Yesterday I shared a very easy braised beef shank recipe, showing you how to make super tender and juicy beef in a master sauce. Once you’ve made the braised beef, there are so many ways to use it to create fast and easy daily meals. Today, I want to show you how to use it to make a super hearty noodle bowl that takes less than 20 minutes to put together.
Beef shank noodle soup ingredients
Because the broth from the braised beef shank is so rich, you only need a few ingredients to make a great noodle soup base. I used water in my recipe, but if you prefer an even richer soup, feel free to replace it with chicken broth or beef broth. However, homemade chili oil or a great quality bottled chili oil (like this one or this one) is a must and cannot be skipped!
Type of noodles for beef shank noodle soup
You can use many types of noodles in this dish. Personally I always stick to wheat noodles made with flour and water. If you love a chewy noodle texture, you can use wide noodles such as shaved noodles or udon noodles. Standard braised beef noodle soup usually uses medium-sized round noodles, so the noodles can soak up broth for a flavorful result, while maintaining some of their chewy texture. You may find noodles labeled as “Yang Chun Noodles” or “Dan Dan Noodles” for this purpose. I personally also love to use the thin type of noodles in any noodle soup, because it soaks up a lot of flavor. For thin noodles, you can use dragon whisker noodles (Chinese) or somen (Japanese). If you’re feeling fancy, you can also make this dish very restaurant-like by using homemade hand-pulled noodles. Lastly, if you cannot find any fresh noodles, just about any type of dried wheat noodles or even instant noodles will work. I wouldn’t use chow mein noodles or egg noodles in this dish.
Cooking process
It is so simple to make this beef shank noodle soup that I didn’t even include step-by-step photos. All you need to do is: It’s so simple!
Why cook the noodles in a separate pot
Almost all the traditional Chinese noodle soup recipes require you to cook the noodles in a separate pot of water, rather than directly in the noodle broth. This is because: (1) boiling noodles usually requires more water and you won’t have enough broth to do it properly (2) cooking noodles releases a lot of starch, which can make the broth cloudy. That being said, if you’re feeling extra lazy, feel free to use instant noodles to make this beef shank noodle soup. Simply cook 2 blocks of instant ramen in the noodle broth to save time and minimize cleanup. Instant noodles are already partially cooked, so you can boil them in the broth without issues.
Afterthought
My homemade braised beef shank is quite different from the traditional version and it is much tenderer. Traditionally it’s served as a cold salad (I’ll talk about that in a separate post), but I really love how it pairs with a bowl of hot noodle soup. The tender beef shank is fork-tender and the connective tissue just melts away in the broth, which is perfect for a noodle soup. Once you have the braising liquid, it takes no time to put this beef shank noodle soup together and the taste is phenomenal. I hope you enjoy it!
Other noodle recipes you might like
Real Deal Sesame NoodlesBeef Lo MeinEasy Soy Sauce Noodles (阳春面)Hot Dry Noodles (热干面)Cumin Lamb Noodles
