Uyghur Lagman Chicken Noodle Soup

A healthy hearty meat and vegetable noodle soup you can make in under 30 min.

Having one of those weeknights again you come home late from work craving a warm and soupy dish to make your day? This Uyghur style chicken noodle soup is super easy to make with little effort and maximum flavor! Best of all it’s a complete meal, you got your meat, veggies, and carbs swimming in a rich and savory tomato based broth that tastes like it’s been simmering for hours.

The first time I had this dish was in a Uyghur restaurant in San Diego and I was blown away by how incredibly tasty and fragrant this meat noodle soup was. If you are not familiar with Uyghur cuisine it’s from the Xinjiang region of Western China and is mainly Halal due to the large Muslim population there. They are known for meat dishes such as lamb, kebabs, beef, and mutton as well as their use of tomatoes, onions, carrots, and peppers in their food.

The noodle bowl I had was made with beef and had bits of peppers, carrots, onions, chopped green beans, garlic, and tomatoes. To my surprise, I later learned there are many variations of this dish with others made of lamb or chicken instead of beef in addition to other vegetables you can throw in so there’s really no set rule. The key things you don’t want to miss are the tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions as those make the base flavor of the soup.

This recipe is really great if you have bunch of leftovers lying around in the fridge. In this chicken version, I included the key basic ingredients to create a simple Ughyur Lagman noodle soup but feel free to toss in any other veggies if you like or switch up the meat if you have beef or feeling fancy and got some leftover lamb! The key to bringing out all the flavors quickly is to stir fry all your ingredients first before adding the water to make the broth. Remember, caramelization = flavor so make sure to cook the meat and the vegetables to this state before you start the simmering stage.

Alrighty, give this recipe a go the next time you’re out of dinner ideas or if you need to clean out a bunch of leftovers in your fridge! Let loose, get creative, and share your variations of Uyghur Lagman Noodle Soup in the comments below.

Uyghur Lagman Chicken Noodle Soup

Prep time: 5 min     
Cook time: 25 h   
Total time: 30 min   
Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped chicken
• 1 onion chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
• 1 small red bell pepper diced
• 1 carrot diced
• 2 tomatoes diced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 star anise
• 6 cups water
• 3 tbsp oil
• salt to taste
• 4 portions of wheat noodles
• 1 green onion chopped

Instructions

1. Heat a deep pot to medium high heat and cook the diced chicken with oil for 2-3 min.
2. Add in the carrots, onions, garlic, and red bell pepper and continue to cook for another 5 min until softened and slightly brown.
3. Mix in the tomatoes, tomato paste, paprika, and star anise. Fill the pot with water until just covering the ingredients and bring to a boil.
4. Simmer on low heat for 15- 20 min until and season with salt.
5. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the wheat noodles for 4 min until just cooked.
6. Drain noodles and place into a bowl. Ladle the soup over the noodles and garnish with green onions and a dash of dried chili pepper. Serve hot and enjoy!