Embrace comfort with Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup—tender beef, vibrant spices, and nourishing broth come together in this iconic recipe.

I love my quick and easy recipes, but sometimes I need a comforting bowl of soup! This is soul-warming Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup—a dish that is an explosion of spicy, umami, rich flavours in every slurp.

By now, I’ve had Asian soups of every kind so not much can surprise me… this one did. I first had this at a Taiwanese eatery, and I was blown away by the flavours. This soup was unique, in that it’s rich, mildly spicy, with a tang and a layer of umami that I’ve never quite tasted before. The combination of doubanjiang, tomatoes and gorgeous aromatics all contribute to the unique flavours of this soup.

Why you will LOVE this Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Complex and Rich Flavour Profile: This beef soup is savoury, spicy and rich, with a layer of umami. Slow-cooked beef infuses the broth with a savoury richness that’s both comforting and satisfying.
Comfort Food at Its Finest: The warmth of the soup, coupled with tender beef and slurp-worthy noodles, provides a comforting experience akin to a hug in a bowl.
Deceptively Easy: Despite the rich and complex flavours, this is easy to make! With just a few steps – and a little bit of patience – you can have a delicious bowl of soup.
Balanced and Nutritious: With its combination of protein-rich beef, aromatic spices, nourishing broth, and topped with your blanched vegetables of choice, it offers a well-balanced and wholesome meal.

Key Ingredients for Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Beef

Choose cuts for stewing like shank, brisket, or chuck. These are typically cheaper cuts, so save your expensive cuts for other recipes!

Aromatics & Spices

Aromatics: Onions, ginger, garlic, and spring onions/green onions add aromatic depth to the broth.
Whole Spices: Star anise, bay leaves and cinnamon are the main spices used in Taiwanese Beef Soup. I would usually also add fennel, coriander and whole peppercorns but this is optional. You can keep these in a spice bag so you can fish them out easily later on.
Tomatoes: Tomatoes add a very mild tang and sweetness to the soup! You can’t quite taste it. I also added tomato paste (also known as tomato puree, not to be mistaken for the tomato ketchup you use for your fries) to add another layer of tang to the soup.
Chillies (optional): I like my soup with a little bit of spice, so I added a few stalks of Thai bird’s eye chillies!

Seasonings

Five Spice Powder: five spice powder will further amplify the spice flavours.
Doubanjiang: Chinese chili bean paste, known as ‘dou ban jiang,’ is a bright red, savoury, salty bean paste that packs an umami punch! Easily available at supermarkets or Asian grocers. If you can’t find this, replace with miso, or taucheo (salted soybeans). To add the spice element, combine this with chilli oil, or sambal. Gochujang can also be an alternative but its flavour is more distinct that the miso or taucheo. For reference, this is a link to the Doubanjiang that I always use.
Seasonings: Soy sauce and sugar. Traditionally rock sugar is used to slowly melt and sweeten the broth. Regular sugar will work fine too; I’m using brown sugar.

Other Ingredients

Water or Stock: You can use stock for this, but I’d rather save my stock for quick recipes or meals for when I want instant flavour. Just use water! This is a slow stewing recipe, so the flavours have enough time to release.
Noodles: Thick, chewy wheat noodles that soak up the flavours of the broth.
Asian Greens of Choice

How to Make Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

1. Ingredient Prep

Spring Onions: Separate spring onion bottom whites, and tops. Cut off the roots, and keep the bottom white. Chop the green portion, and set to one side as a garnish later on.
Onions: Chop onions in large quarters.
Ginger: Slice ginger to big chunks.
Garlic: Peel garlic and lightly press on it with the flat side of the knife. This will bruise or break the garlic, so it releases flavour, but is kept whole. If you prefer to use minced garlic, you can, just note that you will have garlic bits floating in your soup.
Tomatoes: Cut the tomatoes in big quarters as well.
Chillies: If using chillies, also bruise or lightly mash the chillies so it releases a subtle heat. Mince if you prefer a spicier broth.
Beef: If beef is not already cut, slice to similar sized cubes, about 1.5 inches.

2. Parboil Beef

This parboiling step will ensure you have a clearer broth. It’s an additional step, but very quick!
Add water to a pot, and place over high heat.
Once it boils, add the beef chunks. Boil for just 1 minute or so, or once the scum comes up to the surface.
Drain the beef, and give them a quick rinse. Set this to one side.
If using the same pot, wash the pot clean to remove any residual scum.

3. Saute Aromatics, Spices and Tomatoes

To a pot, add oil and place over medium heat.
Once hot, add onions, ginger, garlic and spring onions whites. Saute for 1 minute, or until fragrant.
Add the whole spices next. Saute for another minute.
Add the tomatoes next, and chillies, if using. Give the pot another stir.

4. Add Beef and Seasonings

Add back the parboiled beef and the rest of the seasonings: doubanjiang, tomato paste, soy sauce and sugar.
Saute all of the pot contents together for about 3-4 minutes, or until fragrant.

5. Add Water or Broth

Pour in water or stock, if using. Stir to combine.
Let the broth come up to a boil, before lowering the heat.

6. Simmer

Allow broth to simmer for a minimum of 1 hour, or until the beef is tender. If using shank, or any other parts of the beef that has fat, the longer the better! This will further meld the soup with more intense beefy flavours.

Occasionally return to stir the pot, otherwise you can leave the pot be.

Once your beef is tender, broth is ready. Use a slotted spoon to remove the big chunks of aromatics.

7. Prep the other Ingredients

In a separate pot, get some water boiling.
Blanch vegetables of choice (we used Chye Sim here) and set to one side.
Then cook noodles of choice until al dente. Place the cooked noodles directly from the pot to the serving bowls. This would be the best way to serve the Taiwanese Beef Noodles.
If you need to prepare the noodles before you are ready to serve, it is recommended to rinse the cooked noodles in water to prevent sticking. Depending on your noodle type, it may still stick. Give a quick dunk in boiling water to loosen the noodles again just before serving.

8. Assemble and Serve Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

To the bowl of noodles, generously ladle over the broth and beef.
Top with blanched greens and chopped spring onions.

How to Serve Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

This dish is best enjoyed piping hot, straight from the stove.

Serve it alongside chili oil (highly recommended! I have a recipe here), pickled mustard greens, and black vinegar, for those who want to customise the flavours.

Even though this is typically served with noodles, I LOVE having this with rice too!

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