I know it’s weird to have a vegan chicken noodle soup recipe in the middle of summer,
but sometimes you get sick during the summer and that always calls for hot soup!
Having a blog that documents your life is kind of a funny thing. It’s a moment in time that’s locked in place, evergreen and still in the archives, just waiting for someone to stumble across it through Pinterest or the half-hazard Google search. Someone looking for something as typical as blueberry cobbler will come across a particular moment in time where I was the most broken I had ever been.
And yet, when I look back on those posts—mostly because a stray comment has reminded me that the post exists—I read it with a sage feeling in my heart. I feel like I learned something, that I’ve grown past that pain. Or maybe I just got really lucky and found someone who was right for me, and everything since then has fallen together just right.
This past weekend, Eddie got sick, and thus it was finally my chance to take care of him instead of him taking care of me for the past month when my eczema was rearing it’s ugly, inflamed head. I brought him water when he was too sick to get out of bed, made him hot, vegan chicken noodle soup to soothe this throat, and lounged on the couch with him as we stayed in, instead of going on our nightly walk to catch Pokemon (Team Mystic btw.)
It reminded me of one of our first memories when we had just started dating. Eddie had been living about 40 minutes away at the time. He had gotten really sick one day and was driving home from work, and I kept him company on the phone during the ride home, I could hear him sounding worse and worse until it sounded so bad that I packed an overnight bag and brought my arsenal of soup-making things. A can of tomatoes, some broth, some herbs and crackers, and I made him tomato soup as he was buried in his blankets. We had only been dating for about a month or so, but it didn’t matter. When you’re sick, you need soup!
One of the first things my mom said to me when she met Eddie was, “He seems like a person who can take care of you.” Which, for those who don’t know, is a rare feat because I’m typically very self-sufficient. But my mom isn’t wrong, as per usual. But I think most importantly we take care of each other. I make soup, he washes the dishes. It’s a give and take kind of relationship ;)
To see how I made this soup, check out this week’s video, in which I have gotten sick because of Eddie (figures.) and have to make soup for both of us sickies. If you listen closely enough, you can even hear him coughing in the background every now and then XD
I hope you folks aren’t sick, but if you are, you most certainly should make this vegan chicken noodle soup! Homestyle comfort doesn’t have to include chicken =)
Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 2 cups of uncooked rotini (or pasta of your choice)
- 1 tbsp grapeseed oil
- 1 medium cooking onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp poultry seasoning (yes! It's vegan.)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 heaping cup diced carrot (2-3 carrots)
- 1 heaping cup diced celery (3-4 ribs of celery)
- 6 cups water (or vegetable broth)
- 1/4 cup mushroom seasoning granules (omit if you're using seasoned vegetable broth)
- 1/2 cup freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley (you could also sub 1/4 cup dried)
- 3 vegan chicken breasts (or 4 servings of vegan chicken strips)
- Optional: 1/2 cup frozen peas
- Salted crackers to serve
- Freshly chopped parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to boil and add 2 cups of rotini. Cook until al dente (it'll cook a little more when you add it to the soup). Drain and set aside.
- In the same pot, heat grapeseed oil and cook onion over medium heat until translucent. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Add diced carrot and celery and stir to coat in the spices. Deglaze the pot with a splash of water or vegetable broth and stir until bubbling and the vegetables are heated through.
- Pour in the remaining broth and bring to a boil. Stir in dried parsley if you're not using fresh. Lower to a happy simmer and cover to cook for 15-20 minutes or until veggies are tender.
- Meanwhile, cook your vegan chicken until browned on the outside. Cut into bite-sized pieces if you haven't already.
- Once your veggies are cooked through, add your fresh parsley if you aren't using dried parsley. Stir in the cooked pasta and cut vegan chicken, and allow to cook for a few more minutes to heat everything through.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
If you don't like soggy noodles in your soup, feel free to keep your noodles separate from your soup.
ZB says
Which poultry (brand) seasoning do you use?
Lisa Le says
I just used my local store brand, but sometimes I use the bulk barn one too.
rachael says
What are “vegan chicken breasts”. Never heard of it.
Lisa Le says
They’re the ones I use in the video. Gardein used to make these “chicken breast” type products under the PC Blue Menu label but they were discontinued this year. They might come back in the future, but it’s basically their turk’y cutlets without the breading and a bit thicker. Since it’s been discontinued I usually use chickpeas or broken up tofu that’s torn kind of into chicken-strip like pieces (like in this recipe)
Alyssa says
Quorn makes vegan chicken cutlets now that are really good and hold their form well in liquid.
Kay says
Agreed, the Quorn ones (vegan kind) or the Beyond Meat strips (broken up) work amazingly well in chick’n noodle soup. You could fool anyone with them if you keep the chick’n pieces relatively small.
Shannon says
I just made this soup with a few changes (chickpeas and rice instead of noodles and vegan chicken) and the flavour is perfect. I never use “chicken” bases in my soups because I don’t find it has as much flavour as “beef”, but this soup has changed my mind! I will definitely be making this again.
Mary says
Gardein makes vegan chicken strips, and Sweet Earth makes Mindful chicken with is already chopped it’s really good and the texture is great