Upgrade Your Boring Chicken Noodle Soup With One Croatian Ingredient
Comforting and easy to make, chicken noodle soup is downright delicious whether it's homemade on the stovetop or poured right out of a can. There are ways to upgrade the dish in either form, like using potatoes to elevate thicken it up. But there's an even easier way to upgrade your soup with an ingredient that hails from Croatia called Vegeta, which works for a store-bought or scratch-made soup.
You might not have heard of Vegeta, but it's similar to Knorr's Granulated Chicken Bouillon Powder and similar products that are often used here in the United States. Vegeta is mostly made of dehydrated vegetables like carrot, parsnip, onion, potato, and celery. That's partly why it works so well to upgrade canned or homemade chicken noodle soup in a jiffy. Rumors are that Vegeta is also loaded with MSG, which despite its bad rap is a surefire way to give a richer essence to the soup. And if you need further convincing, the Vegeta website claims it's the top food seasoning product in Europe, so there's no reason why you shouldn't use it in your soup no matter where you reside.
Tips for adding Vegeta to your next bowl or pot of chicken noodle soup
When the craving for chicken noodle soup hits, it's quite quick to spruce it up with a dash of Vegeta. To make an easy pot of homemade soup, sprinkle the Vegeta into water to create an easy stock with more flavor before you add other ingredients, like shredded chicken and noodles. For reference, it only takes around two or three teaspoons of Vegeta for an average pot of soup, but you can always give it a taste and add more to match your preference. For a can of soup, just add a pinch so you don't overload the bowl, and add more if needed.
Do you need a recipe to amp up with Vegeta? Try our copycat Panera chicken noodle soup recipe and add the European seasoning to the broth, but be mindful of the salt levels. Another option is to add Vegeta to this 20-minute chicken noodle soup recipe, and you can even use store-bought stock instead of the suggested broth thanks to the new seasoning.