Chinese Noodle Soup is incredibly quick and easy – if you know the secret seasonings! You’d swear the Asian soup broth is from a Chinese restaurant, it’s that good.
10 minutes, just 352 calories for a big bowl. Use any noodles, any vegetables, any protein – or not! Terrific fridge forage food.
Fast Chinese Noodle Soup!
This Chinese Noodle Soup is one of my classic “back pocket” recipes because it’s so versatile and incredibly quick. Because people who cook all day for a living need quick dinners for real life – ask any chef!!
Here’s a run down of how it goes:
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Broth: Plonk and simmer 6 ingredients for 10 minutes (no trip to the Asian store required!);
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Noodles: Prepare fresh OR dried noodles according to packet directions;
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Toppings: Rummage in fridge and locate vegetables & proteins of choice. Chop roughly and cook with the noodles or in the soup. broth; and
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Serve: Place noodles in bowls. Pour over soup and toppings.
See? 10 minutes!
Seasonings for Chinese soup broths
If you’ve ever been disappointed by a recipe for an Asian soup broth before, it’s probably because it was missing basic but essential flavourings. It takes more than just chicken broth and soy sauce to make a Chinese soup broth!
Here’s what all you need:
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Chinese cooking wine – the key ingredient. Just 1.5 tablespoons adds complexity and depth of flavour to the store bought chicken stock. Without it, the broth will taste “flat” ie missing something. Substitute with: dry sherry, mirin or cooking sake. Best non alcoholic sub for this recipe: substituting some of the soy sauce with oyster sauce (which adds extra “umami” into the broth to compensate);
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Garlic and ginger – smash the garlic and slice the ginger to allow the fresh flavours to infuse into the broth. Keeping them whole makes it easy to pick out later – you could very well grate them straight into the broth using a fine grater, but you will get little bits in the soup (rather than being a clear broth);
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Sesame oil – for the flavour!
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Chicken broth/stock – use low sodium otherwise the broth may be a touch too salty for your taste. Use a decent one, because it’s the foundation of the soup broth (🇦🇺 I use Campbells. Better than Continental). Best option if you have it: homemade chicken stock!;
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Soy sauce – either all purpose or light soy sauce will work here. Don’t use dark soy sauce or sweet soy sauce – the flavour of these are too intense; and
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Sugar – just a touch, to balance out the flavours.
What goes in the noodle soup
And here’s what I put in the soup:
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Noodles – Chinese noodle soups are traditionally made with thin egg noodles (pictured above, and below in the soup). Fresh ones (sold in the fridge section) have a better texture than dried. But any noodles will be fine here – fresh or dried, rice noodles, white or yellow noodles, Hokkien, Singapore noodles, wide, thin, vermicelli, ramen noodles (yup!), diet noodles (like konyaku – been there, done that), zoodles (been there too). Really. ANY noodles will be great in this broth!
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Bok Choy (also known as buk choi, buk choi, pak choi, or pok choi – crazy right??!) – or any vegetables. I like bok choy because you just split them in half down the middle and bam! You’re done! (Recipe notes includes an extensive list of chopping and cook directions for common vegetables)
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Cooked Chicken (poach it using this method that guarantees juiciness)- or any other protein, as desired. Everybody keeps little containers of cooked shredded chicken in the freezer, right?!
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Green onion or coriander/cilantro, or chives, or even finely sliced onion (red, white, yellow brown) – something for a little hit of freshness.
How to make Chinese Noodle Soup
And here’s how it happens in 10 minutes. (And to all those cheeky buggers who will point out that if you have to simmer for 10 minutes, then it takes longer than 10 minutes – fine! You can take a 2 minutes off the simmer time!😉)
PRO TIP: Never cook noodles in the soup broth unless a recipe specifically calls for it. Noodles suck up loads of liquid when they cook, so if you do that you’ll end up with way less broth than you expect. Learnt this the hard way. 😖
Make it even HEALTHIER!!
Being that this is a noodle soup recipe and all, noodles are a key ingredient here. Even so, it clocks in at just 352 calories for a bowl.
But if you want to cut down on the carbs and calories even further, just skip the noodles and load it up with tons more vegetables to make a Chinese vegetable soup. In fact, it’s one of my “go-to” diet dinners (which should happen more frequently than it does…).
Do I miss the noodles? Of course I do. But I console myself with a healthy dose of chilli paste and lots of fresh herbs, Chicken Pho style.
But before you make it diet, try it the way it’s intended. THEN healthify it!!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Chinese Noodle Soup
Ingredients
Broth
- 3 cups chicken stock/broth, low sodium (Note 1)
- 2 garlic cloves , smashed (Note 2)
- 1.5 cm / 1/2" ginger piece, cut into 3 slices (optional, but highly recommended)
- 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce , or normal all purpose soy sauce (Note 3)
- 2 tsp sugar (any)
- 1 1/2 tbsp chinese cooking wine (Note 4)
- 1/4 - 1/2 tsp sesame oil , toasted (optional) (Note 5)
Toppings & Noodles
- 180g / 6oz fresh egg noodles (Note 6)
- 2 large bok choy or other vegetables of choice (use any blanchable veg - Note 7)
- 1 cup shredded cooked chicken (or other protein of choice)
- 1 scallion / shallot , green part only finely sliced (optional garnish)
Instructions
- Place Broth ingredients in a saucepan over high heat. Place lid on, bring to simmer then reduce to medium and simmer for 8 - 10 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse.
- Meanwhile, cook noodles according to packet directions.
- Cut bok choys in half (for small / medium) or quarter (for large). Wash thoroughly.
- Either cook the bok choi in the broth in the soup broth OR noodle cooking water for 1 min (if noodles required boiling).
- Pick garlic and ginger out of soup.
- Place noodles in bowls. Top with chicken and bok choy. Ladle over soup, garnish with green onions. Great served with chilli paste or fresh chillis.
Recipe Notes:
- Reduce soy sauce to 1 tbsp
- Add 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce (this has umami and will add complexity into the broth flavour to compensate for leaving out cooking wine).
- Fresh noodles, thin (ie from fridge section, this is what I use) - 90g / 3 oz per serving
- Fresh noodles, wide and flat (like thick Thai rice noodles) - 150g/ 5 oz per serving (much denser, so you need more)
- Dried noodles, pasta (yes, really!) - 60g / 2 oz per serving
- Ramen - 1 pack / "cake" per person
- Any Chinese veggies (bok choy/buk choi/pak choi, gai lan/Chinese broccoli, choy sum). Cut Bok Choy into half or quarters lengthwise (pictured / video), for other veg, cut into batons about 5cm / 2" long
- Carrots - sliced on the diagonal
- Bean sprouts
- Green beans
- zucchini (sliced)
- green beans cabbage (thick slice)
- asparagus, broccoli / broccolini and cauliflower,
- any other vegetable that can be boiled.
Nutrition Information:
Originally published June 2016. Long overdue for a video to be added with brand new photos and process steps!
MORE ASIAN SOUPS YOU’LL LOVE!
Life of Dozer
Baby Hands and Giant Paws. Evidence for anyone who has wondered how small my hands really are. 😉
Excellent. It’s quick to make and is so tasty. I’ve made many of your recipes. So simple and full of flavour
Does it ask for 11 table spoons of Chinese cooking wine and soy sauce? Surely that’s too much right?
Hi Ben – that’s 1.5 (1 and a 1/2) not 11! N x
This was THE BEST . I used dried egg noodles.. added broccoli, capsicum. Chicken, boy chop. Loved it… just loved it. Thank you. Nagi and dozer.
I just love your recipes. Your instruction are just perfect.
So tasty yet simple to make.
Wow, I was going to comment on how I’m about to make this, but mainly how I find I am most often using YOUR recipes for the recipe I want to make… but then I scrolled down to leave a comment and I see your hand on your dog’s paw. We said goodbye to our 14yo Pug, Kobe 3 weeks ago tomorrow. Doesn’t even feel like it’s real, yet. He was so loved. I know most pet owners say that, but this dog was more than a dog, heck, he looked half human! Long story short, your photo made me feel connected to you on a bigger level and I truly love your recipes and wish the absolute best for you!
Oh Keary! I’m so sorry to hear about Kobe 😢 You were lucky to have each other for the time you were together. Sending you huge hugs – N x
I love this soup super tasty. So easy to prepare . A great one to make for healing after surgery. Thankyou.
Love this recipe. So easy and so full of flavour. I’ve made it twice so far and know I’ll be making it often in the future.
This is a new fave. So easy and quick and full of flavour. Perfect midweek meal.
This recipe is divine! I can’t believe how easy it was to cook. I skipped the meat and put in prawn wontons instead and it was to die for. Thankyou Nagi for another fantastic recipe!
Fabulous!
This is now a family favourite. Can’t believe how easy and delicious it is! I always make sure I have noodles and stock in the pantry and then when I get the craving I can chuck in whatever veggies are in the fridge. I’ve been adding prawn gyoza instead of chicken as I always have some in the freezer. This is now my go-to recipe website. So many winners!
This us my ONLY recipe site… LOVE NAGI
If i double this delicious recipe should i double everything?
Yes you should – slide the servings up and all the ingredients will scale up for you. N x
Nagi- This Chinese Noodle Soup is absolutely PERFECT – subtle fusion of flavors, easy directions. YUMMY!!! Thank you – this recipe is a keeper(especially with Asian Chili Sauce topping!)
Hi Nagi…do you ever use store bought chicken stock if you’re out of homemade, and if you do, can you please share which brand you use? Many thanks!
Yes often Jacqui! I use Campbells as it’s readily available. N x
Brilliant, thank you so much!
This was the first ever recipe tin recipe I made and the fact that I’ve made probably 40 or more other recipes since then and have basically stopped using anyone else’s recipes says a lot lol I didn’t expect much of this based on how simple it was but it’s so good and has become a staple in our house that we make often. I love it!
Hi there, would love to know what brand products you use for your Chinese dishes as not all ingredients are created equal. Thank you
Hi Lesley, you might find this post useful 🙂 https://www.recipetineats.com/asian-market-grocery-store-shopping-list/ N x
Hi there, thank you for sharing your recipes. I notice you mention Campbells chicken stock. Have you ever tried their Asian stock please, curious to know if you have and if so would it be suitable
Hi Lesley, I haven’t tried it – I prefer to use this and season my own broth 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi!
Love your recipes! Family loves your recipes too!
One quick question.
My daughter has a sesame seed allergy ( anaphylactic unfortunately) What can i substitute the sesame oil with? Just olive oil? for any recipe that requires sesame oil?
Thank you!
Any neutral flavoured oil here Tania, I would avoid olive oil. N x
Made the noodle soup last night and it was delish! The broth was really yummy (with a bit of extra fish sauce), and I added a bunch of extra veggies that were rolling around in the fridge 🙂
I was given a pack of egg noodles and I wasn’t sure what to make with it. So glad I came across your recipe. So easy and very delicious! Thank you!