Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

Name: Asian Chicken Noodle Soup
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1500 min
Ingredients: 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs; 2 ½ Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, (divided); 1 ½ teaspoon Chinese Five Spice; 1 ½ teaspoon salt; 1 ½ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper; ½ teaspoon red pepper flake; 2 ½ Tablespoons minced fresh ginger; 1 Tablespoon fresh minced garlic; 1 pound portobello mushrooms; 2 Tablespoons soy sauce; 5 cups chicken broth; 1 cup water; 1 pound bok choy; 1 6oz. package of Mai Fun Noodles; green onions, (optional (for garnish))

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Healthy and delicious, this is the best Asian chicken noodle soup you'll ever eat! Marinated in Chinese five spice and sauteed with fresh ginger and garlic, the chicken is so tender that it will melt in your mouth! Nothing screams comfort food like homemade chicken noodle soup...especially with an Asian flair!!

White bowl containing Asian Chicken Noodle Soup with crossed chopsticks sitting on a brown table mat, red napkin on table.

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✔️ Quick Recipe Overview
ℹ️ Why This Recipe Works
🛒 Ingredients You'll Need
🔪 Step-By-Step Recipe Instructions
🙋 Frequently Asked Questions
💭 6 Major Success Tips
🍽️ More Asian Inspired Recipes You'll Love!
Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

✔️ Quick Recipe Overview

Why This Is The Best Chinese Noodle Soup Recipe: The secret is in the marinade. The process and ingredients used provides an unbelievable amount of flavor! It's why this version stands out from all the other Asian chicken noodle soup recipes out there!

How Long It Takes: 12-24 hours to marinate, 20 minutes to prep, 40 minutes to cook

Equipment You'll Need: large pot, knife, skillet, tongs

Not only is this the best Asian chicken noodle soup you'll ever eat, but it's also near and dear to my heart. It was created by my friend who is a chef and it's savory, full of flavor, and absolutely delicious! It's different than the traditional chicken noodle soup recipe because this version has an Asian twist made with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, veggies, and chicken broth. We're talking restaurant quality soup you can make in your own kitchen!

Unlike a lot of people who only eat soup in the colder months, I eat soup all year long. While I enjoy a good creamy soup like loaded baked potato soup and a hearty tomato based one like vegetable beef soup, I love a good chicken base soup recipe. And I find myself craving this chinese noodle soup! Hands down, this is absolutely the best soup recipe I've ever tasted. A good soup recipe everyone will love!

White bowl of Asian Chicken Noodle Soup, rice noodles twirled on chopsticks.

ℹ️ Why This Recipe Works

1. This Asian chicken noodle soup is super easy to make!

2. The chicken thighs are marinated in Chinese Five Spice which not only adds a ton of flavor, but does a phenomenal job tenderizing the meat.

3. Full of nutrition, this Asian soup is not only super tasty but it's extremely healthy!

White bowl containing Asian Chicken Noodle soup, white chopsticks twirling Mei Fun noodles.

🛒 Ingredients You'll Need

The key to flavor is marinating boneless and skinless chicken thighs in a Chinese Five Spice based marinade for 12-24 hours. Do NOT skip the marination step! It's what makes this Asian soup stand out from the rest flavor wise. The marinade also contains red pepper flakes, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

The ingredients are simple and can be found at any grocery store. Fresh ginger and garlic is sautéed in the same pot where the marinated chicken was seared. Fresh mushrooms are then added, which soaks up a lot of flavor. Chicken broth, soy sauce, and water make up the base of the soup. Bok choy is then added along with rice noodles making this Asian chicken noodle soup out-of-this-world delicious!

Chicken thighs, rice noodles, ginger, soy sauce, salt, olive oil, bok choy, chinese five spice, chicken broth and garlic on counter.

🔪 Step-By-Step Recipe Instructions

Start by marinating the chicken. For the marinade, you'll need olive oil, Chinese Five Spice, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Don't worry, the red pepper flakes don't make this dish "hot or spicy". It just adds more depth flavor wise.

Chinese marinade sauce in glass dish on counter.

Once you've mixed the marinade ingredients, add the thigh pieces to a large bowl and baste each thigh thoroughly. Cover and place in the refrigerator and marinate for 12-24 hours.

Bowl of marinated chicken thighs in asian marinade.

Once the chicken has finished marinating, warm a large stock pot with olive oil over medium-high heat. Pan sear the thighs in small batches for about 3 minutes on each side. The goal is to sear the chicken; you do not want to cook it all the way through at this point. Remove the pan seared thighs from the pot and set aside on a plate to cool.

Marinated chinese chicken on white plate.

After you remove the chicken, keep the oil and drippings in the pot and reduce the heat to medium. Add in the fresh chopped ginger and garlic.

Expert Tip! A cooking technique referred to as "fond" is where the leftover bits of meat or vegetables at the bottom of the pot have been caramelized and can be loosened with a spatula to add additional flavor to whatever you are cooking. When making this Asian soup, scraping the leftover seared chicken drippings with the ginger, garlic, and mushrooms intensifies the flavor!

Sauté for about 1-2 minutes. Add in the mushrooms and sauté for another 1 minute.

Sauteing fresh ginger and garlic with mushrooms in stock pot.

Next, add in the soy sauce, chicken broth, and water. Stir to combine. Place the seared thighs on a cutting board and dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add the chicken to the pot with the garlic, ginger, mushrooms, and liquid. Reduce the heat to medium-low and allow to cook for 30 minutes.

Stock pot filled with chicken noodle soup and mushrooms.

While the soup continues to cook, cut the bok choy by removing the base and cut the remaining green leaves into large chunks. Soak the bok choy in cold water to thoroughly remove all dirt, about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, drain the bok choy and rinse again. Then, add the bok choy into the soup to cook.

Pot of homemade chicken noodle soup with mei fun noodles and bok choy.

While the soup finishes cooking, prepare the rice noodles. For this Asian chicken noodle soup recipe, you don't actually need to "cook" the Mai Fun rice noodles. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Then, place the rice noodles in a 9x13 glass dish. Pour the boiling water over them until completely covered. Let them soak for 10 minutes until they soften. Then, add them to the pot of soup.

Glass dish with rice noodles soaking in hot water.

Stir to combine and then you are ready to serve! Top with chopped green onions, grab a spoon or a pair of chopsticks and enjoy! The taste is out-of-this-world delicious!

White bowl containing Asian Chicken Noodle Soup with Mei Fun noodles on a chopstick, red napkin in background.

🙋 Frequently Asked Questions

What other type of noodles can I use when making this Asian chicken noodle soup?

Ramen noodles work really well in this recipe. Thin angel hair pasta also works great. For a thicken noodle, try using egg noodles.

Can I use different vegetables instead of bok choy?

Yes! Fresh kale, green cabbage, and spinach work really well in this recipe. I have also skipped adding the noodles and make it with a variety of different vegetables. Julianne carrots and chopped celery are great additions. Including sliced water chestnuts adds a nice crunch.

💭 6 Major Success Tips

Marinating the chicken is key to making this Asian chicken noodle soup flavorful. Don't skip this step.
Avoid using bone-in, skin on chicken with this recipe. The skin prevents the marinade from absorbing into the meat.
Chicken broth works best, but chicken stock works well if that is all you have.
Rice noodles hold up extremely well in this recipe. Angel hair pasta and egg noodles are also good substitutes. Avoid using brown rice and vegetable based noodles as they will turn to mush during the cooking process.
Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
To freeze, place the cooled soup in a freezer safe container and store for 3 months. When ready to eat, thaw in the refrigerator and then reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Rice noodles tend to soak up a lot of the liquid. Add more chicken broth as needed when reheating.

🍽️ More Asian Inspired Recipes You'll Love!

I love a good Asian cuisine and have developed a lot of recipes over the last several years to satisfy my cravings! This Asian Sesame Chicken is super quick to make, healthy, and perfect for any weeknight dinner. And the kids love it! Enjoy a good stir-fry recipe? Then you're going to adore my Garlic Ginger Shrimp Stir Fry. The garlic ginger sauce is out of this world tasty! And if you like the lettuce wraps at P.F. Changs, then you'll love my version of these Copycat P.F. Change's lettuce wraps! They are perfect for lunch or as a snack!

Looking for more soup recipes? Make sure you check out all my soup recipes! You should definitely try this easy to make hamburger soup, my healthy chicken vegetable soup, and this Greek Avgolemono soup! We're talking amazing soup recipes with unbelievable flavors!

Update Notes: This post was originally published in September 2017, but was re-published with updated step-by-step instructions, pictures, and tips in September 2022.