Best Spices for Chicken Soup: What Each Does

Chicken soup gets most of its flavor from the chicken, the long simmer and a few vegetables, and the seasoning on top is simple. Three recipes, two from university extension services and one from the cookbook author Joan Nathan, agree on the constants: onion, celery, carrots and black pepper.¹²³ Beyond that they differ: Nathan’s Jewish-style soup is heavy on parsley and dill, one extension recipe offers thyme or sage, and only one uses garlic. This page covers what each seasoning does, when it goes in, and where amounts come from.

At a glance

Seasoning	Job in the pot	Notes
Onion	Sweet, savory base	In all three recipes¹²³
Celery	Savory, green note and texture	In all three¹²³
Celery seed	Concentrated celery flavor	Much stronger than the stalk; a pinch goes far⁴⁵
Black pepper or white pepper	Warmth; white keeps a pale broth clean-looking	Black pepper in all three¹²³
Salt	Seasoning	Amount depends on the broth¹²³
MSG	Savory (umami) boost	A main ingredient in bouillon cubes⁶
Parsley and dill	Fresh, green flavor	6 Tbsp each in Nathan’s soup³
Thyme, sage, marjoram or oregano	Herbal depth	Optional 1 tsp thyme or sage in the Minnesota recipe²
Garlic	Savory depth	In one of the three recipes¹

Three recipes side by side

	Iowa State Extension (5 servings)¹	University of Minnesota Extension (6 servings)²	Joan Nathan, with matzah balls³
Chicken and liquid	1 lb boneless chicken, 4 cups reduced-sodium broth, 2 cups water	3 lb chicken pieces covered with water, simmered 2 to 3 hours	1 large whole chicken, simmered about 2 1/2 hours
Onion	1 cup diced	1 onion	2 onions, unpeeled
Celery	1 cup sliced	1 cup chopped	2 stalks with leaves, plus 1/2 cup chopped leaves
Garlic	1 tsp garlic powder	None	None
Black pepper	1 tsp ground	1/4 tsp	1/4 tsp ground
Salt	None added	1/2 tsp	1 Tbsp
Herbs	None	Optional: 1 tsp thyme or sage	6 Tbsp parsley, 6 Tbsp dill
Other vegetables	Carrots	Carrots	Parsnips, carrots and other root vegetables

These are each cook’s own recipe, not a house standard. Salt tracks the liquid: Iowa adds none because it starts with broth, while Nathan, starting from water and a whole chicken, uses a tablespoon.¹³

The core seasonings and what each one does

Salt and MSG

Salt seasons the soup. The savory, meaty taste of a good broth is a separate taste, umami, which Britannica attributes to glutamate, guanylate and inosinate found in meat and vegetables.⁷ A widely repeated claim says salt supplies the umami in chicken soup; it doesn’t.

MSG is the most direct way to add umami. The FDA describes it as the sodium salt of glutamic acid and considers it generally recognized as safe.⁸ Commercial bouillon leans on it: a Knorr chicken bouillon cube sold in Canada lists salt first and MSG second, followed later by disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate, and carries 720 mg of sodium in a serving of one third of a cube.⁶ The FDA’s Daily Value for sodium is less than 2,300 mg a day,⁹ so if you use bouillon or MSG, salt last and taste first. None of the three recipes uses MSG; a small pinch per pot, adjusted by taste, is a reasonable starting point (Method). See cooking with MSG and MSG vs. salt.

Celery and celery seed

Celery is in all three recipes.¹²³ The extension recipes add chopped celery for the last part of cooking: 10 minutes before the noodles go in for Iowa, 15 to 20 minutes before the noodles for Minnesota. Nathan simmers whole stalks with their leaves for the full time.¹²³ Doing both, whole stalks in the long simmer and fresh chopped celery near the end, combines the two approaches; that is a Method suggestion, not a tested rule.

Celery seed has a similar but much stronger aroma than the stalk, Gernot Katzer notes, and holds up well to heat.⁴ McCormick warns that its pungent, somewhat bitter flavor goes a long way and suggests starting with a pinch.⁵ Add it early so it can infuse. See celery seed uses and celery leaves.

Onion

Onion is in all three recipes: diced in the two noodle soups and whole and unpeeled in Nathan’s, which simmers for about 2 1/2 hours before the broth is strained.¹²³ A common suggestion is to add onion in batches through the cooking time for more complexity; none of these recipes does that, and no source tests it. See onion powder vs. onion.

Black and white pepper

All three recipes use black pepper, from 1/4 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon.¹²³ White pepper is the choice when you want to keep dark specks out of a pale broth: Katzer notes it is often suggested for cream sauces where black pepper could spoil the color.¹⁰ It tastes different, though. America’s Test Kitchen says stripping the skin removes much of the volatile oils and aroma compounds, and its tasters preferred white pepper in hot and sour soup for its floral, earthy flavor.¹¹ Freshly ground pepper is a common preference; no source measured the difference. See white pepper vs. black pepper.

Parsley and dill

Nathan’s soup uses 6 tablespoons each of chopped parsley and snipped dill: parsley and 4 tablespoons of the dill go into the long simmer, and the rest of the dill goes on at serving.³ Only that final dill follows the LSU AgCenter’s advice for delicate herbs such as parsley and dill, which it says lose flavor with prolonged heat and are best added a minute or two before the end.¹² PROSEA notes that curly parsley leaves are used for seasoning as well as garnish.¹³ See dill, cooking with dill and fresh vs. dried parsley.

Thyme, sage, marjoram or oregano

The Minnesota recipe offers 1 teaspoon of thyme or sage as an optional seasoning.² Marjoram and oregano are close relatives: marjoram is Origanum majorana,¹⁴ and oregano is an Origanum in the mint family, Lamiaceae.¹⁵ Some cooks avoid using both in one pot on the grounds that they overlap, but that is a matter of taste; Pati Jinich’s chicken tinga, for one, uses 1/2 teaspoon of oregano with 1/4 teaspoon of marjoram.¹⁶ See marjoram vs. oregano.

Garlic

Garlic is optional in chicken soup. Only the Iowa recipe uses it, as 1 teaspoon of garlic powder; the Minnesota and Nathan recipes leave it out.¹²³ See garlic powder vs. garlic.

When to add the herbs

Sources disagree on timing for herbs in a long simmer:

Source	Advice
America’s Test Kitchen	Hearty herbs such as thyme go in early¹⁷
University of Delaware Extension	In long-simmered recipes, add herbs during the last 45 minutes¹⁸
LSU AgCenter	Delicate herbs such as parsley and dill a minute or two before the end¹²
University of Minnesota recipe	Seasonings go in with the vegetables for the final 15 to 20 minutes, before the noodles²
Joan Nathan’s recipe	Parsley and most of the dill simmer for the full 2 1/2 hours; the rest of the dill at serving³

A practical starting point (Method, not a measured rule): simmer thyme sprigs, a bay leaf or a parsley bundle in the broth and fish them out; add dried herbs for the last 45 minutes; finish with fresh parsley or dill. As a general rule, the University of Delaware gives 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of dried crumbled herb as equal to 2 to 3 teaspoons of fresh.¹⁸

Food safety

Chicken: cook to 165°F; FSIS sets that minimum for all poultry, and the Iowa recipe checks the chicken at 165°F before shredding it.¹⁹¹
Leftovers: FSIS says leftovers keep 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator and that soups should be reheated to a rolling boil.²⁰ The Minnesota recipe is stricter, at 2 days refrigerated.² Both say to refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking.²²⁰

“Chicken Noodle Soup”, Spend Smart. Eat Smart., Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. spendsmart.extension.iastate.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴
“Chicken noodle soup”, University of Minnesota Extension. reallifegoodfood.umn.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶
“Joan Nathan’s Chicken Soup with Matzah Balls”, Foodish, ANU Museum of the Jewish People. foodish.anumuseum.org.il · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵
Gernot Katzer, “Celery (Apium graveolens)”, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩²
“McCormick Whole Celery Seed”, McCormick product page. mccormick.com · Merchant ↩ ↩²
Knorr Bouillon Cubes Chicken, 69 g, label via Voilà. voila.ca · Merchant ↩ ↩²
“Umami”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩
“Questions and Answers on Monosodium glutamate (MSG)”, US FDA. fda.gov · Regulator ↩
“Sodium in Your Diet”, US FDA. fda.gov · Regulator ↩
Gernot Katzer, “Black Pepper (Piper nigrum L.)”, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩
“Substituting Black Pepper for White Pepper”, America’s Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩
“Flavorful Herbs”, LSU AgCenter. lsuagcenter.com · Reference work ↩ ↩²
I.B. Ipor and L.P.A. Oyen, “Petroselinum crispum”, PROSEA, via Pl@ntUse. uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩
“Origanum majorana L.”, Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. powo.science.kew.org · Reference work ↩
Anoushka Pant, “Oregano”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩
Pati Jinich, “Chicken Tinga (Tinga de Pollo)”, patijinich.com. patijinich.com · Publication ↩
Liz Bomze, “Our Guide to Fresh Herbs”, America’s Test Kitchen, 2019. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩
“Using Herbs and Spices”, University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, revised 2025. udel.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩²
“Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart”, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, updated 2025. fsis.usda.gov · Regulator ↩
“Leftovers and Food Safety”, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. fsis.usda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²

The Best Spices for Chicken Soup: What Each One Does and When to Add It