Slow Cooker Soup Should Always Have This Ingredient Cooked Separately

Using a slow cooker to make a satisfying noodle soup can save you a whole lot of effort compared to making it on the stove, but dumping all your ingredients in at once is a mistake that you'll regret. Cooking time varies for each ingredient in most soup recipes, and in the case of noodles, they can go from an exemplary al dente to a soggy letdown before you know it. While you would do well to add things like potatoes in a slow cooker soup at just the right moment, it turns out you may not want to add the noodles to slow cooker soup until the very end. 

The Takeout spoke with Katie Vine, an experienced cook and recipe blogger at Dinners Done Quick, who warns us that while it's possible to include noodles in a slow cooker soup, it also introduces its own set of challenges. "If you time it correctly, you can absolutely add them into a slow cooker, [but] you just don't want them in there all day so they become overcooked and mushy," she says. 

Whether you're making a classic chicken noodle soup (which remains the perfect sick day food) or trying to break out of a culinary rut with a more complex miso ramen with crispy pork, starches are an integral part of the dish but also one that needs to be treated with care. With that in mind, Vine suggests boiling them individually so you can keep a watchful eye on the quality. "Cooking them separately allows you better control over the texture of the noodles, and then you can combine them when ready to serve," she notes.

If you're like me, utilizing shortcuts and eliminating extra steps is a priority in the kitchen. In the interest of achieving this goal, Katie Vine says that if you time it right, it is possible to add noodles to a slow cooker soup without them turning soggy. "You'll just want to add it in the last 10 to 15 minutes or so (check the box directions for how long your noodle shape needs to cook) and check on them periodically," she explains. "The crockpot isn't quite as hot as a boiling pot on the stove, so they may need a few additional minutes."

Still, one drawback to adding noodles to the slow cooker towards the end is that even if your timing is impeccable, they will continue to sit in the hot soup for some time. In doing so, they will inevitably get mushy, which is sure to ruin any plans you had to enjoy them later. You can freeze noodle soup, but if you cook the starches individually, as Vine suggests, you won't have to worry about the texture deteriorating with temperature changes. As Vine shares, "This helps with leftovers storage, as the noodles won't get soggy and bloated when stored separately in the fridge, so you can enjoy reheated soup with the same perfect texture noodles."