This super-savory dish draws its inspiration from Taiwanese beef noodle soup, then gilds the lily with a Dutch oven’s worth of sweet, slow-simmered onions—the best part of French onion soup, if you ask this recipe’s developer, Amiel Stanek. It takes some doing, but the effort is worth it. If you’re not planning on serving a crowd, the leftover soup base freezes beautifully, meaning you can have a big-flavor weeknight dinner in your back pocket.
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What you’ll need
Dutch Oven
$133 $80 At Amazon
Sun Ramen Noodles
$5 At Instacart
Mesh Sieve
$13 At Amazon
Tongs
$21 At Amazon
Recipe information
Yield
6-8 Servings
Ingredients
2
3
6
8
1
6
2
8
2
2
1
½
3
5
2
30
Preparation
Step 1
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium-high. Season short ribs with salt and, working in batches, cook, turning occasionally, until well browned on all sides, 12–14 minutes. Transfer to a platter as you go. Carefully pour off fat left behind in pot until there is just enough to cover bottom of pot; discard.
Step 2
Return pot to medium heat. Cook whole white scallion parts, garlic, and ginger, stirring occasionally, until they are starting to brown, about 4 minutes. Add star anise, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, and coriander seeds and cook, stirring often, until fragrant and oil is sizzling, about 1 minute. Add wine, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pot with a wooden spoon. Simmer until almost completely evaporated, about 3 minutes. Return beef to pot and add soy sauce and 12 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover partially with a lid. Simmer until meat is not quite falling off the bone, about 1½ hours.
Step 3
Meanwhile, heat butter in another large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high until foaming subsides. Add onions, season with salt, and cook, stirring often, until they begin to take on some color, about 15 minutes. (If they don’t fit in your pot, add as much as you can, cover, and steam 5 minutes. Stir in remaining onions and continue cooking.) Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are deep golden and softened but not mushy, 30–45 minutes.
Step 4
Using tongs, remove beef from broth and let cool until you can handle. Tear meat into bite-size pieces, discarding any bone and excess fat as you go. Strain broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl; discard solids.
Step 5
Add meat and broth to pot with onions. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer until liquid is reduced a bit and flavors have melded, about 30 minutes. Add vinegar; taste and add more vinegar and/or soy sauce if needed.
Step 6
Thinly slice remaining scallion greens. Cook noodles according to package directions. Divide among bowls. Ladle soup over noodles, making sure each bowl gets some meat and plenty of onions. Top with scallion greens and serve.
Leave a Review
Reviews (168)
Back to Top5 stars for flavor! Maybe 3.5 stars for cost and time. But sometimes great things take time and cost more. Just not a lot of meat for the cost of the short ribs! Made exactly as the recipe was written except for doing the broth the day before, as others suggested and used dried udon noodles because that's what I had. Getting all that extra fat out of the broth was so easy letting it chill overnight and that way the flavors had more time to meld. This was 2 dinners for our family of three. Everyone agreed its a "do again" but I may experiment with a combination of beef shank and chuck roast to make the price a bit more wallet friendly. Oh, and even if you aren't an anise fan, like me, don't worry - it doesn't stand out too much, even though that's all I could smell while the broth was cooking.
LBinTX
Texas
2/11/2024
Delicious soup! Husband said this was one of the best soups he had ever had. I used bison and beef tallow instead of vegetable oil (just cause it needed to be used up), as well as extra garlic and green onion. I would strongly recommend making the broth a day ahead and chilling just to make removing fat easier. And there will be lots of good fat to save. Customizable and scrumptious recipe, 9/10.
Samantha
Columbus, Ohio
1/22/2024
Just made this and I have to say I’m disappointed. I followed the recipe to a tee except my onions took an hour and a half to caramelize. I thought with all the aromatics and the time it took to make it would be a rich delicious broth but it fell very flat. I wanted to honor the original recipe but in hindsight I should have used beef stock instead of water.
Tom S
Philadelphia
1/21/2024
Read directions and reviews first. Made the short ribs and broth in pressure cooker yesterday. Strained and cooled. Skimmed fat, caramelized onions, and finished soup today. Followed the recipe to a T using fresh ramen noodles. Served with chili garlic sauce, green onions, and a lime wedge. Deliciousness and comfort in a bowl!!! Will definitely make again! 🍲
Susan Kay
Spring Green, WI
1/20/2024
This is ridiculous. This is all I'm going to eat till I finish the pot, and then I'm going to make it again. My house smells so good, I should charge people to come in and inhale. Ridiculous.
Yael
Callicoon, NY
10/15/2023
I’ve made this multiple times and keep coming back! It’s a nice project dish. I agree with the recommendation to make over two days so that you can skim the fat off the final broth. It’s lovely and extra beefy if you substitute some homemade beef stock for the water. (I had a freezer of steak bones leftover from grilling season, so started the stockpot a few hours before the soup.) This latest batch I used two nice quality beef shanks instead of the short ribs. Worked great and saved me $10+ on ingredients but you want to allow more hours of simmering so that it’s easy to shred the meat.
Jess B
Chicago
12/29/2022
This recipe is delicious. I did make a few changes that were suggested in other reviews. I do recommend what others are saying about making it over two days - it really does give the flavors of the broth time to come together. Plus you can skim the fat off of the top of the broth on day two. I cut the recipe in half because there are only two of us - it was still a ton of food. I did use beef broth instead of water and red wine instead of white.
Ellen
Brooklyn, NY
12/18/2022