This Chinese chicken noodle soup is an easy traditional noodle soup you can make any day of the week.
It’s often served as a birthday noodle soup, topped with 2 fried eggs! While people normally make it with a whole chicken, our recipe uses chicken leg quarters for ease.
Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup vs. American Chicken Noodle Soup
When you think of chicken noodle soup, you’re probably thinking of the American version, with egg noodles and a broth flavored with carrots, celery, and onions. A Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup broth is more pure in flavor, with just ginger, rice wine, and scallion as additional seasoning.
In Shanghai, we once went to a restaurant that was entirely dedicated to this one dish. There were slight variations to it, such as being able to order it with cubes of chicken blood added (we don’t use any here) or varying noodle thicknesses, but this is the one thing they served!
We went to the restaurant with my aunts and uncles, and it was a HUGE place, packed with people—all slurping piping hot bowls of thin noodles in chicken broth.
While Chinese chicken noodle soup may be its own variation, it has the same allure of chicken soup from any culture around the world. It’s comforting, nourishing, and delicious!
A Quick Noodle Soup with Simple Ingredients
While this noodle soup is normally made with a whole chicken, I decided to use chicken leg quarters for this recipe. Not only does it make it easier to whip up a couple of servings on a weeknight, dark meat is ideal for making soup.
I do prefer eating the dark meat, but also, it stays juicy after prolonged cooking! Here, I’m sharing a cooking technique that I found out by accident. If you pan-fry the chicken before making the soup, the chicken meat stays pretty tender without getting dry and tough during simmering.
Recipe Notes Before You Begin:
- Remember to use a thick bottomed soup pot to preserve as much broth as possible. Using a thin-bottomed pot may cause too much of your broth to cook off.
- While we used a thicker noodle for the recipe photos, we prefer very thin noodles (think angel hair or thin spaghetti). The broth is very delicate, making thin noodles a great accompaniment.
Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe Instructions
Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. Thoroughly preheat a Dutch Oven or thick-bottomed soup pot over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, add the oil, and then add the chicken leg quarters skin-side down. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until lightly browned, and then flip and cook on the other side for 3-4 minutes.
Add the Shaoxing wine, water, ginger slices, and whole scallion (you can cut it in half crosswise to fit into the pot). Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, immediately reduce the heat to the medium-low, and simmer (covered tightly) for 40 minutes.
Bring a separate pot of water to a boil for the noodles. Remove the chicken leg quarters from the soup pot, and let cool for a few minutes. Add salt and white pepper powder to the soup to taste. Cover and keep warm on the stove. Shred the chicken into large strips with a fork.
By now, your water should be boiling. Cook the noodles according to package instructions. In the last 30 seconds to 1 minute of cooking, add the leafy greens, and cook along with the noodles.
Divide the noodles and greens among 2-3 bowls, and ladle the soup broth on top. Top with the shredded chicken and chili oil (if desired). Serve!
Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds chicken leg quarters (about 2 leg quarters)
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 5 cups water
- 2-3 slices ginger (about ⅛-inch/0.3cm thick, 2 inches/5cm long)
- 1 scallion
- salt (to taste)
- white pepper powder (to taste)
- 8 ounces fresh thin wheat noodles (of your choice; or 3.5 ounces/100g dried noodles)
- 1 large handful leafy greens (such as baby bok choy, choy sum, spinach, or even romaine lettuce)
- chili oil (to garnish, optional)
Instructions
- Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. Thoroughly preheat a Dutch Oven or thick-bottomed soup pot over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, add the oil, and then add the chicken leg quarters skin-side down. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until lightly browned, and then flip and cook on the other side for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the Shaoxing wine, water, ginger slices, and whole scallion (you can cut it in half crosswise to fit into the pot). Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, immediately reduce the heat to the medium-low, and simmer (covered tightly) for 40 minutes.
- Bring a separate pot of water to a boil for the noodles. Remove the chicken leg quarters from the soup pot, and let cool for a few minutes. Add salt and white pepper powder to the soup to taste. Cover and keep warm on the stove. Shred the chicken into large strips with a fork.
- By now, your water should be boiling. Cook the noodles according to package instructions. In the last 30 seconds to 1 minute of cooking, add the leafy greens, and cook along with the noodles.
- Divide the noodles and greens among 2-3 bowls, and ladle the soup broth on top. Top with the shredded chicken and chili oil (if desired). Serve!
