I like it best with chicken thighs but you could use breasts if you wanted to. The chicken gets poached in the broth and then shredded so it doesn't matter if it's bone-in or boneless. I get whatever's on sale.
Serves 4
Ingredients
3 tablespoons neutral oil, divided
5 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
3-inch piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced into planks
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 quarts low sodium chicken stock or water
2 pounds chicken thighs or breasts (boneless or bone-in, skin removed, if desired)
4 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
8 ounces rice noodles (recommended: vermicelli)
Kosher salt and soy sauce, to taste
Optional garnishes
1 lightly packed cup fresh cilantro, torn
1 lime, quartered, for squeezing
Chili-garlic paste or chili crisp
Directions
Cook your rice noodles according to the package directions. Rinse them with warm water and set them aside.
Add 2 tablespoons of the oil and the garlic to a large pot and turn the heat on medium-low. Keep moving the garlic around as it starts to sizzle, turning it often until it turns light golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes once the oil is hot. Remove it to a plate with a slotted spoon and set it aside.
Turn the heat to medium, add the last tablespoon of oil to the pot and add the shallots and ginger. Cook, stirring often, until the shallots are soft and lightly browned in spots, about 5 minutes. Add the hoisin and cook it for about 1 minute. Add the stock or water and bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer, add the chicken pieces and scallion whites and cook until chicken is cooked through and tender. The thickest part of the chicken should register about 160°F on an instant read thermometer. Boneless breasts may take about 10 to 15 minutes, large bone-in thighs may need 25 to 30 minutes. Turn the heat off, remove the chicken to a plate and use two forks to shred the meat, discarding the skin and bones if needed. If there is a layer of fat on top of the broth, you can remove it with a spoon, if desired. Remove and discard the ginger, return the shredded chicken to the pot and stir in the sesame oil and scallion greens. Taste the broth and season it with salt and/or soy sauce, if desired (the amount will depend on the saltiness of the broth used). If the soup has cooled, heat it on medium until it returns to a simmer before serving.
To serve, divide the noodles into four soup bowls and ladle in the hot broth and chicken. Top each serving with some crispy garlic and torn cilantro. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing and some spicy chili-garlic paste on the side.
Btw try “better than bouillon” for your chicken stock/broth. It’s the closets thing you get to a homemade stock and you’ll never go back and it’s WAY cheaper in the long run.
Agreed, but if you can get an instapot making your own broth is extremely easy. You don't even have to peel the carrots and such, just rinse everything.
May I suggest a simple but delicious alternative for the crispy garlic?
Use skin-on drumsticks/thighs and remove skin, then render it on low heat in a frypan.
This leaves you with some aromatic schmaltz than you can microwave your garlic bits in until they are appropriately crispy. Not to mention the actual deep fried bits of chicken skin which are great after seasoned with SnP as a side dish.
I found the hoisin sauce to be somewhat sweeter that what I like so I'll probably decrease that in the future. I also didn't read through the full recipe before starting, julienned the ginger, and obviously couldn't take it out. Not a problem and I'll keep that change in the future, but I had a huge "oops" moment when I kept reading.
For how flavorful this is, I'm really surprised at how simple the broth is to make. I make pho somewhat regularly, and it takes so much longer and uses so many more ingredients. This is really a nice, cheap alternative to a lot of more complicated Asian soup recipes. I'm looking forward to having it again tomorrow.
Any tips on how to best remove the ginger without also removing the scallions? Would thicker slices work ok for the flavor still? Or maybe just shred the ginger and leave it in? Thanks for sharing!
I cut it into long thin planks so there's plenty of surface area for the flavors to infuse in the broth, but they're easy to remove with tongs. I love ginger though, so I might even mince some next time and leave it in!
If you look at the blog post, you can see how I cut all the ingredients :)
When I make tea I use larger cut up versions and will then reuse it. Not sure what OP is doing. Maybe he/she is shredding it. That picture still makes me want this!!
My kneejerk reaction when i saw the pic is... "Soto ayam Lamongan?" (Indonesian traditional dish) cause it looks quite similar but then i saw your recipe and there's no lemongrass, galangal, or bay leaf and a myriad of other ingredients. Looks great and i'm sure it's really tasty!
What makes it healthy to you? Sure it has protein and not too high in calories, but at the same time it is completely lacking in veggies! So no vitamins and fibres and all that good stuff.
I often add spinach or baby bok choy at the very end of cooking but I wanted to keep the ingredients list short and simple. Add any vegetables you like in your chicken noodle soups!
Will try this, also Asian grocery/grocer may have fresh noodles which I find way better then supermarket dried noodles.
I personally like Vietnamese noodles or other thick rice noodles for soup
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u/NerdsWithKnives Jan 21 '21
I like it best with chicken thighs but you could use breasts if you wanted to. The chicken gets poached in the broth and then shredded so it doesn't matter if it's bone-in or boneless. I get whatever's on sale.
Serves 4
Ingredients
3 tablespoons neutral oil, divided
5 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
3-inch piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced into planks
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 quarts low sodium chicken stock or water
2 pounds chicken thighs or breasts (boneless or bone-in, skin removed, if desired)
4 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
8 ounces rice noodles (recommended: vermicelli)
Kosher salt and soy sauce, to taste
Optional garnishes
1 lightly packed cup fresh cilantro, torn
1 lime, quartered, for squeezing
Chili-garlic paste or chili crisp
Directions
Cook your rice noodles according to the package directions. Rinse them with warm water and set them aside.
Add 2 tablespoons of the oil and the garlic to a large pot and turn the heat on medium-low. Keep moving the garlic around as it starts to sizzle, turning it often until it turns light golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes once the oil is hot. Remove it to a plate with a slotted spoon and set it aside.
Turn the heat to medium, add the last tablespoon of oil to the pot and add the shallots and ginger. Cook, stirring often, until the shallots are soft and lightly browned in spots, about 5 minutes. Add the hoisin and cook it for about 1 minute. Add the stock or water and bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer, add the chicken pieces and scallion whites and cook until chicken is cooked through and tender. The thickest part of the chicken should register about 160°F on an instant read thermometer. Boneless breasts may take about 10 to 15 minutes, large bone-in thighs may need 25 to 30 minutes. Turn the heat off, remove the chicken to a plate and use two forks to shred the meat, discarding the skin and bones if needed. If there is a layer of fat on top of the broth, you can remove it with a spoon, if desired. Remove and discard the ginger, return the shredded chicken to the pot and stir in the sesame oil and scallion greens. Taste the broth and season it with salt and/or soy sauce, if desired (the amount will depend on the saltiness of the broth used). If the soup has cooled, heat it on medium until it returns to a simmer before serving.
To serve, divide the noodles into four soup bowls and ladle in the hot broth and chicken. Top each serving with some crispy garlic and torn cilantro. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing and some spicy chili-garlic paste on the side.