Chicken, Ginger & Noodle Soup

Name: Chicken, Ginger & Noodle Soup
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 500 g chicken breast; 1.5 l chicken or vegetable stock; 40 g fresh ginger, sliced into coins; 4 cloves garlic, lightly crushed; 6 spring onions; 2 tbsp soy sauce; 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil; 200 g rice noodles; 200 g pak choi, halved; 1 lime, cut into wedges

Chicken breast poached gently in a broth built on ginger, garlic and spring onion, shredded back in with rice noodles and pak choi. 33 g of protein.

High protein

A large bowl of clear golden broth with rice noodles, shredded chicken, halved pak choi, sliced spring onion greens and coins of ginger, a wedge of lime on the side.

Servings: 4
Total time: 30 min
Hands-on: 20 min

What you need

Large pot
Tongs
Two forks for shredding

Ingredients

500 gchicken breast— whole, not sliced
1.5 lchicken or vegetable stock
40 gfresh ginger, sliced into coins
4 clovesgarlic, lightly crushed
6spring onions— whites in the broth, greens to serve
2 tbspsoy sauce
1 tbsptoasted sesame oil
200 grice noodles— weighed dry
200 gpak choi, halved
1lime, cut into wedges

How to make it

Bring the stock to a bare simmer with the ginger coins, garlic and the white parts of the spring onions, and let it infuse for 10 minutes. Simmer, never boil: a rolling boil turns a clear broth cloudy and there is no getting it back.
Slide the whole chicken breasts into the broth, cover the pot and turn the heat off completely. Leave them for 15 minutes. Poaching in residual heat is why the chicken comes out silky instead of stringy — it never gets hotter than the broth.
Lift the chicken out and shred it with two forks. Check a thick piece: it should be opaque all the way through with no pink. If it is not, return it to the reheated broth for 3 minutes.
Season the broth with the soy sauce and sesame oil, then cook the noodles and the pak choi in it for the time on the noodle packet, usually 3–4 minutes.
Return the chicken, divide between four bowls, and finish with the sliced spring onion greens and a wedge of lime each. The lime is not optional — it is what stops a ginger broth tasting flat.

Per serving, roughly

Energy: ~360 kcal
Protein: ~33 g
Carbs: ~42 g
Fat: ~6 g

These are estimates calculated from standard ingredient values. Your numbers will shift with the exact products you buy and with how generously you fill the plate — oil, sauces and cheese move them the most.

Variations

Spicy

Add a tablespoon of chilli crisp or a sliced red chilli to each bowl. Negligible in calories, and it changes the dish completely.

Lower carb

Swap the noodles for 300 g of thinly sliced cabbage cooked in the broth for 2 minutes. About 160 kcal and 38 g of carbohydrate less per portion.

Coach's tip

33 g of protein for 360 calories, almost no fat and a lot of warm fluid — the easiest thing to eat on a day you are tired, travelling or coming down with something. It is light enough to have two hours before a session.

More recipes

Other recipes worth a place in your week.

MealsMinestrone with White BeansA long-cooked soffritto, two tins of cannellini with half of them crushed to thicken the broth, and small pasta cooked in the soup itself. One pot.MealsThai Green Vegetable Curry with TofuCurry paste fried in the thick cream off the top of the coconut milk until the oil splits out, then aubergine, beans and crisped tofu. Twenty minutes.MealsGreek Chicken BowlOregano-and-lemon chicken with crisp roast potatoes, a sharp cucumber-tomato salad and tzatziki made from skyr rather than full-fat yogurt. It is the highest-protein bowl in the collection at around 64 g, and it does not taste like diet food.

General information only, not medical or nutritional advice. If you have a health condition, an allergy, or specific dietary needs, talk to a qualified professional.

Eating well is half the plan

A GetMyCoach coach builds the training around your goal — and gives you a calorie and protein target that matches it.

Find your coach