This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Taiwanese beef noodle soup is the comfort food we all need for the chilly months ahead. This spicy soup combines a fragrant broth with tender beef and chewy noodles, and best of all, you can make it in the Instant Pot!
I LOVE Taiwanese beef noodle soup (牛肉麵). It’s a simple dish made with warming spices, garlic cloves, ginger, and chilies. Every bite is full of tender beef shank and noodles and warms you from the inside out. This easy beef noodle soup recipe is the next best thing to the real deal you’ll find in Taiwan, where it’s wildly popular year-round. I vividly remember going to the market, getting beef noodle soup for lunch, and slurping away in 90-degree heat and humidity. WORTH IT.
If you love Chinese-American recipes like my Beijing beef and orange beef, it’s time to take a trip to Taiwan with this spicy beef noodle soup recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup Recipe
- Made in the Instant Pot. Making beef noodle soup in the Instant Pot is a game-changer. It’s quick, tasty, and basically hands-free. The one-pot recipe below is the one that my mom makes, so you know it’s tried and true!
- Full of flavor. Like other traditional Asian dishes like Vietnamese bo luc lac, this easy beef soup brims with complex, savory, spicy flavors. Juicy beef, chilies, garlic, ginger, and an array of spices combine in a warming broth with tender onions and tomatoes.
- Perfect any time. Sure, this soup is wonderful when served on a chilly day. But it’s one of those classic comfort food recipes that you can make year-round. The pressure cooker makes it even easier!
What Is Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup?
Beef noodle soup (牛肉麵) is the national dish of Taiwan, though its origins are Chinese. It consists of tender beef cooked in a delectably spiced broth with freshly simmered noodles and tender vegetables. The savory, salty, fresh, chili-infused flavors are reminiscent of Sichuan-style cuisine and Hunan beef. This recipe combines everything in the Instant Pot for a quick, easy, and flavorful bowlful.
What You’ll Need
Below are some notes on the important ingredients for Tawainese beef noodle soup. You’ll find the full recipe with recommended amounts at the bottom of the post. (Whenever my family makes this recipe, we eyeball the ingredients, so feel free to adjust things to your liking.)
- Bone-in beef shank – Good substitutes are beef arm, oxtail, chuck roast, skirt, and silverside.
- Onion and Tomatoes – Regular yellow onion and your choice of tomatoes, cut into quarters.
- Garlic and Ginger – Freshly minced garlic and ginger root will lend the best flavor.
- Soy sauce – You can use tamari instead if you prefer.
- Shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine) – Dry sherry can be used in a pinch.
- Spices – Star anise, cinnamon sticks, ground fennel seed, ground cloves, and ground cumin. In Taiwanese cooking, this combination is known as five-spice.
- Thai red chilies – You can skip these for a milder soup, or use red pepper flakes if you can’t find them at the grocery store.
- Asian noodles – You can use any variety you like, and you can add as much or as little as you want, depending on your ideal broth-to-noodle ratio.
- Green onions – For garnish.
How to Make Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup in an Instant Pot
Since this is an Instant Pot recipe, it’s super easy to make in any kitchen. It probably takes more effort to assemble the ingredients than it does to actually cook the soup. Here’s what you’ll need to do.
- Prep the beef. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then carefully drop in the beef shanks for 2 to 3 minutes to cook off the impurities. Remove the beef from the pot and discard the water.
- Make the soup. Add the beef shanks to your pressure cooker, along with the remaining ingredients. (You don’t need to add water because the beef naturally releases liquid throughout the cooking process.) Use the meat preset (or similar) to pressure cook the beef for 25 to 26 minutes.
- Prep the noodles. Cook the noodles according to the package instructions and divide them into soup bowls.
- Finish. Once the soup is done and the pressure is released, divide the meat and soup into the bowls with the noodles.
Why Do You Blanch the Beef?
Blanching the beef shanks in boiling water before pressure cooking isn’t essential, but it does produce a clearer broth. Blanching beef removes impurities, which are then discarded with the water before you combine the beef with the other ingredients in the Instant Pot. This process prevents the final soup from turning out murky.
Tips and Variations
Here are some hints and tips for the best Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup:
- Adjust the recipe to taste. If you feel the spices and liquid amounts are not enough, feel free to add more. This recipe is easy to customize!
- Mind the hot steam. As always when pressure cooking, be careful when opening the lid to your Instant Pot after the cooking time is up. Wear an oven mitt if needed, as the steam will be hot!
- Make a spice sachet. You can tie the anise, cinnamon sticks, and chilies in a cheesecloth if you like, then pull it out before serving.
- Add greens. Make this soup with different vegetables such as bok choy, kale, or cabbage.
Frequently Asked Questions
This homemade beef noodle soup recipe is savory and spicy thanks to a combination of beef, vegetables, umami-rich soy sauce, cozy spices, and hot chilies.
In Taiwan, traditional beef noodle soup (牛肉麵) goes by the name tai wan niu rou mian.
Serving Suggestions
We serve our Tawainese beef noodle soup with a side of cooked spinach, but you can enjoy it as-is, use another cooked green, or substitute a different vegetable. You can also serve this soup with a side of plain white rice or sticky rice along with a smashed Asian cucumber salad or a side of cabbage stir-fry, and fluffy steamed buns for dunking.
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
- Fridge. Transfer leftovers to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. For best results, reheat in a pan on the stovetop over medium heat.
- Freezer. Place it in an airtight container and freeze it for up to 2 months. Let it thaw in the fridge overnight, then warm it on the stovetop.
More Asian-Inspired Soup Recipes
- Beef Ramen Noodle Soup
- Drunken Chinese Chicken Soup
- Coconut Curry Ramen
- Kimchi Ramen
- Curry Lemongrass Chicken Noodle Bowl
Instant Pot Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup (牛肉麵)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds (1134 g) bone-in beef shank
- 1 large onion, quartered
- 2 tomatoes, quartered
- 4 peeled garlic cloves
- 1 piece of large ginger, sliced into large thin pieces
- ⅓ – ½ cup (79 ml) soy sauce
- ¼ cup (59 ml) shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine)
- 3 star anise
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- ½ teaspoon ground fennel seed
- ½ teaspoon ground clove
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 3 dried Thai red chilies, optional
- 1-2 pounds (454 g) Asian noodles, depends on how much soup vs. noodle ratio you like
- Green onions, for topping
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil then blanch the beef shanks. You don’t want to cook them all the way through, just about 2-3 minutes. This allows the impurities to get cooked off. Remove the beef shanks and discard the water with the impurities.2 ½ pounds (1134 g) bone-in beef shank
- Add the beef shanks to the pressure cooker then add the remaining ingredients. You DON’T need to add water because the beef naturally releases water throughout the cooking process.1 large onion, 2 tomatoes, 4 peeled garlic cloves, 1 piece of large ginger, ⅓ – ½ cup (79 ml) soy sauce, ¼ cup (59 ml) shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine), 3 star anise, 2 cinnamon sticks, ½ teaspoon ground fennel seed, ½ teaspoon ground clove, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, 3 dried Thai red chilies
- Using the meat preset (or similar), pressure cook the beef. With my mom’s pressure cooker, she had to run the meat preset twice. If this confuses you, just pressure cook it for 25-26 minutes.
- In the meantime, cook the noodles and divide evenly into bowls.1-2 pounds (454 g) Asian noodles
- Once the pressure cooker is done and pressure is released, add meat and soup on top of noodles.Green onions
Notes
- If you feel the spices and liquid amounts are not enough, feel free to add more. My mom gave me this recipe and since she has been making this for years and years, she pretty much eyeballs it all so tweaking this recipe is very easy to do yourself :)
- We typically serve this soup with a side of cooked spinach but you can enjoy it with any vegetable of your choosing.
hello there,
i got exactly 2.5 pounds of bone in beef shank and followed the exact ingredients and instructions except i didn’t do the natural release because it was 27 minutes after pressure cooking (manual
pressure of 35) and it still wasn’t releasing so i did a quick release myself after 27 mins of when the pressure cooking was completed. I find there wasn’t enough liquid /broth (there was more ingredients than the broth!) , and i had to add more water later to have enough. It still tasted good because without the water addition i find it a bit too salty. Is there a reason why there’s not enough liquid ? Could it be because i didn’t chop up the meat first? or is it because i used frozen beef shank instead? But i did blanch it first, so don’t think it would have made a difference…
I will try again next time and see the results, and perhaps add carrots – what do you think of that? Thank you
It could be that you didn’t chop up the meat first but also, may depend on how large your pressure cooker is? Mine is 6 quart. Adding carrots will make them too soft and fall completely apart so you may not want to do that.
We made some missteps in substitutions. Flavor-wise it turned out very tasty, though we don’t have anything to directly compare to. We tried a Beijing-style spicy beef noodle soup at a local restaurant in Dallas, Texas (Hello Dumpling), loved it, and I wanted to have something similar at home. It’s not really similar, though I do like the flavor a lot.
Our first mistake was substituting for the beef shank. I consulted the wisdom of the internet and it said chuck roast could be substituted. Not true, don’t do it. After pressure cooking 25 minutes the chuck roast was dry and stringy. Hindsight says a bone-in piece of meat is very different from a boneless one. We also didn’t have enough broth for the amount of meat present, probably because there’s a lot more meat in 2.5lbs of boneless roast. I am trying to salvage the meat now by cooking it longer in some beef stock.
Second mistake, less bad, was using mung bean thread (which I love) instead of some other kind of noodle. They soaked up most of the broth, and so instead of having a soup we have wet tasty noodles.
Good substitution: whole cloves instead of ground cloves. Probably a bit less clove flavor over all, but that’s ok.
I was a little lost on how much ginger to use. It worked out ok, and I guess it’s always going to be subjective based on how much you want in the dish, but when one wants to hew closely to a recipe (which we didn’t with all the subs), more exact amounts do help.
Thank you for the culinary adventure!
It’s under 20 degrees here in DC, but also it’s Jan 2 so I’m pretending to be “healthy”. My go-to ramen recipe wasn’t going to cut it for dinner, especially on my first day back to work after holidays. I wanted warm, cozy, and full of flavor. I stumbled upon this and decided it was the one for tonight!
I did make a few changes based on what I had and my inability to navigate the large Asian grocery store I visited for ingredients. I used 1.7 lbs shanks, subbed 1 teaspoon five spice for the other spices (I got lost trying to find star anise, and upon googling substitutes realized the remaining spices on the ingredients make up five spice!), and added 1 cup water because we like lots of broth.
This was SO good. I pulled the beef out after 35 min on high with a natural release – it was fall off the bone tender. I chopped it to bite size pieces and put it back, turned the pot on simmer and added the noodles (I used dry ramen) and sliced bok choy. This was absolutely perfect, thanks for the great recipe!!
Yay!! So glad you enjoyed!! I’m in the DC area too and omg. SO COLD. It’s 4 degrees right now, INSANE!!!
This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try. Can this recipe be doubled?
Yes, definitely
Hi! If I wanted to eat bok choy in it do you know what step I would add that in? Or should I boil it separately and add it at the end? Thank you!
I would cook it separately when you cook the noodles and then just add it into your bowls at the end!
thank you for sharing- excited to try – have you ever tried to make tendon also in the instant pot?
No I have not but I’m sure my mom has :)
My husband is Taiwanese and he requests that I make this dish sometimes. I made this recipe with a half portion of beef flank steak (as per the butcher’s recommendation) and half a portion of beef tendon, cut into chunks before blanching. I also added some carrots (sliced into thick chunks, about 1-1.5″ thick). I used a Chinese beef stew spice packet (in the tea bags) instead of the spices listed in the recipe. I also added about half a cup of water to make sure I had enough soup and because I added the tough tendons and carrots. I used Taiwanese aged soy sauce and rice wine. I left out the chili peppers because I prefer it not to be so spicy. I used my instant pot on the meat setting for 26 minutes, and it turned out very well! The meat and carrots were very tender. I would add more time and higher pressure next time, when I use tendons, or slice the tendons into smaller pieces, because the smaller pieces were actually very tender, while the larger pieces of tendon were a little bit tougher, but still soft enough to chew. I stir-fried baby Shanghai Bok Choy to serve with it, on top of Mandarin noodles. It was enough for my husband and I to eat for dinner, and a small portion for his lunch today, as a stew with some naan bread for the starch (I was planning to pack his lunch over rice, but I didn’t have time to cook a portion of rice). Will add more meat and a bit of water or broth next time so that I can have two portions remaining for lunches the next day. I’ve also made this recipe without carrots and tendons before, which also turned out great! My husband was really excited when he smelled the stew, and it disappeared from his bowl in no time. Will definitely be making it again!
Thank you! Made this tonight and turned out so good! Beef was perfect. Fell apart when eating. Couldnt stop eating and now ready for a nap.
Loved it! Followed it except I added an extra pound of beef shank while so I could make beef rolls too
So since your mom does the meat mode twice, does she release the pressure and then set it again?
Nope, she just presses it again haha
I made this and it turned out perfectly. Super delicious ans EASY. I substituted a couple spoons of tomato paste since I didn’t have fresh tomatoes. Also added little chicken stock post pressure cooking to get more good that good soup.