This pork noodle soup is so simple and delicious. You don’t have to spend hours brewing the soup base or use artificial packets with this recipe. It is packed with flavors and comes together quickly for an easy meal.
Growing up, my parents have run a Chinese restaurant and a Vietnamese restaurant. So I can truthfully say that I have eaten noodle soups my whole life. From ramen to pho, there is something so comforting about slurping up noodles soaked in a bowl of delicious broth.
This post contains affiliate links. We may earn compensation when you click on the links at no additional cost to you.
The Soup
The soup base or broth is key to a good noodle soup. It takes hours to brew with beef or pork bones and a variety of other ingredients to get the richness of flavors in the broth.
This recipe will give you a rich broth without having to spend hours making bone broth. Using ground pork, onions, tomatoes, and oyster sauce as the key ingredients, you will have a rich pork broth in 30 minutes.
I love making bone broth for noodle soup, or kids love drinking it straight. Here’s my simple bone broth recipe using only 4 ingredients.
The flavors coming out of the pork and tomatoes 
A pot of pork soup ready to serve
Types of Noodles to use
Any Asian-style noodles will do well with this pork soup. Fresh or dried is up to you. You can even use Italian-style noodles if that’s what you have on hand.
Here are some suggestions for noodles:
- Rice noodles
- Rice sticks or vermicelli
- Ramen
- Bean threads or glass noodles
- Egg noodles
- Udon
Rice sticks 
Fresh noodles
Preparing the Noodles
You do not want to put uncooked noodles directly into the soup. It is best to cook the noodles separately before adding them to the soup.
The reason being is you do not want to add the starch from the uncooked noodles to the soup. It will thicken up the soup with a starchy texture, and you will not have the consistency of a broth.
Cook the noodles per the directions on the package. Drain the noodles in a colander and give it an extra rinse to get all the starch out. It’s ok if the noodles are cooled since you will be pouring hot soup over them.
Use the same pot for cooking the pork soup to keep dishes at a minimum. I am all about fewer dishes, the better.
See notes below recipe for low carb ideas.
Serving and Storing Noodle Soup
Keep the noodles and soup separate until you are ready to serve. If you keep noodles in the soup, the noodles will soak up the liquid from the soup. You will end up with extra soggy noodles without much broth.
To Serve: distribute the noodles into individual bowls and pour soup over the noodles. Serve immediately.
If you like more vegetables, like bean or pea sprouts, with your noodle soup, you can add it in the bowl with the noodles or serve it on the side along with other side options. See customize section below.
To Store: keep noodles and soup in separate containers. It will stay in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Making it Kid-Friendly
My kids love soup broth. I served them broth in a sippy cup since they were toddlers. I took the time to strain the broth clear when they were little, but I am not doing it anymore.
They much prefer to have their noodles in clear broth. It took them a while to get used to having meat and veggies in their noodle soup. There were definitely whining and complaining before they realize it was not bad with it.
In this recipe, we use ground pork to make the soup which is much more kid-friendly than slices of meat. You can also finely diced up the onions and cabbage so they will dissolve into the soup more. That way, it is less obvious to the kids while keeping the flavor it provides to the soup.
Customize with add-ons
This pork noodle soup is loaded with flavor with ground pork and vegetables. But you can definitely add on to it and customize it to your liking. I am listing a few suggestions on things I have added before and when to add them to the soup because the cooking time will vary.
- Frozen dumplings – last 15 mins of cooking
- Fresh dumplings – last 10 mins of cooking
- Shrimp (fresh or frozen) – last 5 mins of cooking
- Frozen fish cake – last 15 mins of cooking
- Firm tofu (cubed) – last 15 mins of cooking
- Egg (cracked directly into the soup and do not stir until it’s cooked) – last 6 mins of cooking
You can also have a few fixings served on the side for individuals to add to their own bowl of noodle soup. Here are some suggestions:
- Sesame oil
- Bean or pea sprouts
- Basil
- Mint
- Fried onions or garlic
- Green onions
- Furikake
- Hot or chili sauce
Pork Noodle Soup
Equipment
- 6 QT soup pot
Ingredients
- 1 lb noodles – fresh or dried
- 1 lb ground pork – see notes for subsitution
- 1 small onion – diced
- 2-3 fresh tomatoes – cut into wedges
- 1 cup oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 10 cups water
- ½ head napa or regular cabbage – roughly shredded
Instructions
- Cooked noodles following instructions on package. Strain noodles in a colinder. Rinse noodles under water to cool and set aside.
- Heat soup pot and coat the bottom of the pot with a thin layer of cooking oil.
- Add onions to cook and stir for 2 mins.
- Add ground pork, oyster sauce, garlic powder, and tomatoes to the pot. Mix and let it cook for 10 mins stirring occastionally.
- Add water to the pork mixture and stir to combine. Bring to a low boil for 15 mins.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve
- Distribute noodles into bowls. Add extra vegatable if desire.
- Ladle soup over noodles until it covers the noodles. Serve immeiately.
- Serve with fixings on the side. See Customize with add-ons section for ideas.
Notes
Sign up for our Newsletter for easy family friendly recipes and meal inspriations right in your inbox.
