5 Best Beef For Noodle Soups: Which Beef Cut Is Best For Noodle Soups?

While there are plenty of ingredients that go into a bowl of noodle soup, it is the beef that really makes or breaks your meal.

Knowing what kind of beef to use can make all the difference between being satisfied with your meal and being disappointed.

Keep reading to find out more about different kinds of beef you can use for your next batch of soup!

How to choose beef for noodle soups?

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Beef noodle soups are a common dish in Asian cuisine that features noodles cooked in a meat broth and served with meat slices and vegetables.

Since in a beef noodle soup, beef is the main ingredient that will decide if you have a delicious dish or not, you should know how to choose the right beef for this recipe.

Here are our tips that can help you shop for the best cut of beef for noodle soups effortlessly.

1.     Buy a fresh cut of beef instead of frozen or stale beef

The beef you choose for your noodle soup will not only affect the quality of the meat but also the broth.

Therefore, make sure that the beef cut is fresh and of high quality instead of being stale with an unpleasant smell.

Frozen beef can be used as the last resort, but it should be properly stored and thawed to ensure the deliciousness of your noodle soup.

2.     Look for a lean or well-marbled cut of beef

Another tip to choosing beef for noodle soups is that a lean or well-marbled cut of beef will work better than a fatty cut with a lot of fat on the edges.

So when shopping for beef to make noodle soups, make sure to find a lean cut like a loin or tenderloin, or a cut that has a sufficient amount of marbling fat like chuck roast or skirt steak.

3.     Use beef bones for a rich broth without breaking the bank

Beef is typically served in slices of meat with noodles in a soup, but to make a delicious and rich soup without breaking your budget, you should opt for beef bones.

Beef bones are economical and very flavorful.

They produce a lot of flavors as well as the texture for your soup.

Therefore, when shopping for beef meat, don’t forget to ask the butcher if they have some best beef bones for you to make an outstanding soup.

5 best beef for noodle soups

Here are the five best beef cuts that are ideal for making noodle soups:

1.     Flank steak

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Flank steak is perfect to be served thinly sliced.

Therefore, this cut is commonly used in noodle soup recipes.

Flank steak is not famous for its tenderness, but for its strong flavor instead.

However, when sliced into thin pieces and quickly cooked, you can have a tender and juicy dish. 

2.     Skirt steak

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You can also use skirt steak in place of flank steak for noodle soups.

Skirt steak is also a flavorful cut that is relatively lean.

It should be thinly sliced and blanched in a hot beef broth before serving with noodles.

Skirt steak is one of the most affordable cuts of beef, making it a favorite of many households.

3.     Chuck roast

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A more affordable cut of beef that is often used in slow-cooking recipes, but can also be a good candidate for noodle soups is chuck roast.

In this case, you should have chunks of chuck roasts being stewed so that the resulting broth is used to ladle noodles, while the meat is served together with noodles in a bowl.

The meat, after being cooked for hours, is tender and can even melt in your mouth.

4.     Beef shank

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Another tough cut that can be used for beef noodle soups is the shank cut.

The beef shank should be cooked for hours so that the flavors and collagen will be released to create rich broth and tender pieces of meat.

5.     Beef tenderloin

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Last but not least, one of the top-quality cuts of beef that can be used for noodle soups is the beef tenderloin.

This desirable cut is perfect for thinly sliced and quickly submerged in a hot broth then served with noodles.

Since this cut is quite expensive, you should use beef bones to make broth instead of buying a large cut of beef tender for making the soup.

The bottom line

To have the best beef noodle soup, you should have a good cut of beef that has a tender texture like beef tenderloin or flank steak.

You can also opt for a more economical cut with a tough texture like beef shank or chuck roast so that the noodle soup can be served with chunks of stewed meat.

A delicious pot of beef noodle soup takes time, so just refer to our aforementioned tips to choose the best beef for your dish before starting cooking it.

Hope you will master this Asian delicacy after reading our post!