Name: Chicken and Zucchini Noodle Soup (High Protein, Low Carb, Optavia Lean and Green)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 6 serving(s)
Ingredients: 30 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 large yellow onion, diced; 3 carrots, sliced into rounds; 3 celery stalks, sliced; 4 garlic cloves, minced; 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth; 1 tsp dried thyme; 1 bay leaf; 4 medium zucchini, spiralized into noodles (about 6 cups); 1 lemon, juiced, plus extra wedges to serve; 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped; Salt and black pepper, to taste

Chicken and Zucchini Noodle Soup

Chicken and zucchini noodle soup. A light Lean and Green soup, high protein, ready in 30 minutes. Comfort in a bowl, without the pasta.

Optavia Lean and Green Recipes Published November 13, 2026 1,075 words · 6 min read

Why this recipe works

Chicken soup is the dish people reach for when they want comfort, and the usual version earns that comfort with a pile of pasta that turns to mush in the pot. Zucchini noodles fix that without taking anything away. They cook in three minutes, they stay bright green, and they hold their shape in the bowl, which is more than pasta ever does in a soup that sits on the stove.

The soup itself is built the old way. The chicken simmers in the broth until it shreds easily, and that simmer is what makes the broth taste like chicken instead of salted water. The carrots and celery go in first, because they need the full cook to turn sweet, and the zucchini noodles go in last, because three minutes is all they need. The lemon at the end is the part most recipes skip, and it makes the soup taste fresh instead of flat.

For the Optavia 5 and 1 plan, a bowl of this soup is a complete meal as written: the chicken is the Lean, the zucchini noodles, carrots and celery are the Green, with no pasta and no starch in the bowl itself. It is the lightest soup in the calendar so far. After a week of holiday food, a soup that comforts without weighing you down is exactly what a reader wants on a cold evening.

Short on time? The recipe card below has everything on one screen: tick off the ingredients as you gather them, scale the servings up or down, and tap each step as you finish it.

Counts are provided as a guide only. Check them against the current Optavia 5&1 guide.

Why this one is Day 19

Chicken soup recipes healthy at 1,600 searches a month is a small keyword, and it is in the calendar for a different reason from the big ones. It is a gap the site has never filled: the site has a chicken and kohlrabi noodle soup and a chicken and shrimp gumbo, but no straight chicken soup and no zucchini noodle soup at all. Day 5 was a cabbage soup, Day 10 a taco soup and Day 16 a chili, so this is the first light, brothy soup of the run, timed for the coldest week of November.

Tips, swaps and storage

Do not overcook the zucchini noodles. Three minutes is the whole cook, and the pot should come off the heat while they still have bite. Zucchini noodles keep cooking in the hot broth, so if they look perfect in the pot, they will be soft in the bowl. Pull them early.
Shred the chicken in the pot, not on the board. Lifting the chicken out and shredding it on a plate is fine, but shredding it straight into the broth with two forks keeps the juices in the soup instead of on the cutting board. Either way works; the pot is faster.
Make the noodles fresh, not ahead. Spiralized zucchini releases water as it sits, and wet noodles turn a clear broth cloudy. Spiralize them while the chicken simmers, and they go into the pot dry and bright.
Swap the protein, keep the counts: leftover roast turkey works with the same timing, and it is the Day 6 answer to holiday leftovers. Add it shredded in step 6 and cook for 3 minutes with the noodles. Work the counts out again first, because turkey is a different Lean from chicken breast.
Make it a meal prep: the soup keeps in the fridge for up to 4 days, but store the zucchini noodles separately and add them fresh to each bowl, or they go soft overnight. Reheat gently on the stove, never at a rolling boil, and add the noodles for the last 3 minutes.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use rotisserie chicken instead of cooking chicken breast?

Yes, and it saves the simmering step. Skip steps 4 and 5, add 5 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken with the noodles in step 6, and cook for 3 minutes. Remove the skin first and work the counts out again, because the skin adds fat.

Why did my zucchini noodles turn mushy?

Almost always they cooked too long, or they sat in the hot broth after the pot came off the heat. Three minutes only, then serve at once. If you are making the soup ahead, cook the noodles separately for each bowl, the way the meal prep note says.

Can I freeze this soup?

Yes, but freeze it without the noodles. The broth, chicken and vegetables freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, reheat gently, and add fresh zucchini noodles for the last 3 minutes.

More Lean and Green soups to try

Lean and Green Healthy Chicken and Kohlrabi Noodle Soup, Lean and Green Pesto Zucchini Noodles with Grilled Chicken, and Lean and Green Broccoli Cheddar Soup.

This recipe is educational information, not medical advice. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by Optavia LLC or Medifast, Inc.

Chicken and Zucchini Noodle Soup

Why this recipe works