Give basic chicken noodle soup a twist with thick, chewy udon noodles and shredded gochujang chicken. Put it all together in a bold broth layered with ginger, toasted sesame oil, and soy sauce and you have a delicious dinner ready in 30 minutes—start to finish.

Photography Credit: Sally Vargas

Chicken noodle soup is a classic recipe, but who wants to eat the same thing all the time? Take a break from your regular chicken noodle soup and try this one loaded with Asian flavors and ingredients like sesame oil, chewy udon noodles, ginger, and bok choy. Add in spicy shredded chicken and this dinner is sure to make the weekly rotation.

I used a box of store-bought stock, a little garlic, and a generous amount of ginger. (Secret’s out, oops.) You can also make your own stock. Shredded cooked chicken flavored with the sweet and spicy fermented chili paste, gochujang, put this soup over the top and also made the bowls of soup look pretty and appealing.

Even with the short-cuts, when I brought this to a friend’s house for dinner, everyone marveled at how flavorful the broth was.

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What Are Udon Noodles?

You can really sink your teeth into thick Japanese udon noodles. They are about the size of a fettuccini noodle, made from wheat, and can often be purchased fresh from Asian grocery stores. If you buy them fresh, just cook them in boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes.

Dried noodles should be available at large grocery stores in the Asian food section, but if not, you can order them online.

Cook them in abundant boiling water as you would Italian pasta. They take about the same amount of time to cook as linguini, which you could substitute for the udon in a pinch, although I urge you to seek out udon noodles for a real treat.

WHAT IS GOCHUJANG?

Gochujang is a sweet and spicy Korean chili paste. Its color resembles tomato paste, and it is similar to Sriracha in taste, but with less garlic and not as much heat.

It’s widely available at most grocery stores, but you can also find it online. If you’ve never tried it let this be the time to do so. It’s delicious! We also use it in our Air Fryer Chicken Wings.

SAVE TIME: USE LEFTOVER CHICKEN

This is an ideal soup for using up leftover cooked chicken or rotisserie chicken. Shred the chicken and then reheat it in a skillet with the sauce to add a flavor boost.

TIPS TO STORE AND FREEZE THIS SOUP

Leftovers of this soup will keep in the fridge for two to three days, though the noodles will start to become mushy as they absorb more of the broth.

If you know you’ll have leftovers, prepare the soup and the noodles separately, store them in separate containers, and combine them in the bowl when reheating.

This soup isn’t great for freezing because of the tender greens and the noodles. Plus, it’s so quick to make you can whip it up faster than it would take to thaw.

Need more freezing tips? Check out our post on How to Freeze Soup, Beans, and Broth!

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