Credit: Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
You could probably eat a noodle soup every day and never get tired of it—there are just so many flavorful, intriguing versions of chewy noodles floating in a deeply flavored broth. The recipes below represent just a fraction of the world’s noodle soup possibilities, but they are strong examples. They include a long-simmered ramen, fortified with braised pork and made spicy and a little crunchy with a burnt garlic and sesame chile oil, as well as an upgrade to instant ramen that comes together in just 15 minutes. There are also a couple of representatives from Thailand, where noodle soups are eaten on nearly every corner at all times of day. And there’s a pho with a perfectly clarified broth that requires no skimming and comes together in just 30 minutes. Happy slurping.
01 of 08
Credit: Serious Eats / Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall, Prop Stylist: Josh Hoggle
Here’s an easy way to upgrade your packet of instant ramen noodles: Swap the overly salty seasoning packet for layered umami in the form of miso paste and soy sauce. A bit of butter adds richness that mimics the fatty mouthfeel of real ramen. Add a bunch of bok choy—or whatever greens you have on hand—for balance and lightness. Top the whole thing with a jammy egg, and you’ll feel like you’re eating a real bowl of ramen that’s been stewed for hours.
Get Recipe: 15-Minute Miso Butter Ramen
02 of 08
Credit: Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
This sweet-and-sour Thai dish is made by braising oxtail and beef neck bones with soy sauce, rock sugar, warm spices, and aromatics. It’s a labor of love, but one that’s absolutely worth it. Once you’ve simmered the bones with spices like cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorn, star anise, and coriander, the deeply flavored, layered broth becomes a vehicle for condiments like roasted chile vinegar, fried garlic, fish sauce, pork cracklings, and fresh Thai basil leaves.
Get Recipe: Guaydtiaao Reuua Neuua Dtoon (Thai Boat Noodles With Braised Beef)
03 of 08
Credit: Serious Eats / Qi Ai
If you’ve been plagued by watery, one-dimensional, overly salty wonton soups in the past, give this one a shot. It’s based on soups served in Hong Kong and features a complex, umami-rich broth made with chicken backs, pork trotters, dry-cured ham, dried shrimp, and seaweed. Then come the wontons, stuffed to the brim with juicy pork and pops of tender marinated shrimp. Bad takeout bowls will be a distant memory.
Get Recipe: Homemade Wonton Soup
04 of 08
Credit: Serious Eats / Two Bites
This beloved Malaysian dish is served at roadside hawker stalls, food courts, and cafeterias around the country. It features rice noodles floating in a creamy, fragrant broth spiced with chiles and aromatics, and topped with a variety of richly textured ingredients like shrimp, fish cakes, sprouts, and puffs of tofu. In this version, you’ll use three forms of each ingredient to build layered flavor: fresh, dried, and paste forms of chiles, turmeric, and shrimp.
Get Recipe: Curry Laksa
05 of 08
Credit: Serious Eats / Lorena Masso
Chicken sotanghon is a crucial component of the traditional Christmas Eve midnight feast in the Philippines, called Noche Buena. Glass noodles, chicken, mushrooms, and cabbage swim in an amber broth deeply infused with garlic flavor. You’ll roast the chicken bones and sear the meat to build Maillard-driven depth in the broth, and cook each mix-in component separately so it’s not at risk of becoming mushy in the soup.
Get Recipe: Chicken Sotanghon (Filipino Chicken Soup With Glass Noodles)
06 of 08
Credit: Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Noodle soups are ubiquitous in Thailand, eaten at all times of day much as New Yorkers eat pizza. This version features a clear pork stock with marinated sliced pork and pork meatballs. The pork slices are so thin that they become deeply infused with the broth’s umami, while the loosely formed meatballs provide a pleasing textural contrast.
Get Recipe: Guaydtiaao Moo Nam Sai (Thai Clear Pork Noodle Soup With Pork Meatballs)
07 of 08
Credit: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
In a world full of ramen recipes, two things set this Kenji Lopez-Alt version apart: Braised pork shoulder adds texture and rich flavor. And a condiment innovation in the form of a burnt garlic, sesame, and chile oil is thick and clings to each noodle, adding robust savory and spicy flavor as well as intriguing texture throughout the dish. (Even if you don’t want to go to the effort to make this full ramen dish, make the condiment. It’ll make even instant noodles taste complex).
Get Recipe: Miso Ramen With Crispy Pork and Burnt Garlic-Sesame Oil
08 of 08
Credit: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
Here, deeply flavored pho is possible in a fraction of the usual time thanks to the powers of the pressure cooker. Because everything cooks in a high-pressure vacuum, the aromatic flavors rapidly make their way into the broth, even though you won’t spend a long time simmering it. It also means your chicken will be tender and falling off the bone. All that’s left to do is load up on the necessary condiments: So many fresh herbs and so much hoisin sauce.
Get Recipe: 30-Minute Pressure Cooker Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup) Recipe
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