An Asian Inspired Chicken Soup Recipe that is healthy and delicious! Loaded with vegetables and ginger. Make it spicy or mild for an easy dinner. This soup can be made in the instant pot, slow cooker or on the stove.
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This Asian Inspired Chicken Soup recipe is so delicious. Packed with veggies, spices, and hearty portions of chicken, it’s super filling and loaded with flavor.
You can keep it paleo/whole30 by skipping the noodles or adding zucchini noodles/spaghetti squash. It’s also great with rice, orzo, pasta, or quinoa if you can’t find or don’t have ramen noodles
Easily made in the instant pot, or in your crockpot, I promise this Asian Chicken Soup will make you want to enjoy soup year round!
Soup is arguably my favorite meal. We love it so much that we rounded up Low Calorie Soup Recipes that are filled with the best healthy soup recipes!
While we love classic chicken soup, I love making a twist on it too: Lemon Chicken Soup, Buffalo Chicken Soup, and Chicken Tortilla Soup are some of my favorites.
I love Asian cuisine and am constantly inspired by the flavor combinations and ingredients, which lead to this dish.
Important Note: This is not an authentic Asian soup recipe. My goal is always to share recipes that are a bit healthier and made with affordable, accessible ingredients so everyone can enjoy them regardless of their food allergies or dietary restrictions. If you are looking for an authentic Asian soup recipe – check out this recipe!
Why we love asian chicken soup:
- Veggie Loaded – This soup has carrots, onions, and bok choy. We also like to add in zucchini noodles or mushrooms
- Easy/Quick – You can make this soup quickly (under an hour with only 11 ingredients)
- Nourishing – This soup is packed with nutritious bone broth and protein from the chicken.
What you need to make Asian Chicken Soup:
You’ll need a few pantry/fridge staples to make Asian Chicken Soup. You probably already have them on hand!
You’ll need:
- boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
- garlic, carrots, onions
- olive oil
- fresh ginger
- spices
- chicken stock or broth
- rice wine vinegar
- coconut aminos
- brown rice ramen noodles
- baby bok choy
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded box.
I often crave soup but don’t always have hours to spend over the stove. This healthy chicken soup, however, can be made in the crockpot or instant pot to save time and energy!
I also included stove top instructions for you in the recipe so you can make it on the stove if you’d like!
My favorite way to make it is in my instant pot. It is completely finished in under 30 minutes, and I think it really locks in all the flavor due to the pressure cooking!
How to make Healthy Asian Soup:
You can make this soup in the instant pot or crockpot. Here is how to make it in on the stovetop, although making it in the instant pot or in the crockpot is very similar!
- Heat olive oil in a pot. Pan sear chicken thighs and remove from pan and set aside on a plate.
- Add onion, garlic, carrots, and ginger to the pot. Sauté until fragrant and onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
- While veggies cook – chop chicken thighs into small pieces and add the cooked chopped chicken back to the pot.
- Add chicken broth, rice wine vinegar, coconut aminos and red pepper flakes. Stir and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
- In a separate pot cook your noodles per package directions
- When ready to eat, stir in chopped bok choy to the soup pot. Allow it to wilt for 2-3 minutes in the soup.
Add noodles to your bowl, cover with soup + enjoy!
SO delicious and easy.
Can I make this Healthy Asian Chicken Soup in the crockpot?
Yes! You can make this soup in the instant pot, crockpot or on the stovetop. Please see below for instructions.
If you love your crockpot, this Crockpot Chicken Stew is our favorite!
Substitutions for this Asian Chicken Soup
This soup is SUPER easy to make substitutions. Use whatever you have on hand to make it!
Leftover Chicken – You can use this instant pot shredded chicken, Crockpot Shredded Chicken, or chicken from a rotisserie chicken to cut the cook time in half. Rather than pan searing the chicken, just sauté veggies and go right to stirring in cooked chicken!
Keto/Paleo/Whole30 – Instead of ramen noodles, use zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash or even cauliflower rice. If you are strict keto, cut the amount of carrots in 1/2.
Spinach – You can add a couple cups of chopped spinach when the soup is finished cooking. It’s a delicious addition!
Broth – Any broth will work in this. You can use bone broth, chicken stock, vegetable stock, etc.
Vegetarian – You could substitute beans for chicken in this recipe and it would be delicious. You’d also need to sub for vegetarian broth.
Chicken – You can make this using chicken tenders or chicken breasts if you prefer. You can also use pre cooked/shredded chicken or a rotisserie chicken!
Other Veggies – You can add mushrooms, leeks, or really any other veggies you like. Feel free to add more carrots or bok choy. Try this Chicken and Vegetable Soup!
Sodium/Salt – Coconut aminos and rice wine vinegar are naturally high in salt. Feel free to add more to taste to the soup. I personally wanted to keep this low in sodium so I used small amounts of both, and also used unsalted chicken broth.
Pasta/Rice – You can add orzo, rice, or pasta noodles to this and it will be delicious. Cook the pasta separately and then add it to your soup once the soup is completely cooked. (Don’t try to add raw pasta into the soup when it’s cooking.. it will turn to mush!) Gluten free pasta will work just fine *If you add pasta it will not be gluten free, paleo, or whole30. Quinoa, rice or cous cous will also be delicious!
Spicy – We like this soup with hot pepper flakes sprinkled in and sriracha on top. Feel free to add more or less spice depending on your tastes!
Coconut Aminos – You can sub coconut aminos with soy sauce or bragg’s liquid aminos – but the recipe will no longer be paleo. If using Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, use HALF the amount – bragg’s is much saltier.
Serving Asian Chicken Soup
For serving:
Toppings: I like to serve this soup with a tiny bit of toasted sesame oil, red pepper flakes, cilantro and sesame seeds. Sriracha, crushed peanuts or green onions would also be delicious!
This soup is best served with ramen noodles per the recipe, but you can also use zoodles or spaghetti squash.
Avoid soggy pasta- If you do choose to add noodles of any kind, I do NOT recommend adding either directly to the pot. Rather, add your serving of noodles to your soup bowl, pour the soup over it, and stir to combine.
This will help you avoid soggy noodles or pasta!
Zoodles: If you’re looking for a whole30/paleo/gluten free noodle option I like adding zucchini noodles to this soup, although it’s delicious on it’s own without noodles! Before serving I squeeze the zoodles with a paper towel and trim them with scissors so they’re in smaller pieces.
Storing Asian Chicken Soup
For storing: This soup keeps for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Freezing this soup: This soup freezes very well! I do not recommend freezing or refrigerating it with the noodles as they will get mushy. Freeze in airtight containers and store for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to eat, defrost the night before in the refrigerator. You can also heat in the microwave or on the stove directly from frozen.
We like these containers for freezing soup. We have more tips on how to freeze soup!
Love chicken? If so – here are some of our other favorite healthy chicken recipes!
Other healthy soup recipes:
We love making healthy soups for dinner. They’re an easy, light dinner that everyone loves! We have tons of healthy soup recipes on our site and a free Healthy Soup Ebook here Here are some other healthy soup recipes you may like:
Looking for other healthy crockpot recipes? Check out these Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes!
Asian Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
- 1 cup onion chopped finely
- 2 tablespoons garlic minced about 5 cloves
- 2 cups carrots sliced in small circles
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger ground
- 2 quarts chicken broth unsalted (8 cups)
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 8 oz brown rice ramen noodles
- 2 cups baby bok choy chopped
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
Stovetop Instructions
- In a large soup pot, heat olive oil. Pan sear chicken thighs for 4-5 minutes on each side. Once chicken thighs are cooked – remove from pan and set aside on a plate. You may need to do 2 separate batches because there may not be enough room in the pot.
- Do not drain oil from the pot. Once chicken thighs are cooked, add onion, garlic, carrots and ginger to the pot. Saute until fragrant and onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
- While veggies cook – chop chicken thighs into small pieces.
- Add the cooked chopped chicken back to the pot.
- Add chicken broth, rice wine vinegar, coconut aminos and red pepper flakes.. Stir and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
- In a separate pot cook your noodles per package directions
- When ready to eat, stir in chopped bok choy to the soup pot. Allow it to wilt for 2-3 minutes in the soup.
- Add noodles to your bowl, cover with soup + enjoy!
- Optional: Garnish with sesame seeds, fresh lime juice or cilantro.
Crock Pot Instructions
- In a large soup pot, heat olive oil. Saute onion, garlic, and ginger until fragrant and onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. (Note: This step isn’t necessary, you can add to the crock pot raw but we recommend you don’t for best flavor)
- Add sautéd veggies to the crockpot. Stir in raw carrots.
- Place whole chicken breasts/thighs on top of vegetables in crock pot. Add chicken broth, rice wine vinegar, coconut aminos and red pepper flakes.
- Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.
- When ready to eat, remove chicken from the pot and set aside.
- In a separate pot on the stove, cook your noodles per package directions.
- While noodles cook, chop or shred chicken with two forks or a mixer.
- Stir in shredded chicken and chopped bok choy to crock pot.
- Add noodles to your bowl, cover with soup + enjoy!
- Optional: Garnish with sesame seeds, fresh lime juice or cilantro
Instant Pot Instructions.
- Turn instant pot on Sauté mode for 10 minutes.
- Heat olive oil in the pan and sauté onion, garlic, and ginger until fragrant and onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Once cooked, stir in raw carrots. Make sure to really scrape the bottom of the pot and remove any browned bits to avoid a burn notice.
- Place whole chicken breasts/thighs on top of vegetables in instant pot. Cover with chicken broth, rice wine vinegar, coconut aminos and red pepper flakes.
- Cover instant pot and set to sealing, ‘Soup’ OR Pressure Cook for 13 minutes.
- Allow the soup to come to pressure and cook. It should take about 10 minutes to come to pressure, but can take longer if your broth is cold. (Pro Tip: to speed up cooking time, microwave your broth so that it is warm before adding to the pot. This will reduce the time it takes to come to pressure!)
- Once the soup has cooked, quick release the pressure if you’re in a hurry or allow it to naturally release for about 10 minutes, and then quick release the remaining pressure.
- In a separate pot on the stove, cook your noodles per package directions.
- While noodles cook, remove chicken from the pot and shred chicken with two forks or a mixer.
- Stir in shredded chicken and chopped bok choy to instant pot.
- Add noodles to your bowl, cover with soup + enjoy!
- Optional: Garnish with sesame seeds, fresh lime juice or cilantro
Diana says
The very best chicken soup I have ever made. It first it seemed daunting but now that I made it, I will keep making it and it is actually a quick recipe. I think I will have the chicken cut up into small pieces to speed up the process instead of searing the chicken and then having to cut it up myself. The seasonings offer a perfect blend of taste and health! I love this recipe.
Debbie says
Most delicious soup ever. I love Chinese food and this satisfies my craving. I added a little sesame oil after it was done and some crispy chow mein noodles and I was in heaven. Easy recipe too.
Susan says
So delicious! I skipped the noodles and added shiitake mushrooms. My whole family loved it.
Lynn says
Can one use shirataki noodles?
The Clean Eating Couple says
I’m sure that would work just fine! I wouldn’t cook them in the broth, I’d just add the rinsed noodles to a bowl and add the soup to it.
Ellie says
This soup is so yummy!!! I love noodle soups like this and it was a huge hit at the dinner table!! We also did add a small drop of soy sauce and it gave it a nice touch ☺️
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it, Ellie! Thank you so much!
Jessica says
Another keeper! This was so delish – better than any Asian chicken noodle soup I’ve had out. Flavors were perfectly balanced and I loved the baby bok choy.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thanks, Jessica! I’m so glad you liked it!
Katie says
I made this tonight and we all loved it (including 6 and 4 year old boys!). I made it on the stove and it came together very quickly. I will definitely be making it again!
Amy says
Super tasty! The flavors were perfect together. This recipe will be added to my rotation for sure! My boyfriend even loved it. We modified with adding a bit of sesame seed oil, garnishing with sesame seeds, chopped green onions, and lime. Next time I’ll for sure add more bok Choy and maybe some broccoli. Nothing wrong with how it was, I just love veggies! For those making it for the first time make sure to save the extra noodles separately from the soup. If you leave them in the fridge with it they turn to mush. Tasty mush, I still ate it, but I’ll definitely be modifying my leftover norm with these. Over all great job Liz!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you so much, Amy! Glad you liked it! You totally could add more veggies 🙂 We always serve the noodles separately for all of our soups – helps it stay fresh!
Bridget says
Ok this was so good. I felt like I was coming down with my first cold of the season and I made this and I already feel better. It was so easy and quick. I used regular ramen noodles, but my sister mixed in elbow Mac and loved it. I’ve never tasted a broth quite like this before, it was a perfect filling dinner where you just know you’re eating healthy too and I feel full and light now. Amazing recipe.
Michelle says
Very good!! Every recipe I try of yours is always so tasty😋
I definitely will make this again!!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you, Michelle! So happy you liked it!
Trudi says
I have everything except book choy So I will substitute chopped beed greens This sounds yummy
The Clean Eating Couple says
I’m sure that would work! You could use kale or even spinach too!