This is the easiest and most classic version of Chinese noodle soup. This 10-minute soup foundation can be a one-fit-all soup base for all of your Chinese noodle dishes.
What makes this noodle soup so special is that we always make a simple but flavorful broth with fried eggs, so that we don’t have to use store-bought chicken broth.
Then the fried egg broth is simply but authentically seasoned with soy sauce, vinegar, lard, and freshly slices cilantro/scallion.
Can’t believe how easy this noodle soup is to make? Take 10 minutes to give it a try! It will become a noodle soup recipe that you can’t live without.
Tips for making Chinese Noodle Soup
1. Fried egg soup
Chinese families may not always have boxed chicken broth, but there must be eggs in the refrigerator. Luckily, older Chinese figured out how to simply make chicken broth with fried eggs.
The trick is to fry both sides of the egg until golden brown (a sunny egg won’t work), then boil it for 10 minutes to make a broth.
It’s just like how you roast the bones before boiling it into beef broth. Roasting the bones/frying the egg can create a richer flavor from the caramelizing of the protein. The fried egg can magically release so much umami flavor into the soup and make it looks appealing and rich instead of transparent like water.
Vegan adaptation: If you are vegan, you can substitute the fried egg and water in this recipe with 2 cups of vegetable stock. And substitute the lard with sesame oil.
2. Water or broth
If you are going to make the soup with fried eggs, then it’s unnecessary to use any chicken/vegetable broth. But it’s totally fine if you still want to use broth instead of water. If so, your noodle soup will just be extra rich.
You will just need to make sure that if the chicken broth is salted you should reduce the amount of salt in this recipe and skip the chicken powder.
3. Light soy sauce
We have compared the differences between light and dark soy sauce before in this post. Generally speaking, we use light soy sauce for adding the savory flavor, and use dark soy sauce for its red-wine-glossy color.
We will need 1 tbsp of light soy sauce in this recipe for adding a hint of savory nutty flavor. You can also use “regular soy sauce” or just “soy sauce” if that’s how the bottle tells you. Do not use dark soy sauce for noodle soup, otherwise the soup will look so dark that you wont be able to see your noodles.
4. Lard
Lard should be the spirit of Chinese noodles.
No matter it’s dan dan noodles, soup noodles, or fried noodles, one tsp of lard can make such a huge difference on the dish’s smell and taste.
Noodles covered with a thin layer of lard will just slide into your mouth and slip down your throat before you get a chance to chew on it.
You can buy lard from Amazon, or easily make some at home using some pork fat (here is a lard recipe).
If you, regretfully, don’t like or don’t have lard at home, you can substitute one tsp of lard with half tsp of sesame oil. The taste and the smell won’t be the same, but it will be better than vegetable oil.
5. Sugar and Chinese black vinegar
No worries, Chinese noodle soup is a savory dish. We won’t turn it into a sweet or sour dish by adding a little bit of sugar and vinegar to the soup base.
In Chinese cuisine (and I believe in many other culture’s cuisine too), people believe that the 5 basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami) have to work together to create a comprehensive, layered, and balanced taste.
It’s just like how you sprinkle salt on watermelon to make it taste sweeter. A hint of sweet and sour taste can make our savory noodle soup taste richer and “lure out” the umami flavors from other ingredients.
As for the Chinese black vinegar, I used Chinkiang Vinegar which is so widely used in Chinese cuisines. For example, I have used it in my sweet and sour ribs, stir fry spaghetti, and dumpling dipping sauce recipes.
You should be able to find Chinkiang Vinegar on Amazon and most of your local Asian markets. If not, you can use half tablespoon of balsamic vinegar as a replacement.
6. Noodles
Egg noodles, rice noodles, instant noodles, dried noodles, udon noodles, soba noodles, potato noodles … Most of the noodles will taste incredible with Chinese noodles soup.
If you want to make your own noodles at home, you can follow this hand pulled noodles recipe of mine to make longevity noodle (long-life noodle) using just flour, water, salt, and oil.
Add a handful of bok choy, spinach, mushrooms, or bean sprouts to cook together with the noodles, so that your noodle soup is tasty and healthy at the same time.
INGREDIENTS for making Chinse Noodle Soup
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Chinese black vinegar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 tsp lard (Lard will make the soup base smell so good!! If you cannot find lard anywhere, you can substitute it with ½ tsp of sesame oil.)
- ½ tsp chicken powder (Optional. Or you can use ¼ tsp of msg. Again, this is optional!)
- 2 tbsp cilantro (Or scallion. Washed and finely sliced.)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 2 cup water (Or unsalted chicken/vegetable broth. If you use salted broth, you can reduce the amount of salt in this recipe and skip the chicken powder.)
Step-by-step INSTRUCTIONS
1. Add light soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, salt, sugar, lard (or sesame oil), chicken powder (optional), and finely sliced cilantro (or scallion) to a large soup bowl. Set aside on your countertop.
2. Add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil to a nonstick saucepan, preheat the oil over medium-high heat for 2 minutes until hot. Crack an egg into the saucepan and fry for about 1 minute until the bottom side turns golden brown. Flip the egg over, cook for 1 more minutes until both sides are golden brown.
3. Pour 2 cups of room temperature water (or unsalted chicken/vegetable broth) to the saucepan, bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the protein from the egg to release flavors.
4. Meanwhile boil some noodles and some vegetables in a separate pot. See my homemade noodles recipe here. Or you can use some store-bought noodles.
5. Pour the egg soup into the large soup bowl. Stir with a spoon to make sure that the salt and lard are fully dissolved.
6. Strain the cooked noodles and place them into the soup bowl, top with cooked vegetables and the egg. Serve hot immediately. (Optionally drizzle with chili oil if you like spicy noodle soup.)
My other Chinse Recipes you will also like:
Chinese Noodle Soup
Equipment
- 1 Nonstick saucepan (I use a small 1qt saucepan. It's fine to use a larger saucepan or a wok.)
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Chinese black vinegar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 tsp lard (Lard will make the soup base smell so good!! If you cannot find lard anywhere, you can substitute it with ½ tsp of sesame oil.)
- ½ tsp chicken powder (Optional. Or you can use ¼ tsp of msg. Again, this is optional!)
- 2 tbsp cilantro (Or scallion. Washed and finely sliced.)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 2 cup water (Or unsalted chicken/vegetable broth. If you use salted broth, you can reduce the amount of salt in this recipe and skip the chicken powder.)
Instructions
- Add light soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, salt, sugar, lard (or sesame oil), chicken powder (optional), and finely sliced cilantro (or scallion) to a large soup bowl. Set aside on your countertop.
- Add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil to a nonstick saucepan, preheat the oil over medium-high heat for 2 minutes until hot. Crack an egg into the saucepan and fry for about 1 minute until the bottom side turns golden brown. Flip the egg over, cook for 1 more minutes until both sides are golden brown.
- Pour 2 cups of room temperature water (or unsalted chicken/vegetable broth) to the saucepan, bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the protein from the egg to release flavors.
- Meanwhile boil some noodles and some vegetables in a separate pot. See my homemade noodles recipe here. Or you can use some store-bought noodles.
- Pour the egg soup into the large soup bowl. Stir with a spoon to make sure that the salt and lard are fully dissolved.
- Strain the cooked noodles and place them into the soup bowl, top with cooked vegetables and the egg. Serve hot immediately. (Optionally drizzle with chili oil if you like spicy noodle soup.)
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