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The Kitchn’s Celia Funderburk tested Emily Blunt’s chicken noodle soup recipe from Stanley Tucci’s 2014 cookbook, The Tucci Table. The recipe adds optional barbecue sauce to a broth simmered with roasted chicken, vegetables and bones; Funderburk said it gave the soup a sweet, savory flavor.
The Kitchn’s Celia Funderburk has tested a chicken noodle soup recipe attributed to Emily Blunt that includes an unexpected optional ingredient: barbecue sauce. In her report, Funderburk said it added a slightly sweet, savory flavor to the broth; the recipe comes from The Tucci Table: Cooking With Family and Friends, Stanley Tucci’s 2014 cookbook.
The recipe builds flavor in stages. It calls for chicken legs and thighs roasted with sliced onion, olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh thyme for about 40 minutes. Separately, diced onion, carrot and celery are softened in a Dutch oven, followed by garlic and ginger. White wine is cooked down before chicken broth and bouillon are added.
Once the roasted chicken is ready, it is shredded and added to the pot with the roasted onions. The soup simmers on low for at least two hours with barbecue sauce, a bay leaf and a couple of chicken bones. The recipe directs cooks to prepare egg noodles separately, then add them to serving bowls and ladle the soup over them. The bay leaf and bones are removed before serving.
Funderburk said the barbecue sauce is listed as optional in the cookbook, but she included it in her test. She described the broth as flavorful and said the sauce brought sweetness and umami, comparing its role to the flavor some cooks seek from soy sauce. She also used chicken bone broth in place of regular broth, a choice she made herself rather than a required step in the recipe.
A Small Addition, Longer Cooking
The report offers home cooks a specific variation on a familiar comfort food: a small amount of barbecue sauce added to a chicken broth that already includes bouillon, aromatics and roasted meat. Funderburk’s account suggests the sauce can contribute a sweet, savory note, though the cookbook treats it as optional and the review is one cook’s assessment, not a controlled comparison.
The time commitment is also relevant for anyone planning to make the dish. The chicken takes around 40 minutes in the oven, and the assembled soup simmers for at least two hours. Funderburk characterized much of that time as hands-off and suggested starting the pot in the morning for lunch. The method separates the noodles from the simmering soup until serving, a practical detail for cooks following the instructions.
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Recipe From the Tucci Cookbook
The recipe appears in Stanley Tucci’s The Tucci Table: Cooking With Family and Friends, published in 2014. Tucci’s cookbook identifies the chicken noodle soup as Blunt’s recipe. In the passage quoted by The Kitchn, Tucci recounts Blunt saying she was unsure why she first tried barbecue sauce but thought it added “a bit of a kick of flavor.”
The source report is a recipe review, not a newly announced recipe or a statement from Blunt. Funderburk describes making the soup and gives her own reaction to its flavor and preparation. Her notes about using bone broth and preferring egg noodles are personal choices; the recipe’s noodle preparation and optional barbecue sauce are described separately in the report.
“I don’t know why I started doing this — it sounds a bit random, but I tried it once, and I just think it adds a bit of a kick of flavor.”
— Emily Blunt, as quoted in Stanley Tucci’s The Tucci Table
What the Review Cannot Establish
The source provides one reviewer’s experience, not a comparison between versions made with and without barbecue sauce. It does not give a measured quantity for the sauce in the article’s instructions, a total preparation time, or nutrition information for the finished soup. The cookbook lists the sauce as optional, so the report does not establish that every cook will prefer it or that it is necessary to the recipe.
The source also does not include a response from Blunt or Tucci about the review. Funderburk’s choice to use bone broth and her preference for egg noodles are personal adaptations or preferences, not evidence that those choices are required. Readers should consult the cookbook’s full ingredient list and method for exact quantities.
How to Try the Recipe
Readers interested in making the soup can follow the recipe in The Tucci Table and decide whether to include its optional barbecue sauce. The reported method calls for roasting the chicken first, then simmering the soup for at least two hours; cooks should plan around that time and cook the noodles separately shortly before serving.
The Kitchn report does not identify a follow-up test or a scheduled update. It remains a recipe review, and further details such as exact sauce quantities or a side-by-side taste comparison are not supplied in the source material.
Key Questions
What is Emily Blunt’s chicken noodle soup upgrade?
The recipe includes barbecue sauce as an optional addition to the broth. The Kitchn reviewer said it gave the soup a slightly sweet, savory flavor.
Where does the recipe come from?
It appears in Stanley Tucci’s The Tucci Table: Cooking With Family and Friends, published in 2014.
How long does the soup take to cook?
The report says the chicken roasts for about 40 minutes and the soup simmers for at least two hours. It does not provide a total time, and preparation time would be additional.
Does the recipe require barbecue sauce?
No. The Kitchn report says the cookbook lists barbecue sauce as optional. Funderburk chose to include it in her test.
Which noodles did the reviewer use?
Funderburk said she likes egg noodles. The report notes that noodle choice is a matter of personal preference and mentions her mother’s preference for broken angel hair.
Source: thekitchn.com
