Chicken Noodle Soup

- Serves 8

This Vietnamese-inspired chicken noodle soup is pure comfort in a bowl — fragrant, layered, and deeply satisfying. It combines tender seared chicken breast for flavour and texture with juicy chicken thigh meatballs simmered in a light, aromatic broth. Infused with charred ginger, onion, star anise, and cinnamon, this soup is both soothing and complex — the kind you crave on quiet evenings or when you need something truly nourishing.
Serve it over silky rice noodles and finish with a squeeze of lime, fresh herbs, and a drizzle of fish or light soy sauce for brightness. It’s not your typical “quick pho” — it’s a slow-simmered bowl of warmth that celebrates every layer of flavour.

Watch our short Chicken Noodle Soup video on Instagram.

Ingredients for Chicken Noodle Soup

BASE PROTEINS
2 whole chickens, cut and separated into breast, thigh, carcass, and wings (as used below)
(You’ll use the carcasses and wings for the broth, the thighs for the meatballs, and the breasts for searing.)

SPICES
5gm cinnamon stick
4-5 pieces star anise
3-4 pieces cardamon
6-8 pieces clove
5gm coriander seeds
5gm black peppercorns
5gm fennel seeds

BROTH
2 onions, halved
150g ginger, halved
2 no. chicken carcasses
4 pieces chicken wings
4 liters water
50g rock sugar
100ml fish sauce
Hoisin sauce, to taste

MEATBALLS
4 pieces chicken legs
1 egg
Salt and pepper, to taste

TO PUT TOGETHER
4 chicken breasts, skin on
1 pack rice vermicelli or any rice noodles of your choice
1 red onion, thinly sliced
4 handfuls Laksa leaves
1.5 cups beansprouts
1 red chili padi, sliced
Lime wedges

Oil, for cooking

Recipe

Dry roast spices in a non-stick pan over medium heat until smoky and aromatic. Remove and set aside.
Char onions and ginger over open fire – set aside.
Dry carcasses and chicken wings well, then brown with a drizzle of oil in a large pot until golden brown.
Add all stock ingredients and spices into the pot and simmer for at least 2 hours. Skim broth as you go. Finally, strain broth into a large saucepan – set aside.
Remove the skin of the chicken leg. Cut meat into small pieces, add egg, salt and pepper to taste – process in a food processor until finely minced. Shape into meatballs and put in the fridge till ready to use.
Start chicken skin side down in a cold pan. Place over medium heat and cook 6–8 minutes until the skin turns golden and crisp, letting the fat render slowly. Flip and cook another 4–6 minutes, or until the thickest part reaches 74 °C. If the skin isn’t fully crisp, flip back for 30 seconds. Rest 5 minutes before slicing thinly.
Bring prepared broth back to the boil. Remove meatballs from the fridge and add to the broth.
To assemble – boil noodles in prepared broth (or boiling hot water), drain using a colander and put into serving bowls. Scoop chicken broth and then garnish with sliced chicken breast, meatballs, sliced onion, herbs, sliced red chili, beansprout and lime wedges.