Easy, fast and flavorful glass noodle soup, made in a delicious garlic & ginger broth with soy sauce. Long, clear glass noodles are so fun to eat! Make this soup vegetarian or add meat.
My sister-n-law introduced me to this glass noodle soup recipe years ago. I'd forgotten about it until recently but I'm so glad to have this easy, flavorful soup back in my life! It's a perfect weeknight recipe.
Make it once, and after that you don't really need a recipe. It's that's easy! It's also really versatile. This version is vegetarian, but it's easy to add chicken or your favorite type of ground meat. I've included instructions for both in the recipe card below.
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What are Glass Noodles?
Glass noodles are long, clear noodles found in many different cuisines across Asia. They cook quickly and are delicious in soups, cold salads, hot noodle dishes, stir fries and spring rolls.
They are called glass noodles (or cellophane noodles) because they are translucent when cooked, just like glass. Some packages also label the noodles as "bean threads."
Glass noodles are soft but slightly chewy and the texture is slippery. The noodles have very little flavor, they just soak up the flavors of the sauce, broth or seasoning they are cooked in.
They can be made from mung bean starch, potato starch, tapioca starch or other types of starch. They are a different type of noodle than rice noodles, which are made from rice flour.
Uncooked cellophane noodles are white, thin and brittle. They are often packaged in 2-ounce bundles.
Cellophane Noodle Cooking Instructions
Different brands of cellophane/glass noodles have different cooking instructions. However, the basic idea is that you soak the noodles in hot water until they become clear, pliable and chewy.
If using the noodles for salads, stir fries or other similar dishes it's best to soak the noodles in hot (not boiling) water. Depending on how hot the water is, the noodles will be ready in 5 to 15 minutes.
For glass noodle soup, you can add the dried noodles directly to the soup pot. When the soup is ready, turn off the heat. Then add the glass noodles and let them hydrate in the hot broth until the strands turn from white to clear.
The noodles will soak up the flavor of the broth, which is why in the photo below they are a golden brown color from veggie stock and soy sauce.
Soup Ingredients
Broth & Water: A combination of broth and water gives the soup flavor, but keeps it from tasting too salty when soy sauce is added. The flavor of the broth really matters in this simple soup, so make sure to buy a brand that tastes good (and don't buy low-sodium broth, it won't taste as good).
Soy Sauce: I use reduced sodium soy sauce to flavor the broth and keep the saltiness in check. Don't skip it; soy sauce is what really gives this soup unique flavor.
Garlic & Ginger: The magical combination that flavors many Asian dishes. You can skip ginger if your family doesn't love it. You can also take the easy short-cut of using 2 or 3 frozen ginger or garlic cubes (check the freezer section of grocery stores for this product)
Mushrooms: Use any variety that you like. Mushrooms give this vegetarian soup flavor and texture. The mushrooms are sauteed briefly in either canola oil or sesame oil before adding water and broth. If you're not a fan, just don't add mushrooms. The soup is still good.
Baby spinach: Cooks quickly and adds bright green color to the soup.
Meat: Adding meat is optional, and can be in place of mushrooms or in addition to mushrooms. Chicken thighs can be cooked directly in the soup broth, or you can add cooked, shredded chicken thighs or breast. Any type of ground meat can be cooked directly in the soup pot.
Step-by-Step Soup Instructions
The ingredients are combined, and then glass noodle soup simmers for only about 10 minutes before it's ready to eat.
Helpful Tips
- Soak the noodles in hot water, not boiling water. Bring a pot of water (or soup broth) to a full or near boil, then turn off the heat before adding glass noodles. Keep in mind that the hotter the water, the shorter the soaking time.
- Cut the noodles for easier eating. Glass noodles are really long! To make them easier to eat and to keep the noodles from forming large clumps, you can use kitchen shears to snip the cooked noodles into shorter threads. Don't make them too short, however. The noodles are very slippery and hard to pick up if too short.
- Glass noodles absorb broth. The longer the noodles sit in a pot of soup, the more broth they'll soak up. If you like a brothy soup, don't add too many bundles of glass noodles! If leftover glass noodle soup is stored in the refrigerator, the noodles will soak up most of the broth. The noodles are still delicious, but you'll have to add more broth to turn the leftovers back into soup.
More Glass Noodles Recipes
- Japchai from My Korean Kitchen
- Steamed shrimp with glass noodles from Woks of Life
- Vegan Pad Woon Sen from Woonheng.com
- Vietnamese spring rolls from Rasamalaysia
FAQ About Cellophane Noodles
Yes, glass noodles and cellophane noodles are the same thing. The cooked noodles are clear or transparent, just like glass or cellophane.
Soak the noodles in hot water until clear and pliable. Drain and shake off excess water. Then proceed with the recipe. If adding the noodles to a stir fry, only cook the pre-soaked noodles in the wok or saute pan for a few minutes or they will get too soft.
Yes, you can cook the noodles in your pot of soup. Once the soup is ready, I turn off the heat and add the noodles to the hot broth. If the broth is really hot, the noodles should be ready to eat in about 5 minutes or so.
Vermicelli is the name for any type of thin, long noodle. Noodles that are sometimes called Chinese vermicelli or "mei fun" are made from rice flour. However, Chinese cuisine also uses cellophane/glass vermicelli which is made from bean or potato starch. The blog Woks of Life has a helpful list of Chinese noodles.
Yes. Glass noodles are made from either bean starch, potato starch or tapioca starch. Double check the ingredients on the package to make sure they are gluten free.
More Easy Soup Recipes
📖 Recipe
Glass Noodle Soup
Easy, fast and flavorful glass noodle soup, made in a delicious garlic and ginger broth with soy sauce. Long, clear glass noodles are so fun to eat!
This is a vegetarian recipe, however, this soup is also really good with chicken. You can add cooked, shredded chicken to this recipe before serving the soup. Or, cook raw chicken in the soup pot. You can even add ground meat. See the notes below the recipe for instructions.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Soup and Stew
- Method: Stove top
- Cuisine: Asian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons canola oil or toasted sesame oil
- 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped or thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger (or less, if you prefer)
- 8 to 10 ounces mushrooms, thinly sliced (use your favorite type of mushroom)
- 4 cups/1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
- 4 cups water
- ⅓ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- 4 ounces* glass noodles (also called cellophane noodles)
- 3 to 4 handfuls fresh baby spinach
- Green onions, for garnish
Instructions
- Warm the oil in a wide soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and ginger. Saute for 1 minute.
- Add the mushrooms. Saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
- Add broth, water and soy sauce. Once the broth reaches a simmer, cover with a lid and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the noodles and baby spinach. Simmer for just a minute to soften the spinach, then turn off the heat and put the lid back on the pot. Stir occasionally, until the noodles are clear.
- By the time you bring the soup to the table, the noodles should be fully cooked. You’ll know because they’ll be completely clear instead of white. The noodles are quite long, so you might want to snip the length with kitchen shears for easier slurping.
- Serve with chopped green onion. Add more soy sauce to taste if needed.
Notes
The flavor of the broth really matters in this simple soup, so make sure to buy a brand that tastes good (and don't buy low-sodium broth, it won't taste as good).
For this recipe, you can use glass noodles made from either mung bean starch or sweet potato starch.
Packages of glass noodles usually contain small bundles of dried noodles. You can figure out the weight of each bundle by dividing the total weight of the package by how many small bundles are inside. In the photo of dried glass noodles in the blog post above, each of the bundles weighed 2 ounces.
Glass noodles soak up broth like crazy. Adding more than 4 ounces of dried glass noodles will fill your pot with noodles and almost no broth.
Add Chicken
Chicken thighs: Add 4 raw chicken thighs to the soup pot after adding the water, broth and soy sauce. Simmer the chicken until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove the chicken and shred the meat, then return the shredded chicken to the pot.
Cooked chicken: Shred leftover, cooked chicken and add it to the soup before adding the noodles.
Add Ground Meat
Any type of ground meat can be added to this soup, but ground pork or chicken are especially good. Add the uncooked ground meat to the pot as the very first step. Once it is mostly cooked, then add the garlic and ginger and proceed with the recipe.
Storage
This soup tastes best if eaten within 3 days. If leftover glass noodle soup is stored in the refrigerator, the noodles will soak up most of the broth. The noodles are still delicious, but you'll have to add more broth to turn the leftovers back into soup.
Keywords: glass noodle soup, cellophane noodles
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Jenn
I'm making this right now after hunting down the ingredients today....just the smells chopping the veggies and adding sesame oil to the pot smells amazing and can't wait!
kushigalu
How flavorful and delicious this soup is. Perfect for weather here. Thanks for sharing
★★★★★
Kathryn
This is such a cozy and delicious soup, especially on cold evenings! We enjoyed this so much and will make again!
★★★★★
Gina
Tried this when I was craving takeout noodles and it hit the spot! Way healthier and so easy to make too!
★★★★★
Sue
I've had a package of these noodles in my pantry forever, and now I can finally make use of them!
★★★★★
Patricia @ Grab a Plate
I love noodles of all sorts and this dish looks amazing! I was just thinking about what new noodle dish could make it to my table for a satisfying meal. Thanks for sharing this - I can't wait to try it!