Easy Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Considered to be the national dish of Taiwan, beef noodle soup has it all. Super tender beef, broth overflowing with flavor, and chewy noodles as the perfect vehicle to deliver both right to your mouth. This recipe requires no special cooking methods or equipment (looking at you pressure cooker) to achieve perfect beefy goodness.

No pressure cooker, no problem

Pressure cookers are great for making tender meat, but they aren’t required. They simply reduce the amount of time it takes for meat to reach that ultra-soft stage. The same texture can be reached with a regular cooking pot and a bit of time. In fact, I prefer the classic oven-braising method because it’s no-stress. Just set the timer and forget about it.

Key Ingredients

Doubanjiang – A chinese ingredient made from fermented beans and chili. Doubanjiang is essential for creating the signature flavor of beef noodle soup.

Pickled Mustard Greens – A common ingredient across many asian cultures. Pickled stir-fried mustard greens are a fantastic topping for beef noodle soup. You can make these from scratch, but it’s easy and cheap to buy them jarred or canned from a chinese grocery store

Easy Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

3

hours 

30

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 lbs beef shank

• 1 inch piece ginger, peeled

• 1 medium onion, chopped in chunks

• 7 cloves garlic

• 4 green onions

• 2 medium tomatoes, quartered

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 2 tbsp doubanjiang

• 1 tsp sugar

• ½ cup soy sauce

• ½ cup shaoxing wine

• Spices

• 3 star anise

• 4 bay leaves

• 2-3 dried chili peppers

• 1 tbsp fennel

• 1 tbsp cumin

• 1 tsp black peppercorns

• 1 tbsp sichuan peppercorns

• Toppings

• fresh flour noodles

• bok choy

• cilantro

• pickled mustard greens

Directions

• Preheat and oven to 300F/150C. Place the beef shank in a pot and add enough fresh water to fully submerge. Heat on high until boiling and let boil for five minutes. Remove the beef and discard the boiling water. Rinse the pot and beef under fresh water to wash off any stuck debris. Set the beef aside.
• Dry the pot with a clean kitchen towel and add a tablespoon of neutral cooking oil. Heat on medium until the oil is shimmering. Add onion, ginger, and garlic. Fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the tomatoes, green onion, tomato paste, and doubanjiang, and fry for an additional minute.
• Add the beef back, and pour in about ten cups of water. Add the soy sauce, shaoxing wine, sugar, and spices. Cover with a lid and place the pot in the oven for 3 ½ hours. Remove pot from oven and let rest for at least 10 minutes before removing the beef and slicing.
• Boil noodles according to package instructions. One minute before the noodles finish add bok choy to blanch. Add noodles to bowl, mix in two teaspoons of soy sauce. Top with bok choy, pickled mustard greens, and beef chunks. Add broth. Enjoy.