Make this quick and easy Chinese Noodle Soup recipe with pantry ingredients, water, and a few items from the fridge.
Grab an egg, tomato, and some pre-washed spinach. From the pantry, you just need dried noodles and some seasonings, and you’ll have a fast mid-week dinner, a quick lunch while working at home, or a tasty warming breakfast for your kids before they hop on the school bus.
A Simple Chinese Noodle Soup Without the Work
We have many delicious noodle soup recipes on the blog, from Kaitlin’s Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup to Vietnamese Pho and Laksa. These recipes are very achievable to make—and perhaps even easier than you think—but they do require time and a decent number of ingredients to make.
Even us food bloggers need fast non-recipe recipes that you can whip together in a few minutes with items you already have. This is just that—no meat to de-frost, not even much cooking! All you have to do is boil the dried noodles/veggies and fry an egg. This recipe requires little to no kitchen skill.
It can be hard to cook for one, and this Chinese noodle soup recipe helps solve that dilemma while still being completely satisfied with your meal. This recipe is as easy to make as a single serving as it is for a larger group.
Creating Flavor
You may be wondering where the flavor of this noodle soup comes from. The seasonings—light soy sauce, sesame oil, black vinegar, white pepper, and salt create a surprisingly flavorful base.
Tomatoes add freshness and umami (see our post on how to create umami with plant-based ingredients). If you keep in-season tomatoes in the freezer, you can enjoy flavorful tomatoes in your cooking all year round! (We freeze tomatoes from our garden every summer.)
A garnish of scallion or cilantro also adds flavor! (We keep these in our freezer as well—see our post on how to freeze herbs and aromatics.)
An optional ingredient that adds even more flavor here is dried shrimp flakes, or xiāpí (虾皮). They add a little salty bite and savory complexity. Leaving them out keeps this recipe vegetarian.
This recipe takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. If you’re searching for an easy, warming meal with minimal cooking, this one is for you!
Recipe Instructions
Put the chopped tomato, salt, white pepper powder, light soy sauce, sesame oil, black vinegar, dried shrimp flakes (if using), and scallion (or cilantro) into your noodle bowl.
Pre-heat a pan or wok until it starts to smoke, and spread the oil around to coat. Fry the egg to your liking, dish it up, and set aside.
Boil the water in a medium pot (or your wok), and add the noodles.
When the noodles are almost done cooking, transfer 1½ cups of the noodle cooking water to the noodle bowl.
Add the leafy greens to the pot/wok with the noodles. Once the noodles and greens are cooked, add them to the bowl.
Top with the fried egg, and enjoy.
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Recipe
Chinese Noodle Soup – 15-Min Easy Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ small tomato (finely chopped)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt (to taste)
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper powder
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon black vinegar
- ½ teaspoon dried shrimp flakes (optional)
- 2 tablespoon chopped scallion (and/or cilantro)
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil (such as canola, vegetable, or avocado oil)
- 1 egg
- 7 cups water
- 2.75 oz dried noodle
- A large handful leafy greens (such as pre-washed spinach, watercress, choy sum, or baby bok choy)
Instructions
- Put the chopped tomato, salt, white pepper powder, light soy sauce, sesame oil, black vinegar, dried shrimp flakes (if using), and scallion (or cilantro) into your noodle bowl.
- Pre-heat a pan or wok until it starts to smoke, and spread the oil around to coat. Fry the egg to your liking, dish it up, and set aside.
- Boil the water in a medium pot (or your wok), and add the noodles. When the noodles are almost done cooking, transfer 1½ cups of the noodle cooking water to the noodle bowl. Add the leafy greens to the pot/wok with the noodles. Once the noodles and greens are cooked, add them to the bowl. Top with the fried egg, and enjoy.
