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My grandma used to make the most fabulous chicken and noodles. It wasn’t a soup, but more of a thick noodley side dish. It was pretty much my favorite food of all time, with homemade noodles and tender chicken in this creamy broth concoction that was just downright delicious.
My grandma has Alzheimer’s and can’t remember any of her recipes at this point. She was an amazing cook, with all kinds of fabulous Southern recipes that our family loved. I’ll always regret that we didn’t get them written down before she couldn’t remember.
Luckily, she still remembers the more important things, like family.
I’ve tried recreating those noodles, but I just haven’t figured it out yet. In the meantime, I make this Chicken and Rice. It’s not the same, not at all, but it’s got that same comfort food feel and it just seems like food that a grandma would make you.
It’s perfectly delicious in it’s own way.
I added carrots and broccoli this time around, mostly because I was too lazy to cook vegetables in another dish. It worked beautifully. If you have a bunch of veggie haters, go ahead and leave them out.
Like most comfort foods, this is even better the next day, which is good because it makes a huge pot full.
Go make your Grandma a big bowl of Chicken and Rice and give her a big hug from me.
Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 4 pounds whole chicken
- 6 carrots divided
- 3 stalks celery
- 1 large onion halved
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon celery salt
- 3 cups long grain white rice
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Remove the giblet bag from the chicken if included and place the chicken in a large stock pot. Add enough water to cover the chicken.
- Chop 2 of the carrots and all of the celery into 3 or 4 chunks each and add to the pot, along with onion, salt, pepper, oregano, and celery salt.
- Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for 2 to 3 hours. The chicken should be very tender and easily come off the bone when done.
- Remove chicken from the pot and set aside to cool a bit. Use forks (or your hands if cool enough) to pull off small chunks of meat. Remove all of the meat from the chicken and set aside. Discard carcass.
- Strain the broth from the pot into a large bowl, discarding the vegetables.
- Add 6 cups of broth, the shredded chicken, and the rice to the pot and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
- Peel and dice the remaining 4 carrots and add them to the pot, along with another cup of broth. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes more.
- Continue to add broth, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes, until the rice is tender and cooked through. You'll need to taste the rice to check for doneness.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
slightly adapted from She Wears Many Hats
June Hutchinson says
Karly…very glad I found your blog. Two quick questions, please.
One-your chicken and rice recipe that I see called for a 14#chicken.
Was that possibly a typo? Could it have been meant to be 1-4 #s?
Two-do use garlic in your recipes?
Karly says
Hi June! So sorry about that – the recipe formatting was all messed up. I’ve fixed it now and all is good.
I do use garlic quite a bit, but don’t in this recipe. You can add it if you like.
margaret says
sorry to hear about your grandma, alzheimer’s is a toughie. but glad to hear that you find some comfort in her food.
quick question about the chicken, i’m still too scared to buy a whole chicken (you have to pull out its guts and whatnot). is there a way to order it from the meat counter so that all the weird stuff is already gone (head, guts, etc)? or should i buy a prepackaged chicken? any tips would be great!
Karly says
Hi @margaret,
Your question made me laugh! I HATE dealing with raw meat, but especially chicken and most especially when it has bones in it! Ew.
Assuming you’re shopping at a grocery store and not getting a chicken straight from the farm, you’re not going to find chickens with heads or guts (at least not the way I’m imagining you think you will). Haha! Most of the chickens you find will have a little bag stuffed inside them and all the ick is contained in that bag. You just use a pair of tongs and pull it out and toss it (or use it to make gravy, but I’m not a fan myself).
Tyson sells a whole chicken without any of that weird stuff in it so you just unwrap the bird and you’re good to go. I’ve only seen that at Walmart though and you have to read the packages. The package will state something like “Whole Frying Chicken – without neck and giblets.” I opt for those if I can find them, but if not, I just use tongs to deal.
Trust me, if I can deal with an entire raw bird, you can too. 😉 I’m a big wimp about raw meat.
If, however, you’re seriously not into it, go ahead and use a pack of bone in cut up chicken. I don’t see why that wouldn’t work just fine!
Hope that helps and good luck!
Erika - The Teenage Taste says
Sometimes there is nothing better than some good ol’ fashioned home cooking. I think everyone will agree that a grandmother’s cooking is the ultimate in comfort food. This looks delicious, Karly!
Lauren says
So simple and so good!
Joanne says
My grandma doesn’t remember her recipes either. She also has no idea who any of us are, which is just so sad. It breaks my heart every time I see her, especially since I cook now and I want her to know how much she has rubbed off on me, in so many good ways. Sigh. Miss her.
Shaking it off.
Chicken and rice. Yum.
Anna says
I am sorry your Grandma is “not there” anymore. My grandma went through a similar thing, for different reasons.
My other grandma, though, makes the same kind of dish with the noodles. I should ask her the secret. (We serve with mashed potatoes, do you?) I have done my best, using real chicken off the bone, and frozen egg noodles. Now, explain to me why No Yolks and those thick wide noodles are called the same thing? Oh, anyway- yeah. I over boil in broth, and add chicken. It’s not perfect, but I’m getting closer.
I will file this other recipe away for another time, though. I had been making baked chicken and rice w/ broccoli for a while, but the rice is always undercooked. So frustrating.