The Best Soup Noodles & How To Cook With Them | Blue Apron (2024)

FAQs

Which noodles are the best for soup? ›

Add the noodles to the pot as you reheat the soup just before serving. If you've already added the noodles from the beginning, your only hope of rescuing the soup is to dilute it with more broth so that the noodles have a bit of space to spread out.

Canned soup noodles contain more alkaline salts than regular noodles. Gluten and alkaline salt react to make a chewier, denser noodle that doesn't soak up liquid as much.

Rinse the Noodles: Once the noodles are cooked to al dente, drain them and rinse under cold water. This stops the cooking process and washes off excess starch, preventing them from absorbing more liquid and becoming mushy.

What kind of noodles are best for soup? This is mostly up to your preference, but it is usually best to use a pasta that doesn't absorb a lot of liquid – which then leads to a mushy noodle. Egg noodles tend to be the top choice, and I love to use these homemade egg noodles.

The lighter the soup, the smaller the pasta

Shapes such as Risoni, Ditalini lisci, and Stelline (shaped like tiny stars) are perfect for broths. If you are cooking a heartier soup such minestrone, consider using large sized pasta such as maccheroni, ditaloni rigati, or ditaloni lisci.

If you're using pasta made with semolina and egg -- in other words, what most Americans think of as traditional pasta -- adding it to your soup uncooked for the last eight to 10 minutes of cooking time is perfectly acceptable.

“Even if I serve it hot,” she told me, “I like to rinse it in cold running water to remove the surface starch and give you a good palate feel that's not slimy.” She will even go so far as to soak her soba in ice water, which firms them up for a chewier texture.

Why did my noodles turn to mush in the crockpot? One of the most common reasons for mushy noodles is overcooking. Pasta, including noodles, has a relatively short cooking time compared to other ingredients typically prepared in a crockpot.

Using a lid to trap heat in the pot will speed up this process. Water at an adequate boil will cook pasta faster, without suffering a significant temperature drop when the noodles are added, and this will keep your pasta from getting mushy.

How do you make canned noodle soup taste better? ›

Herbs: Fresh chives, thyme, or cilantro stirred in just before serving. Spices: Your soup is probably salty enough, but what about simmering a bay leaf in there for a while (don't forget to remove it before serving)? Depending on the soup's flavor profile, you could shake in some cumin or red pepper flakes.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add your overcooked pasta. Gently sauté over medium heat for a few minutes until the pasta's texture has firmed up. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes and you'll know it is done when the edges of the pasta have started to crisp and light browning has begun.

How do you keep noodles from getting soggy in soup? The trick is to only add the noodles when you are ready to serve the soup. If you make a large pot of soup, reserve the pasta, and add it to each portion as you reheat it, cooking it in the soup for the time recommended on the package.

After boiling your pasta, drain or rinse it like normal, then transfer the cooked pasta to a bowl of olive oil and toss, via Smithsonian Magazine. This will prevent your sauce from sticking to the pasta and absorbing.

Soba Noodles

Soba noodles are made with buckwheat, which despite having wheat in the name is gluten-free. Buckwheat is a whole grain, offering more fiber than many other kinds of pasta. Soba noodles are a variety of Japanese noodles that are often used in soups and noodle bowls.

Egg noodles, as their name suggests, include the addition of egg, which creates a more tender, fluffier, and savory result. Not only do they have their own flavorful footprint, but they also match — and easily absorb — the savoriness of an herby chicken broth, ensuring each slurp is as tasty as can be.

Stelline: Tiny, star-shaped noodles that cook in just 5 minutes. These are best used in soups, as they tend to get lost in saucy or meat-based dishes.

Differences in Ingredients

Flour – smooth, soft, and a lighter shade, noodles may be crafted using a finer kind of flour or a variety of different flours. Pasta on the other hand uses a heavier denser kind of flour to give it that weight. Salt – salt is essential when it comes to noodles.