The Best Noodle Soup Is All About Timing

When it comes to soup, many tend to think of pasta and rice as mere bulking ingredients, but they actually play an important textural role. It’s all about timing. Add noodles too early, and they might bloat beyond your liking. Add to late and they're underdone. But time it just right, and you can achieve a silky broth and perfectly cooked pasta. Instead of trying to guess your way into an optimal soup, add pasta and rice mindfully to make your dish better. Here’s how we do it.

Thicker broths and hearty soups

Pasta and rice absorb water and soften when they’re cooked directly in soups. As they absorb water, some of their starches leach out into the broth. This is nothing to worry about, as it actually lends viscosity and body to the liquid. It’s the same reason you use starchy pasta water to make luscious pasta sauces, like with Cacio e Pepe or our Skillet Spaghetti alla Carbonara. In these instances, the starches help bind and emulsify. The results may not always be that dramatic, but the extra starch in soup broth really can noticeably alter viscosity.

You can see this effect in action in a number of our soups, including our Greek-inspired Fish Soup with Rice and Lemon; this comforting, stew-like Syrian-style Meatball Soup with Rice and Tomatoes; and our Hand-torn Noodle Soup with Chicken and Vegetables. The rice or noodles are cooked directly in the soup, but at different times depending on the particular recipe.

If you’re interested in even thicker, porridge-like soups, use less water, and add the raw pasta or rice a couple minutes earlier, while the soup is still cooking. This extra time will lead to more liquid absorption and pudgier noodles. You can take full advantage of rice's available starch by leaving it unrinsed.

This direct-cooking method is easy, and feels more casual than cooking your noodles separately. It also minimizes your clean-up, which is never be a bad thing. But don’t start dumping in pasta in with your mire poix, unless you really mean it. You have to be mindful of how early you’re adding the starchy ingredient, so that you don’t overcook it before the rest of the soup is finished. As far as aesthetics are concerned, keep in mind that the extra starch will also give the broth a cloudy, murky look.

Clear broths and a “toothy” texture

For soups that need a little textural integrity (or “tooth”) in their starches, cook the pasta and rice separately, then combine them just before serving. This will result in a clear broth, and you’ll have more control over the texture of your starchy ingredient. Want firmer noodles and silky broth? With pasta, you can even reclaim some of that starchy water if you want to. After cooking the pasta in a separate pot, reserve the starchy water for the broth.

Perfectly cooked noodles or rice are simple with this method. Bring a separate pot of water to boil while the larger soup pot is cooking away. Cook the noodle according to the package directions or the recipe you’re using. Try our Chicken Noodle Soup with Turmeric and Coconut Milk, Yunnanese-Style Pork and Rice Noodle Soup, or this satisfying Soba Noodle Soup with Chicken and Watercress. The noodles or rice can be divided among soup bowls, with the soup poured over the top.

Yes, this method does mean you have another pot to clean, but if you can’t stand bloated, broken noodles and rice, it’s more than worth the effort. Additionally, leftovers can be saved and reheated without turning into sludge. Pack the starchy ingredients and soup into separate containers, refrigerate them, and when you’re ready to eat, just combine the two parts before reheating.

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Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Allie Chantorn Reinmann is a Digital Staff Writer for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street. She’s a Thai-American chef who earned her diploma for Pastry and Baking Arts at The Institute of Culinary Education and worked professionally for over a decade honing her craft in New York City at places like Balthazar, Bien Cuit, The Chocolate Room, Billy’s Bakery and Whole Foods. Allie took her know-how from the kitchen to the internet, writing about food full-time at Lifehacker for three years and starting her own YouTube channel, ThaiNYbites. You can find her whipping up baked goods for cafés around Brooklyn, building wedding cakes and trying her hand (feet?) at marathon running. She’s working on her debut cookbook and lives in Brooklyn, NY.