Easy & Authentic Taiwanese Braised Beef Noodle Soup

Taiwanese Braised Beef Noodle recipe is just one of those dishes that flashes me back to my childhood.

Growing up, I wasn't a fan of Chinese or Taiwanese food since it's all we ate at home. Taiwanese braised beef noodle soup was the exception! Whenever I would smell these aromatics and soup simmering, my mouth would start watering. In all honesty, this soup still does have the same effect on me.

Taiwanese Braised Beef Noodle Soup, Also known as 紅燒牛肉麵, is the Ultimate Taiwanese Comfort Food.

Every culture has their own version of beef stew and this is Taiwan's Version. Taiwanese Braised Beef Noodle soup is THE ultimate comfort food. The soup broth is both savory and flavorful with an added hint of spice from the Doubanjiang (Spicy Bean Paste). I love using beef chuck which has the perfect combination of meat and juicy fat. The beef is slowly braised on a stovetop, slow cooker or Instant pot. The fall apart beef is cooked with spices and aromatics and the end result is a hearty flavorful soup.

This is my SIMPLIFIED Taiwanese Braised Beef Noodle Soup recipe.

To simplify the recipe for Taiwanese beef noodle soup, instead of using all the individual spices, we will use a pre-made spice bag. This saves us from purchasing 8 different spices for the broth. Don't worry if you can't find the pre-mixed spice bag, I will list all the spices below in the recipe. This noodle soup can be cooked on stovetop in about 1-1.5 hours, or my favorite, in the Instant pot!

Cook times for different methods:

• 1 Pressure Cooker (30 mins high 10 mins NPR) or
• 1 Pot for Braising (Braise 1-1.5 hrs on medium/medium low) or
• 1 Slow Cooker (Low for 8 hrs or high for 4 hrs)
• 1 Pot for cooking noodles & veggies

There are two very important ingredients for this Beef Noodle Soup.

The two most important ingredients for this Taiwanese Noodle soup are the Doubanjiang (Spicy Bean Paste) and the Braising Spice Bag.

What Kind of Noodles should I use?

You can use any noodles that you like for this recipe. You can use fresh noodles, or my favorite, Sliced Noodles which cook really quickly and have a really fun ripply texture.

If you LOVED this Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup, here are some of my other braised recipes you might love!

• Vietnamese Beef Stew
• Red Braised Pork
• Caramelized spare ribs
• Braised Short Ribs

Ingredients

• 3.5 lbs Chuck Roast Beef
• 6 servings Noodles (I used knife sliced)
• pinch Salt & Black Pepper To season beef before browning

Aromatics & Seasonings

• 1 Onions (sliced)
• 6 Garlic (minced)
• 2 Tomatoes (diced)
• 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
• ½ cup Shao Xing Wine
• 3 tbsp Doubanjiang (Spicy Bean Paste)
• 2 tbsp Fish Sauce
• 3 tbsp Soy Sauce
• ¼ cup Dark Soy Sauce
• 1 tbsp Rock Sugar or White Sugar
• 3 Bay Leaves
• 3-5 Dried Red Chiles (optional)
• 1 Chinese Spice Braising Packet or ingredients below on assembling your own spice bag
• 8 cups water (depending on how salty you like it) - You can add as much as water as you can to the max fill line, then add the remainder after depressurizing

To Make Your Own Spice Bag (If you can't find the braising spice pack)

• 2 Star anise
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp Sichuan Peppercorn
• ¼ tsp 5 Spice Powder
• 1 tsp Coriander Seeds
• ½ tbsp Cumin Seeds
• 1 tbsp Fennel Seeds
• 1 Cheese cloth or spice pouch

Garnish

• 12 Baby Bok Choy (or greens of your choice)
• Cilantro
• Green onions
• Chili Oil
• Preserved mustard cabbage (Taiwanese pickled mustard greens)

Instructions

• 1. Slice 1 onion, and 2 tomatoes, and mince 6 cloves of garlic.
• 2. Set the pressure cooker to saute mode and preheat on high. Or turn your pan to medium high.
• 3. While the pot is heating up, Cut Beef Chuck into 1.5" Cubes and season all sides with salt and pepper.

• 4. Add oil into the pressure cooker or pan and add in ⅓ of Beef Chuck. Be careful not to crowd the pot. Sear 2 sides of the beef for 2-3 minutes each.

• 5. Remove beef once browned and repeat batches until all the beef has browned. Add additional oil if needed.
• ***If you are making your own spice bag, assemble it now while the beef is browning
• 6. Once all the beef is done browning and removed add in the diced onions tomato and garlic into the pressure cooker. Saute for about 2 minutes, then add ½ cup cooking wine to deglaze the pot. Scrape all browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

• 7. Add in the browned beef, and the rest of seasonings: 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste, 3 tablespoon Doubanjiang (Spicy Bean Paste), 2 tablespoon Fish Sauce, 3 tablespoon Soy Sauce, ¼ cup Dark Soy Sauce, 1 tablespoon Rock Sugar or White Sugar, 3 Bay Leaves, 3-5 Dried Red Chiles (optional), 1 Chinese Spice Braising Packet

• 8. Set the pressure cooker to cook on high pressure for 30 minutes, or simmer on medium to medium low for 1-1.5hrs.
• 9. While the stew is cooking, prepare the garnishes. Wash and prepare the cilantro and green onions if using, and wash the baby bok choy and slice in half vertically.
• 10. Start to cook the noodles according to package instructions.
• 11. Once the noodles are done cooking, remove from pot, and place in the greens to cook for 2 minutes in the same water.
• 12. Let the pressure cooker naturally depressurize for 10 minutes after the cooking cycle has completed. Carefully release pressure.
• 13. Garnish and serve

📖 Recipe Card