This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
A hearty and comforting Turkish Chicken Soup with Noodles (aka Tavuk Çorbası). This easy recipe can be made with rotisserie chicken, a few veggies, tons of dried herbs, and vermicelli noodles.
Chicken soup recipes always set the mood for the coziest dinner vibes.
My Turkish Chicken Soup with Noodles or Tavuk Corbasi uses simple ingredients and is such a delicious alternative to when you want chicken noodle soup, but just something a little different.
Believe it or not, soup was one of my favorite things to eat on our trip to Turkey. I order Mercimek Corbasi (Turkish Red Lentil Soup) literally everywhere I went. And when it wasn’t that, it was this creamy, dreamy chicken corbasi.
The ingredient list is pretty similar to that of a chicken noodle soup recipe, with a handful of dried herbs and spices added in. And of course, we swap the traditional egg noodles for vermicelli and add a dollop of Greek yogurt for creaminess! If you’ve tried my winter lemon barley chicken soup (which many of you have and loved it), it if very similar to that.
What you’re left with is another soup recipe that you can add to the rotation in the colder months.
And I promise you, the kids are going to gobble this one up too, my little one certainly did!
Turkish chicken noodle soup ingredients:
- Butter: three tablespoons go into the soup pot to cook the onions, carrots and garlic as the base of this recipe. You can certainly swap some of the butter for olive oil if you’d like. Whatever your taste buds desire!
- White onions: you’ll want to dice the onions like you do for a traditional mirepoix, only this recipe doesn’t call for celery.
- Carrots: shred the carrots on a coarse grater and if you’d like to save time, feel free to grab matchstick carrots from the grocery store.
- Garlic: you’ll want to finely mince the garlic cloves so that it just blends right into the soup.
- Died herbs and spices: I like to use dried oregano, dried mint, black pepper, and a hint of Aleppo pepper. A lot of traditional recipes call for pul biber, however, I have never used it in my soup recipe. You’ll also need kosher salt and black pepper to finish the soup.
- Chicken Stock: I always use my pressure cooker to make chicken stock from leftover rotisserie chicken bones. You can also use drumsticks, wings, or a whole chicken and toss them in with vegetables to make a homemade stock, and I show you how here. But store-bought chicken stock works just fine too!
- Bouillon cube: this just amps up the chicken flavor in the recipe.
- Vermicelli noodles: these are easily found in most grocery stores. If you didn’t want to use vermicelli noodles, broken spaghetti or even orzo pasta would work as well.
- Flour: we’ll use this to thicken the soup. Unlike traditional recipes, we won’t be making a roux, but rather following similarly to my Hungarian soup recipe, we’ll mix it in a bowl with the greek yogurt, an egg yolk, and mix it in right at the end.
- Yogurt: just a quarter cup will get mixed in with the flour, lemon juice, and egg yolk.
- Lemon Juice: we’ll need just the juice of a lemon, or about three tablespoons worth. This adds tartness and a beautiful bright flavor to the soup.
- Large Egg yolk: This will help give the soup a silky smooth texture as well as thicken the soup. The addition of egg makes this a unique, flavorful dish.
- Cooked Chicken: you can certainly poach a couple of chicken breasts for this recipe, but if I’m in a hurry, I’ll grab a rotisserie chicken on the way home. And trust me, every part of that whole chicken will be put to good use! I’ll use the meat to make this soup, and then make chicken broth with the bones to use in the next recipe.
- Fresh parsley: or fresh dill works great to garnish and add a bit more freshness right at the end.
Making Tavuk Corbasi
- Saute the aromatics. Start by adding a knob of butter to a dutch oven or a large pot over medium high heat. Once the butter melts, add the onions and carrots and let them cook in the butter until they start to soften. Stir in the garlic and let it bloom and become fragrant before you add in the dried herbs and seasonings.
- Simmer, simmer, simmer. Once the smells are taking over your kitchen, we’ll pour in the chicken stock, 2 cups water, and bouillon into the soup pot. Bring the soup to a boil, then stir in the vermicelli noodles. While the noodles are cooking you want to prepare the yogurt mixture and shred the chicken in a separate bowl.
- Whisk it together. In a bowl, add the flour, lemon juice, greek yogurt, and egg yolk together and whisk to combine. Add a couple tablespoons of the soup to the yogurt mixture to help bring the ingredients closer to the soups temperature. Once combined, we’ll slowly pour the yogurt mixture back into the soup pot while you stir. Take your time with this part, you don’t want to end up curdling the soup.
- Finish and serve. Add the shredded chicken to the soup and stir to combine. Taste and adjust with salt, pepper and more dried herbs needed. Top the soup with the chopped parsley or dill for extra flavor. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with crusty bread on the side.
Other Turkish recipe to try:
- Chicken Shish Tawook
- Turkish Pide (Turkish flatbread)
- Crispy Feta Cheese Filo Pastry (Borek)
- How to Make Baklava
- Refreshing Frozen Mint Lemonade
Turkish Chicken Soup with Noodles (Tavuk Çorbası)
A hearty and comforting Turkish Chicken Soup with Noodles (aka Tavuk Çorbası). This easy recipe can be made with rotisserie chicken, a few veggies, tons of dried herbs, and vermicelli noodles.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup white onions minced
- 2 carrots grated
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes
- 6 cups low sodium chicken stock
- 2 cups water
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- 1 cup vermicelli noodles or broken spaghetti/orzo
- 3 tablespoons flour
- ¼ cup greek yogurt whole milk, or 5%
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 cups cooked shredded chicken
- Chopped parsley or dill to finish
Instructions
- SAUTE: Start by sautéing the grated carrots and onions in the butter for 3-4 minutes or until the veggies softened over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and let cook until fragrant, for 30 seconds. Season with the oregano, mint, black pepper, and Aleppo pepper. Let cook for another 30-40 seconds so that the herbs bloom.
- SIMMER: Add the chicken stock, water and chicken bouillon to the pot and bring it to a simmer. Once the soup reaches a boil, add the vermicelli to the pot. Then cook for 5 minutes (8 minutes if you used spaghetti instead of vermicelli.)
- WHISK: While the vermicelli cooks, combine the flour, lemon juice, greek yogurt and egg yolk in a bowl with a whisk. Add 4 tablespoons of the warm soup to the bowl as you continuously whisk the yogurt mixture. This will ensure that the yogurt doesn’t curdle in the soup. Continously stir the soup while you slowly pour the yogurt mixture into the soup pot. Take your time doing this part to ensure that the soup doesn’t curdle.
- FINISH: Add the shredded chicken to the soup and stir to combine. Taste and adjust with salt, more pepper or mint as desired. Top with chopped parsley and serve warm with crusty bread.
Nutrition
Calories: 402kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 17g | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
Just made this for the first time. It is amazing! Definitely will make again. Wondering if it will freeze well?
My husband loved it, he said it had flavour and it did, my daughter who is not a fan of chicken actually liked it too. I did add extra mint and parsley which she wasn’t so keen on, but the soup itself she liked, as to myself well I know what went in and I personally loved it.
Thankyou for the recipe
This soup sounds very easy and so good. I have never cooked with mint in soup but will give it a try this weekend as it’s supposed to rain here in Sacramento, CA. Thanks for posting.
This is soooo differentiated. I used rotisserie chicken from which I made my own stock. Used orzo instead of noodles. This recipe is now in my winter rotation.
Hi there! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the soup and that you found it worthy to repeat! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and leave a review 🙂