The Best Instant Pot Beef Noodle Soup Recipe
Beef Noodle Soup is one of those classic Taiwanese dishes that brings Mr. Jo and I back to our childhood. It’s the ultimate comfort food. Mr. Jo’s mom makes the best beef noodle soup that requires hours of simmering. A few years ago, I asked her to share her recipe with me so I could make it for my children as they grow up. My Instant Pot Beef Noodle Soup is inspired by her recipe. By using the Instant Pot, it takes half the time to make and a lot less work.
Instructions:
First, boil a large pot of water (enough to cover the meat). Once bubbling, put in the beef shanks and tendons. If you’re not a fan of the texture of tendons, just replace it with another pound of beef shanks. As soon as the meat is mostly brown, remove from the pot and blanch with cold water to stop the cooking process. This step removes the gunk from the meat that would otherwise make the soup murky.
Turn on the Instant Pot to the Saute setting. Once hot, add the grapeseed oil. Other oils like canola oil or extra virgin olive oil would work too. I just like grapeseed oil because it has a higher smoke point. Oils with higher smoke points are good because less oxidative degradation occurs, so the good polyunsaturated fatty acids don’t break down as much. I guess I do remember something from organic chemistry.
Quickly add in the garlic, ginger, onion, carrots, and green onions. Stir-fry until the onions become translucent, about 3 minutes. Add in the tomato wedges and stir-fry for 1 minute. Then, add in the sugar, meat and tendons, tomato paste, bean paste, soy sauce, Shiaoxing wine, and dry red chilies (I leave these out since my kids can’t do spicy). Stir until everything is combined. Add the water and spice packet.
Change the cooking mode to the Meat/Stew setting. Set to 100 minutes. Put the lid on and make sure the vent is closed.
When the timer is up, open the vent. There will be a huge whoosh of hot air, so be careful.
While the Instant Pot has about 15 minutes left, boil some water on the stove. Cook the bok choy for about 1 minute and set aside. Then, cook the noodles according to package instructions. You can find the wide flat wheat noodles at the Asian grocery store, but spaghetti works also if that’s what you have on hand. I also recently tried it with a wheat noodle made with some spinach powder that I found at Ranch 99. It turned out great and it was a mom win since my kids didn’t even know they were eating veggies with their noodles.
Place noodles in a large bowl. Add a healthy amount of soup. Garnish with bok choy, scallions, and pickled mustard greens. Make sure to have hot chili sauce too!
Put any extra soup in the freezer and it’s an easy home-cooked meal for another day!
Another recipe you may enjoy: Grandma’s Zha Jiang Mien (aka Chinese Spaghetti)
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 120 minutes |
| Passive Time | 110 minutes |
| Servings | servings |
- 2 pounds boneless beef shank cut crosswise into 1.5 inch thick pieces
- 1 pound beef tendon cut crosswise into 1.5 inch thick pieces
- 4 medium carrots cut on the diagonal into 2 inch long pieces
- 2 medium vine-ripened tomatoes sliced into 8 wedges
- 1 large yellow onion sliced into 8 wedges
- 6 cloves crushed garlic or 6 cubes of frozen crushed garlic
- 3 teaspoons crushed ginger or 3 cubes of frozen crushed ginger
- 3 green onions
- 1/2 cup light soy sauce (not low sodium soy sauce)
- 1/2 cup Shiaoxing wine
- 1 Chinese spice packet a combination of cinnamon, fennel, ginger, cumin, and clove
- 3-4 dried red chilies (optional)
- 2 tablespoons bean paste (douban jiang)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 8 cups water
- blanched bak choy 3-4 stalks per serving
- pickled mustard greens as a garnish
- chopped green onions as a garnish
- 2 pounds wide flat white noodles
- 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil canola or olive oil would work too
Ingredients
|
- Boil a large pot of water (enough to cover the meat). Put in the beef shanks and tendons. As soon as the meat is mostly brown, remove from the pot and blanch with cold water. This step removes the gunk from the meat that would otherwise make the soup murky.
- Set the Instant Pot to the Saute setting. Once hot, add the oil. Quickly add in the garlic, ginger, onion, carrots, and green onions. Stir-fry until the onions become translucent, about 3 minutes.
- Add in the tomato wedges and stir-fry for 1 minute.
- Add in the sugar, meat and tendons, tomato paste, bean paste, soy sauce, Shiaoxing wine, and dry red chilies (optional). Stir until everything is combined.
- Add the water and spice packet. Change the cooking mode to the Meat/Stew setting. Set to 100 minutes. Put the lid on and make sure the vent is closed.
- When the timer is up, quickly open the vent. There will be a huge whoosh of hot air, so use an oven mitt.
- While the Instant Pot has about 15 minutes left, boil some water on the stove. Cook the bok choy for about 1 minute and set aside. Then, cook the noodles according to package instructions.
- Place noodles in a large bowl. Add a healthy amount of soup. Garnish with bok choy, scallions, and pickled mustard greens. Make sure to have hot chili sauce too!