This Beef Brisket Noodle Soup is a popular comfort food that will warm your body and soul. Tender, melt-in-your-mouth beef is slow-cooked to perfection in a savory and fragrant broth.
Can't get enough of Chinese soups? Try my Chayote Soup next!
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🥄 What is it?
Beef Brisket Noodle Soup, or Hong Kong Beef Noodle Soup, is made with beef brisket, broth, vegetables, and noodles. It's a common dish in Asian countries, particularly China, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Typically, it includes chunks of beef brisket simmered in a seasoned broth, often served with egg noodles. Regional variations may incorporate specific spices and garnishes, but beef, noodles, and broth are key ingredients.
Why this recipe works
- Searing the meat before adding the water initiates the Maillard reaction, forming hundreds of delicious flavor compounds.
- Umami-rich ingredients like soy sauce and oyster sauce give it a complex and savory depth.
- Adding daikon and carrots towards the end guarantees crisp vegetables rather than soggy ones.
Why you'll love it
- Easy: Making soup is a straightforward process. It's very forgiving, so even novice cooks can make a delicious one with the proper instructions.
- Comforting: This soup is rich, hearty, and hugs your soul. It's the perfect soup for cozy evenings.
- Flavorful: The soup is packed with seasonings and aromatics, ensuring every mouthful is bursting with flavor and intensity.
🧂 Ingredients
- Beef brisket: A fattier cut that becomes tender and juicier after an hour and a half of cooking.
- Neutral oil: For frying the aromatics and searing the beef brisket.
- Scallion (spring onion): For flavoring the broth. The whites add onion flavor, and the greens add grassy notes.
- Ginger, garlic, and onion: The main aromatic base for the soup.
- Carrot and daikon: These vegetables provide texture, sweetness, and earthiness.
- Dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, and oyster sauce: This mixture gives a salty and savory depth filled with umami and richness.
- Star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, and cardamom pods: This combination imparts aromatic undertones to the soup, contributing warmth and depth. See the recipe card for optional spices to give even more flavor.
- Egg Noodles: Braised Beef Noodle Soup traditionally uses egg noodles. They have a golden color and have a richer flavor than regular noodles.
Substitutions & Variations
- Beef brisket can be substituted for another fatty cut like beef chuck, finger/digital muscle, or beef shank.
- Egg noodles can be swapped with rice noodles, udon, or any noodle you have.
🔪 Instructions
⬇️ Please read the recipe card for the complete ingredient list and instructions.
STEP 1: First, prepare a spice bag by combining all the spice ingredients. If you don't have a spice bag, use a cheesecloth and secure it using butcher's twine. Set it aside for later.
STEP 2: Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat until it shimmers (in the image above, I used a saucepan for searing just for photography purposes. You should use a large pot). Add one-third of the beef, sear for one minute until browned, then remove to a bowl. Repeat with the remaining beef in two batches.
STEP 3: Return the remaining seared beef to the pot. Add water, ginger, garlic, scallions, onion halves, the spice bag, and all the sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
STEP 4: Add the carrot and daikon and simmer for another 45 minutes until tender.
STEP 5: Remove and discard the spice bag, scallions, ginger, garlic, and onion halves from the pot. Adjust the seasoning as necessary.
STEP 6: Boil your choice of noodles, then serve with soup, braised beef, daikon, carrots, and cilantro. You can also add leafy greens (like bok choy) and chili oil.
💭 Top Tips
- Sear the meat in batches. If you sear it all at once, steam will get trapped between the meat, preventing it from browning properly.
- Simmer for at least one and a half hours. Fattier cuts like beef brisket require that much time to allow their tough connective tissue to break down. Otherwise, the meat will be tough.
🥡 Storage & Leftovers
Storing: After cooling to room temperature, store leftover beef brisket noodle soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
Freezing: To freeze the soup, cool it thoroughly and store it in a freezer-safe container with at least ½ inch of space from the top. Label it with a date and store for up to 2-3 months.
Reheating: Heat on the stovetop over low to medium heat with additional water or broth. Or, in a microwave-safe container, heat for 1-2 minutes at a time, stirring in between, until hot. Before serving, taste and adjust the seasonings.
📖 Recipe FAQs
I recommend simmering for at least one and a half hours to allow the connective tissue to break down. If you want extra tender meat, you can simmer for an additional hour, but it's important to note that the longer you simmer, the more the beef's flavor transfers into the soup.
This is entirely up to your taste. Egg noodles are common in China, but rice noodles are preferred in Vietnam. This recipe makes enough for multiple batches so you can experiment with what you like!
🍽 Looking for more recipes?
Did you enjoy this Beef Brisket Noodle Soup Recipe? Please leave a 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below and consider leaving a comment. I'd love to hear your feedback!
📋 Recipe
Beef Brisket Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 3 lbs beef brisket (or beef finger meat or digital muscle)
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil
- 3 scallion (chopped into 2-inch long pieces)
- 5 slices ginger
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 onion (halved)
- 16 cups water
- 1 medium carrot (chopped into 1-inch chunks)
- 1 medium daikon (chopped into 1-inch chunks)
Spice bag
- 5 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 bay leaf
- 2 cardamom pods (any color)
- 1 ½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns (optional)
- 1 ½ teaspoon white peppercorns (optional)
- 2 teaspoon coriander seeds (optional)
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds (optional)
Sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt (use half the amount if you're using table salt)
For serving
- egg noodles (or rice noodles)
- leafy greens (like bok choy, choy sum, napa cabbage,, etc..)
- cilantro
- chili oil
Instructions
- First, prepare a spice bag by combining all the spice ingredients. If you don't have a spice bag, use a cheesecloth and secure it using butcher's twine. Set it aside for later.
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat until it shimmers. Add one-third of the beef, sear for one minute until browned, then remove to a bowl. Repeat with the remaining beef in two batches.
- Return the remaining seared beef to the pot. Add water, ginger, garlic, scallions, onion halves, the spice bag, and all the sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- Add the carrot and daikon and simmer for another 45 minutes until tender.
- Remove and discard the spice bag, scallions, ginger, garlic, and onion halves from the pot. Adjust the seasoning as necessary.
- Boil your choice of noodles, then serve with soup, braised beef, daikon, carrots, and cilantro. You can also add leafy greens (like bok choy) and chili oil.
Notes
- For this recipe, I used beef finger meat instead of beef brisket since it was on sale.
- Sear the meat in batches. If you sear it all at once, steam will get trapped between the meat, preventing it from browning properly.
- Simmer for at least one and a half hours. Fattier cuts like beef brisket require that much time to allow their tough connective tissue to break down.
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