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CiCi's Pizza Chain Chicken Soup Recipe ?

post #1 of 9
3/15/07 at 5:29pm
Thread Starter 
Hello All;
Since I see some folks are asking for Pizza recipes, I thought I'd make a restaurant recipe request too.

My Cici's Pizza chain in Ohio recently started serving chicken noodle soup though I assume this rollout was chain-wide all around the country. I don't know how they do it but their soup is so good and I would buy it by the bucketfulls if it wasn't for the fact that it is so very heavily salted. They make it with ONLY White meat chicken (Ie. no dark meat) or atleast that's what's in it when I eat it. It has some sort of spiral pasta in it. I'm sure they use a lots of spices and perhaps herbs too as I can see them floating in the broth and the broth seems to be just a tiny bit thicker than water. I think part of what makes it taste so good is their usage of pepper but I could be wrong.

Anyway ... I'm wondering if anyone may have a recipe for it or a Chicken Noodle soup that is similar ?
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post #2 of 9
3/16/07 at 8:06am
There are about a gazillion recipes for chicken and chicken noodle soup. Without tasting the soup you've described it would be hard to offer a specific suggestion. However, here's a chicken noodle soup that I like. Bessie liked Goodman's egg noodles.

Grandma Bessie’s Chicken Noodle Soup
3 - 4 quarts cold water, approx.
2 medium sized chickens, cut up
2 medium sized onions, quartered
2 med-large carrots, peeled and quartered
2 large celery stalks cut in 2-3 inch lengths
1 large clove garlic, bruised
10 or 12 black peppercorns
2 medium sized Turkish bay leaves
3 - 4 sprigs parsley
1 pkg small egg noodles

Directions
Take chicken thighs, drumsticks, necks and backs and put into a baking pan or large, heavy skillet. Place in 375° F. oven for about ½-hour or so; do not cook through. Fillet and skin the breasts, remove as much fat as possible, or as much as you like, wrap them well and reserve them in the fridge.

Take the chicken from the oven at the end of 30 minutes, remove from skillet and set aside for a while to cool. Scrape up any brown crust and add to the stockpot. When chicken parts have cooled enough to handle, crack the leg bones and put all chicken parts, breast bones, neck, skin etc., except the breast fillets, into the stockpot. Add all the other ingredients except the peppercorns and parsley. Cover with cold water, about 3 or 4 quarts.

Bring the pot to boil and reduce heat to a slow-medium simmer. Watch the pot and skim off any foam that forms. Simmer, partially covered for 3 - 4 hours. At the last hour add the peppercorns and parsley. Remove from heat and let cool enough to handle. Strain through a double layer of dampened cheesecloth, pressing out as much liquid as possible. Place stock, in a covered bowl, into the refrigerator and let stand overnight.
The next day remove the breasts and the stock from the fridge; thinly julienne the breasts along the grain. If breasts are large, cut strips in half. Scrape off all the fat from the stock. The stock should be gelatinous, so this wll be easy. Any fat that you can't scrape off can be removed with a paper towel slightly dampened with warm water.

Cook egg noodles about 1/2 done according to package directions, remove from heat, drain through large strainer or colander. Toss while draining so noodles don't stick, set aside. Put the stock back into stockpot and bring to a boil.

When stock boils add the noodles, wait for stock to come to second boil, add the sliced chicken breasts, stir, wait for stock to boil reduce heat and simmer, partially covered until chicken breasts are done. Serve immediately, season to taste with salt and pepper. You should have a very rich, flavorful stock and nice juicy breast meat.

Note: I have since modified the instruction somewhat. Instructions that haven’t changed should be left the same.

Place a circular cake cooling rack on the bottom of the stock pot. Blanch the chicken in boiling water for just a few minutes and rinse it well, then remove and fillet the breasts. Rinse the stock pot. After roasting, return the chicken to the pot atop the cooling rack, set the heat on low and slowly bring the liquid to simmer. Do not let the stock boil. Don’t add the vegetables immediately, but after about two hours of actual simmering time. Cut the vegetables in smaller pieces than called for in the original recipe. When the chicken and vegetables are done cooking, remove the pot from the heat and let cool slightly, then immerse the pot about 3/4 the way or more in a sink filled with cold water (iced water is best). Be careful not to let the sink water run into the stock pot. After about ½ hour or so, remove the pot from the sink, strain the stock and refrigerate, covered.


Shel
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post #3 of 9
3/16/07 at 8:39pm
I like to make my chicken soup simple but no where near bland. Sauteed carrots, celery, and onion are combined with a splash of sherry (no cooking sherry- the real deal). Add some garlic and cook for about 40 seconds until fragrant. Chicken stock (or broth, it has a cleaner, more light color), bay leaves, black peppercorns, salt and ground black pepper are added and its simmered for about half and hour. The peppercorns and bay leaves are removed and I add chopped fresh cilantro or parsley, some dried oregano or basil, and some cooked pasta. I top the dish with some more black pepper because in my family, black peppercorns are the ultimate spice. I usually don't add actual chicken meat to the soup for some reason. I think all you need is a good savory chicken broth, al dente pasta, and some cooked vegetables.
Meet Austin- destroyer of all picky eaters. He's watching you...
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post #4 of 9
3/16/07 at 10:03pm
Thread Starter 
Hi All;
Shel - Yeah ... I know there are a gizillion chicken noodle soup recipes but only one comes from CiCi's ! Seriously, though ... Thanks for the recipe. I will print it out and give it a try after I make Minestrone Soup out of your Tomato-Vegetable broth. I think I'm going to try it tomorrow. I found all of the incredients you specified in your recipe.

Austin - I will probably try your soup first and then Shel's second just because it is different than I usually make and has a lots of unique ingredients that I don't think of putting into soup ... like Sherry. I also like that it uses a lots of spices. I still prefer to make my own chicken broth because most manufacturers put in way too much salt. The Cici's soup has a really strong chicken soup taste which is what I like and what I think makes it so good. It also has a very, very slight spiciness to it which I think is caused by the pepper. I like your idea of not adding chicken, actually. I wouldn't mind because it's good to eat meatless meals several (or more) times a week. Or if I did add chicken, I would just cook a chicken breast and add White Meat. It so happens that I prefer White Meat much more than dark meat and perhapos this is another reason I like the Cici's soup so much - because it only has White meat chicken in it (Not dark meat).

Tim
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post #5 of 9
3/16/07 at 10:11pm
Thank you. :) I still reccomend trying Shel's stock recipe though. Theres nothing better than a great stock recipe where you just basically take a few common ingreidents and raw chicken and turn it into a culinary masterpiece. Substittue bones if you want a stock rather than a broth. just a few more tips. Add just a touch of sherry, and then more to your tastes. Make sure it is dry sherry though. You get that slight tang in the background but it's not too sweet. And if you are planning on using chicken for any reason at all- just make sure the flavors work well together with the soup. Your grandmas honey chili chicken or whatever may taste great on the grill, but not in a chicken noodle soup.
Meet Austin- destroyer of all picky eaters. He's watching you...
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post #6 of 9
6/2/09 at 9:45am
I use a recipe very similar to this, but it's really nothing like Cici's... maybe just buy the actual thing? Is that blasphemous?


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post #7 of 9
6/2/09 at 9:49am
Not a fan of the stock in this case

-Charley
Culinary student: love my cicis pizza coupons!
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post #8 of 9
10/2/12 at 9:00am

It is so strange I found this today.  Yesterday, I went to Cici's and had 2 bowls of their delicious chicken noodle soup, it was the very best I have ever had, mine was not salty enough, but once I added salt, it was awesome!!!  It had little droplets of either oil or butter floating on top, and I do believe this is what gave it that great flavor.  PLEASE, can anyone find this recipe?
 

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post #9 of 9
10/18/12 at 1:27pm

Here is a very simple but flavourful version. It is a bit wasteful but worth every penny.

 

 

Colin’s Incredible Chicken Soup

 

Use of ground chicken provides much better flavour than traditional preparations.

 

Stock:

 

1 tbsp oil

1 pound ground chicken

2 each onion, carrot and celery diced

3 L chicken Broth

2 Bay leaves

 

2 bone-in, skin on chicken breasts

 

Stir fry ground chicken, and veggies until thoroughly fried. Add remaining ingredients.  Bring to a soft boil, (5-10 mins) then remove and reserve breasts. Continue to simmer on low for 45-60 minutes.

 

Strain and discard the solids retaining only the stock.

 

Soup:

 

Add to stock:

 

1 cup each chopped onion, carrot and celery.

1 Tbsp Garlic Granules

¼ Tsp dried tarragon

¼ Tsp dried Rosemary

 

Bring to a medium simmer and add Chicken breasts cut into 3/4 “chunks .

At this point you can decide soup, chowder or stew.  Add anything you like, Ochra, corn, pasta, etc.

Continue to simmer until everything is cooked.

Use potato flakes to thicken or dairy cream, cornstarch etc.

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