The Case For Adding Vodka To Your Chicken Noodle Soup

There is nothing more comforting than chicken noodle soup, whether you're feeling under the weather or just want to cozy up on a chilly evening. Even the most straightforward chicken noodle soup is a satisfying mix of textures and herbaceous, umami flavors. But one of the other selling points of this dish is how it can be customized endlessly. There are many different ways to add flavor to your chicken noodle soup, and we just learned one of our new favorites: Add some vodka into the pot.

A spirit like vodka, neutral in flavor itself, can temper any possible chicken odor that might be overwhelming other aromas and making the broth taste too meaty. Simultaneously, vodka can amplify other flavors present, bringing out any spices and herbs from garlic to rosemary, as well as those sweet carrots, earthy celery, and buttery noodles. It works the same way it would in a dish like penne alla vodka. Vodka's alcohol bonds with both water-soluble molecules, which carry sweet, sour, bitter, sour, and umami flavors; and fat-soluble molecules, which carry aromas, and it plays all of those qualities up and helps get them to your nose and tongue. It also emulsifies these molecules, keeping all the elements of your soup together and providing a smooth consistency for your broth.

To add vodka to your chicken noodle soup and enjoy the benefits of its flavor-boosting, emulsifying magic, keep a few considerations in mind. A good ratio to use is ½ of a cup of vodka for an entire pot of soup — add it when combining your meat and veggies with your stock. From there, remember other tips for cooking with vodka. For one thing, vodka will bring the soup's boiling point down, so it will take longer to cook. Plan accordingly and keep the heat low to medium, and you'll actually get a better soup because all the ingredients have been slowly cooking and blending together for longer. Make sure you use a high-quality vodka, too. While it won't add its own flavors, harsh-tasting vodka might affect your soup for the worse.

If you don't have vodka or want to experiment with other spirits, soju is a great option. Soju is a Korean spirit fermented and distilled from grains or starches, and it is comparable to vodka in its clear, clean profile, but is lower in alcohol. You could glean subtle hints of different flavors from soju, though, depending on its base ingredient. Rice sojus are quite neutral, while sweet potato sojus can have some earthy funk that would work well with the savory notes of chicken noodle soup, and barley sojus bring some richer grain notes to bolster the noodles' hearty character.