Learn how to make a warm and yummy Chinese style beef noodle soup (牛肉面).
Beef noodle soup possibly is the most favorited Chinese style noodle soup. Every noodle restaurant serve their own beef noodle. You can find beef hand pulled noodles (牛肉拉面) in Lanzhou noodle restaurant, a spicy Sichuan style braised beef noodle in a Sichuan restaurant, a much milder taiwanese braised beef noodle (台式红烧牛肉) in a taiwan food restaurant.
As a big fan of beef noodle soup, I usually make a large pot of braised beef and fridge as the essential topping of my breakfast noodles at home. Do not get scared by the long list of ingredients, it is quite easy and requires little cooking skill. But get yourself a good simmering pot before starting.
Ingredients
- 1000g Beef shank or sirloin
- 2L beef bone stock or pork stock
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 middle size tomato
- 1/2 red onion
- 2 leek onions
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 tablespoons Doubanjiang
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- Pinch of salt to taste
- chopped green onion and coriander (for garnishing)
- whole coriander (for decorating)
- noodles for 3-4 servings
Spices
- 2 bay leaves (香叶)
- 2 star anises (八角)
- 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn seeds (花椒)
- 1 bark Chinese cinnamon (桂皮)
- 1/2 teaspoon clove (丁香)
- 1 small nutmeg (肉豆蔻)
- 1 Chinese cardamom (砂仁)
Instructions
Cut beef into larger chunks and then place in a large pot with enough cold water. Throw one spring onion and several ginger slices, bring to a boil and then pick the beef chunks out (so there will be no floating dirt on the meat and we can skip rinsing process.) Drain.
Heat up around 2 tablespoons of oil in a deep stewing pot and fry doubanjiang for half minute over slow fire, then place garlic, ginger, leek onion and red onion in, fry until aromatic.
Return cooked beef and stir for several minutes until the beef is slightly browned, place tomato wedges, spices, light soy sauce and add warm stock to cover all the content. Bring to boil and then slow down the fire and simmer for around 1 hour.
Pick the beef out and strain the liquid to remove cooked vegetables and spices, add salt to taste (the soup can be slightly salty compare with common soups)and simmer for another 15-20 minutes.
Keep the soup base warm and at the meantime, cook noodles according to the package instructions.
- 1000 g Beef shank or sirloin
- 2 L beef bone stock or pork stock
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 middle size tomato
- 1/2 red onion
- 2 leek onions
- 2 garlic cloves , sliced
- 2 tbsp. Doubanjiang
- 2 tbsp. light soy sauce
- Pinch of salt to taste
- chopped green onion and coriander , for garnishing
- whole coriander , for decorating
- noodles , for 3-4 servings
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 star anises
- 1 tsp. Sichuan peppercorn
- 1 small bark Chinese cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. clove
- 1 small nutmeg
- 1 Chinese cardamom
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Cut beef into larger chunks and then place in a large pot with enough cold water. Throw one spring onion and several ginger slices, bring to a boil and then pick the beef chunks out (so there will be no floating dirt on the meat and we can skip rinsing process.) Drain.
-
Heat up around 2 tablespoons of oil in a deep stewing pot and fry doubanjiang for half minute over slow fire, then place garlic, ginger, leek onion and red onion in, fry until aromatic.
-
Return cooked beef and stir for several minutes until the beef is slightly browned, place tomato wedges and add warm stock to cover all the content. Bring to boil and then slow down the fire and simmer for around 1 hour.
-
Pick the beef out and strain the liquid to remove cooked vegetables and spices, add salt to taste (the soup can be slightly salty compare with common soups)and simmer for another 15-20 minutes.
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During this period, cook noodles according to package instructions. You can either serve wide noodles or thin noodles. Transfer noodles to serving bowl, pour in soup base and top with beef. Garnish chopped green onion and decorate with coriander.
Looking so delicious..i want one big bowl please. ? i am getting obsessed with chinese food ..your food pictures are always so good.
Do you know about a fried chicken recipe with lot of sichuan peppercorns n coriender and chilies..very spicy n numbing. Deep fried without any thick coating.. I ate in a restaurant in china. Bt dont know the name ??
Maybe you should try this: Szechuan Mala Chicken
Hi Elaine, this recipe looks delicious and I’d like to try it out.
In step 3, when you say ‘add warm stock’ do you mean add the leftover liquid used to initially cook the beef shanks? Or is it just add warm water to make the stock? Or is it pre-made beef stock?
Cheers,
Kimberly
I use pre-made beef bone stock for this recipe. So firstly heat the stock before pouring into the stewing pot. But it is ok to use warm water.
Hi Elaine,
Can you share your recipe for beef bone stock? I’m very new to cooking and am not sure how to make this?
Your blog is amzing btw. I tried the easy pork stirfry and feel like a master of chinese food now hahhah 🙂
Kim
Hi Elaine,
I second Kimberly’s suggestion to add a recipe for making beef stock. I found your explanations regarding chicken- and pork broth very interesting and have tried both with great success. I have made several kinds of stock before using our local way to do this but the result is distinctly different from what I’ve learned from your recipes.
What Kind of noodles would YouTube recommend for thus soup?
I recommend egg noodles or packaged hand-pulled noodles.
Hi,
Thanks for the site, I love your recipes. I was curious – why for this recipe do you boil the beef first, instead of browning it first?
Thanks!
Sid,
It is just an option. Boil the beef firstly and then discard the boiling water so we get a cleaner soup later.
Hi Elaine,
I just made this, and I really like it. It’s perfect for cold and wet days to warm you up. Now I do have two questions. First, you don’t mention when to put in the spices. I just put them in with the stock, which worked fine. Secondly, in the very first picture, I’m curious what is that in the small bowl on the upper left of the picture?
Hello Elaine!
I’ve been searching for real Chinese noodle soup recipe to feel some Chinese fragrance at my kitchen, and yours look very good!
do you have some idea what can replace the Doubanjiang paste as I cant find it at my country?
Hi Shahar,
It is quite hard to find any substitute for Doubanjiang. If you cannot find it, you can use other chili paste or skip this and use dried chili peppers. But the taste might be slightly different.
I still highly recommend you trying to get yourself a bag of doubanjiang. It will never disappoint you with Chinese dishes.
hi!
the soup look delicious! what can i put instead of Doubanjiang, i cant find it at my country?
thanks,
shahar
If you really cannot find doubanjiang, you can use other fermented chili paste. But it might taste differently from Doubanjiang. Or you can skip the chili paste and other dried chili peppers to add spicy flavor to the dish.
Just tried this recipe for tonight’s dinner. Followed about 90% of it because I don’t have all the veggies and ingredients here- but the dou ban jiang I used. It gives the essential taste to this recipe. I also used a pressure cooker to cook the soup and brisket for 35 minutes. The soup turned out very very good. I also added some shaoxing rice wine to it. I also made some home made Gansui Noodles with this recipe – and the noodles were really smooth, and springy and worked wonderfully with this recipe. Thank you!
Thanks Rob.
Hi Elaine,
Can you please share your recipe for the beef bone stock or recommend what to buy from the store?
Thanks!
Can you please share the recipe for the beef bone broth?
Hi Tina,
You can refer to Chinese pork stock to make a Chinese beef stock at home.
Hello Elaine,
Just a question, on which part should I use the light soy sauce? And also, where should I use the spices? In the beef stock or when frying the doubanjiang?
Carlo,
Light soy sauce and spices can be added after adding the stock.
Thanks Elaine for this wonderful recipe! Aside from this, I also tried your braised chicken feet, Har Gow, beef dumplings & dry-fry green beans on 1 single night & my friends really love them! Looking forward to try some of your other Sichuan dishes next week. We are a small group of Filipinos here in Saudi Arabia. Many thanks!
Thank you Carlo for your feedback! I am so glad to know they turn out good. You are a very talented cook to make so many dishes in just one night. Happy cooking!
Hi Elaine,
since I first made this recipe following your instructions I’ve found and tried a lot of variations coming from all parts of China. I really like the Sichuan twist you gave it. It remind’s me of potato salad here in Germany which is present everywhere, but if you eat it you can tell which region the cook comes from 🙂