a handful of spinach at the end for color.
• Finish with fresh parsley and a crack of black pepper.