A soothing and comforting beef shank noodle soup that takes no time to put together and is very flavorful. The base uses homemade braised beef shank and its broth, with a few added ingredients to make a delicious one-bowl meal for any time of day.
Yesterday I shared a very easy braised beef shank recipe, showing you how to make super tender and juicy beef in a master sauce. Once you’ve made the braised beef, there are so many ways to use it to create fast and easy daily meals. Today, I want to show you how to use it to make a super hearty noodle bowl that takes less than 20 minutes to put together.
Beef shank noodle soup ingredients
Because the broth from the braised beef shank is so rich, you only need a few ingredients to make a great noodle soup base. I used water in my recipe, but if you prefer an even richer soup, feel free to replace it with chicken broth or beef broth.
However, homemade chili oil or a great quality bottled chili oil (like this one or this one) is a must and cannot be skipped!
Type of noodles for beef shank noodle soup
You can use many types of noodles in this dish. Personally I always stick to wheat noodles made with flour and water.
If you love a chewy noodle texture, you can use wide noodles such as shaved noodles or udon noodles.
Standard braised beef noodle soup usually uses medium-sized round noodles, so the noodles can soak up broth for a flavorful result, while maintaining some of their chewy texture. You may find noodles labeled as “Yang Chun Noodles” or “Dan Dan Noodles” for this purpose.
I personally also love to use the thin type of noodles in any noodle soup, because it soaks up a lot of flavor. For thin noodles, you can use dragon whisker noodles (Chinese) or somen (Japanese).
If you’re feeling fancy, you can also make this dish very restaurant-like by using homemade hand-pulled noodles.
Lastly, if you cannot find any fresh noodles, just about any type of dried wheat noodles or even instant noodles will work.
I wouldn’t use chow mein noodles or egg noodles in this dish.
Cooking process
It is so simple to make this beef shank noodle soup that I didn’t even include step-by-step photos.
All you need to do is:
- Saute onion and carrots
- Add water and the braised beef broth with ketchup
- Cook some Asian greens in the same broth and use the broth to heat up your leftover beef shank meat
- Prepare and cook the noodles, then put everything together
It’s so simple!
Why cook the noodles in a separate pot
Almost all the traditional Chinese noodle soup recipes require you to cook the noodles in a separate pot of water, rather than directly in the noodle broth. This is because: (1) boiling noodles usually requires more water and you won’t have enough broth to do it properly (2) cooking noodles releases a lot of starch, which can make the broth cloudy.
That being said, if you’re feeling extra lazy, feel free to use instant noodles to make this beef shank noodle soup. Simply cook 2 blocks of instant ramen in the noodle broth to save time and minimize cleanup. Instant noodles are already partially cooked, so you can boil them in the broth without issues.
Afterthought
My homemade braised beef shank is quite different from the traditional version and it is much tenderer. Traditionally it’s served as a cold salad (I’ll talk about that in a separate post), but I really love how it pairs with a bowl of hot noodle soup. The tender beef shank is fork-tender and the connective tissue just melts away in the broth, which is perfect for a noodle soup. Once you have the braising liquid, it takes no time to put this beef shank noodle soup together and the taste is phenomenal. I hope you enjoy it!
Beef Shank Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- 1/2 onion , minced
- 1 carrot , sliced
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup beef braising liquid from homemade braised beef shank
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 8 oz (220 g ) fresh wheat noodles, or 5 oz / 140 g dried noodles
- 4 heads baby bok choy (or yu choy, spinach, other leafy greens of your choice)
- 1 cup homemade braised beef shank , chopped
- Salt to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 tablespoon Chinese pickled radish (Optional)
- 2 tablespoons homemade chili oil (with chili flakes)
- Chopped cilantro (for garnish)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat until hot. Add the onion and carrot. Cook and stir until the onion turns golden, 3 minutes or so.
- Add the water, beef braising liquid, and ketchup. Simmer until the onions turn very soft, 5 to 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring a separate pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Once done, rinse the noodles with tap water for a few seconds to stop cooking, then drain and transfer them into two serving bowls.
- Add the baby bok choy into the noodle boiling water. Cook for 1 minute or until the desired doneness. Transfer the bok choy onto the noodles.
- If the braised beef shank is cold, add it to the broth. Cook for 1 minute or so, to warm it up.
- Once the broth is ready, taste it carefully and adjust the flavor by adding a pinch of salt and the white pepper. Transfer it to the noodle bowls. Top with the braised beef shank and pickles (if using). Drizzle with chili oil and garnish with cilantro. Serve hot as a main dish.
My new favorite noodle soup recipe!! Thank you so much for sharing. Also the beef was so flavorful and tender that even my toddler loved it, and she generally doesn’t like to chew on meat.
This is an amazing recipe ! I loved the beef and the soup came together soooo easily and quickly ! If you cook the beef on the weekend, you could have a delicious complex beef noodle soup any time during the week. Another incredible recipe ! Thank you