These Spiralized Zucchini Chicken Noodle Soup Jars are a perfect low-carb meal prep idea. Just add boiling water, microwave and enjoy!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Olive oil – use any neutral cooking oil like grapeseed or avocado oil.
- Chicken breasts – swap out for another kind of chicken, meat, chickpeas, tofu or lentils.
- Garlic – fresh minced garlic is best but jarred minced garlic will work in a pinch.
- Yellow onion – white onion or shallots would be the best substitutes here.
- Celery – stir in some spinach at the end instead.
- Carrots – swap out for another veggie of your choice.
- Red pepper – swap out for another veggie of your choice.
- Thyme, parsley and oregano – Italian seasoning will provide a similar flavour.
- Salt & pepper – to taste.
- Chicken bouillon cubes – vegetable bouillon cubes are the next best thing.
- Spiralized zucchini noodles – I buy pre-spiralized zucchini noodles at the grocery store but you can spiralize 3-4 fresh zucchini instead.
How to make this recipe
- Cook the chicken.
- Sauté the veggies.
- Add in the spices.
- Divide the chicken and veggie amongst mason jars.
- Add a bouillon cube to each.
- Top with zucchini noodles.
- Store for later!
Using mason jars
You want to use a mason jar to separate your ingredients. This way, the zucchini noodles will last for much longer than if you had them mixed in with the rest of the veggies. It's also easier to pour in boiling water and get the soup to cook through, and the jars are easy to transport to work or school.
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Don’t have any mason jars on hand? You can always store your soup in another type of container, then dump everything into a bowl, pour in your boiling water and microwave from there.
Frequently Asked Questions
Definitely! Zucchini noodles are a great low-carb alternative for regular noodles, even in soup. You’ll still get to enjoy your favourite comforting soup without the extra carbs or calories.
I always buy pre-spiralized zucchini noodles from the prepared foods section of the grocery store, but you can spiralize your own noodles using a spiralizer. You can get a handheld one or one that sits on the counter with a crank that you turn to make the noodles. Both are easy to use and will provide you with zucchini spirals in no time!
The trick to making sure your zucchini noodles don’t get soggy is making sure you remove as much water as possible. This is another instance where buying the pre-spiralized noodles comes in handy because the moisture will already be drained out of the store-bought ones. If you’re spiralizing your zucchini at home, sprinkle some salt over top and let the noodles sit on some paper towel to dry out.
Storing and reheating
You can store these jars in the fridge for up to 4 or 5 days. Make sure to layer the zucchini noodles on top of the other ingredients so they don't spoil. When you're ready to eat them, pour boiling water over top then microwave for 1-2 minutes.
If you have already made the soup and have leftovers, you can store the leftovers in the fridge for up to 2-3 days in a container with a lid. You can reheat them in the microwave for 2 minutes or so. You may want to replace the zucchini noodles by that point as they will be softer than usual, but it all depends on your personal preference.
Freezing this recipe
You can freeze this cooked soup without the zucchini noodles! You can also freeze the chicken and veggie filling to make it easier for you to meal prep these jars in the future. Just make sure you use fresh zucchini spirals since they won’t freeze well.
More mason jar recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- These are the 32oz mason jars I used.
- These colourful mason jar lids are so fun and perfect if you lose your lids.
- I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
Zucchini Chicken Noodle Soup Jars
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb chicken breasts, diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 small yellow onions, diced
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp parsley
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 4 chicken bouillon cubes
- 4 cups spiralized zucchini noodles (I buy the ones in the pre-made produce section of the grocery store but alternatively you could spiralize 3-4 zucchini)
Instructions
- Heat olive oil over med-high heat. Add chicken and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add garlic, onions, celery and carrots, sauteeing for 6-7 minutes until veggies are tender. Add red pepper, thyme, parsley and oregano and cook another 2 minutes, then remove from heat.
- Divide chicken and veggie mixture among 4 large mason jars. Add bouillon cube to each and top with zucchini noodles. Store in the fridge up to four days.
- When ready to serve, pour boiling water overtop just before completely covering zucchini noodles. Microwave for 1-2 minutes on high and remove, mixing well. Pour into a large, deep bowl, then serve and enjoy!
Kristy says
Those bouillion cubes look delicious What brand are they or did you make them yourself?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Kristy – I think they are the Knorr brand!
Libby says
Can you can this to make shelf stable? Do the noodles hold?
Taylor Stinson says
I’m sorry Libby I’m not sure what you mean…these jars need to be refrigerated and my understanding of making something shelf stable means to make it safe to keep unrefrigerated, and that’s just not possible. Let me know if you mean something else though!
Cindy says
Follow a canning recipe for vegetable soup. Then, you can make them shelf stable.
Brenda says
Looks delish! Are your jars 1qt or a pint?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Brenda! I’m using the 1 qt jars here 🙂
Cheryl says
What items are the sugar and carbs coming from? Couldn’t figure it out with those ingredients
Thanks
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Cheryl – they are most likely natural sugars from the zucchini and the carbs also come from the veggies and perhaps the broth. Hope that helps!
Jill Reese says
Such a great recipe! Will definitely give this a go for university.
Belinda says
These look fantastic! What size mason jars do you use?
Carol L says
I don’t do microwaves: can you heat in a conventional oven?
This looks pretty awesome, as do the other ‘jar’ recipes. Thank you
Taylor Stinson says
Thanks so much Carol 🙂 I would not recommend heating in the oven because I don’t think the jars are safe for the oven. However, I do have a solution! You could prep the jars ahead of time and store in the fridge then pour in the water, then dump into a medium-sized pot and heat on the stove for 4-5 min on med-high heat. I feel like that should do it!