Our 17 Warmest, Coziest Noodle Soups for Winter

Bowl of Soto Ayam with wooden spoon, surrounded by limes, sambal, soy sauce and rice on a bamboo matt — Serious Eats / Shri Repp

I never tire of noodle soups. Perhaps that's because there are just so many variations. Just about every culture has at least one defining noodle soup, and I have yet to meet one I don't love. In the summer, I'm drawn to light soups—sometimes cold—with thin, almost-translucent rice noodles. But in the winter, I crave rich, hearty soups with thick noodles and hefty, filling toppings. Below, you'll find an assortment of flavorful noodle soups—including classic chicken noodle, 30-minute chicken pho, and minestrone— guaranteed to warm you from head to toe.

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Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Bean and Pasta Soup)

Daniel Gritzer

This classic Italian soup is best kept simple, so instead of embellishing and improving upon an already-great recipe, we focus on using the best ingredients to take this soup to the next level. The secret is using the highest quality dried beans, and letting them go low and slow.

Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Bean and Pasta Soup)
Homemade Wonton Soup

I like adding tons of vegetables to my soup. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

This isn't quite a noodle soup, but it feels wrong not to include a great wonton soup on this list. Chicken, pork trotters, and ham enrich the broth, and homemade shrimp wontons add tons of texture and a bit of needed richness.

Homemade Wonton Soup
The Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup

Vicky Wasik

Chicken soup is one of those dishes that gets very personal very quickly. So we won't say this is the best chicken noodle soup. But by initially roasting chicken wings and charring onions for the broth and finishing with chopped dill and a squeeze of lemon, we create a deeply flavorful, gold-hued soup that might just be the ultimate chicken noodle soup. We think it is.

The Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken Sotanghon (Filipino Chicken Soup With Glass Noodles)

Serious Eats / Lorena Masso

This isn't your quick weeknight chicken soup—it's a Filipino holiday classic made for celebration. Roasting the chicken bones and searing the meat triggers the Maillard reaction, building a deeper, richer broth. Cooking the soup's components separately—broth, chicken, noodles, and vegetables—keeps their flavors bright and distinct.

Chicken Sotanghon (Filipino Chicken Soup With Glass Noodles)

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Guaydtiaao Moo Nam Sai (Thai Clear Pork Noodle Soup With Pork Meatballs)

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

This Thai soup features pork in three ways: a rich savory clear pork broth, marinated sliced pork, and fish sauce-infused rustic pork meatballs. Cooked noodles are tossed in garlic oil before being transferred into serving bowls to enhance their flavor and the sensation of slurping each oil-slicked noodle.

Guaydtiaao Moo Nam Sai (Thai Clear Pork Noodle Soup With Pork Meatballs)
Quick Kimchi Ramen With Shiitake Mushrooms and Soft-Cooked Egg

Serious Eats / Daniel Gritzer

This super-quick Korean kimchi ramen relies on intensely flavorful ingredients to pack a big punch in a short amount of time. In addition to kimchi, this bowl of ramen gets its flavor from miso, shiitake mushrooms, and soy sauce. The addition of baking soda to a pot of boiling water turns angel hair pasta into springy ramen-like noodles, so you don't even have to go in search of ingredients.

Quick Kimchi Ramen With Shiitake Mushrooms and Soft-Cooked Egg
Guaydtiaao Tom Yam Moo Saap (Tom Yam Noodle Soup With Minced Pork)

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

This spicy, salty, porky, sour Thai noodle soup topped with soft-boiled eggs, pork balls, minced pork, and fried wontons is a hearty one-bowl meal.

Guaydtiaao Tom Yam Moo Saap (Tom Yam Noodle Soup With Minced Pork)
Bún Bò Huê (Vietnamese Spicy Beef Noodle Soup)

Serious Eats / Vy Tran

This spicy, funky, and meaty noodle soup from the city of Hue in the central region of Vietnam is a labor of love to make, but is well worth the effort.

Bún Bò Huê (Vietnamese Spicy Beef Noodle Soup)

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The Best Minestrone Soup

J. Kenji López-Alt

It's almost too easy to push a few cans or cartons of soup into your shopping cart as you head to the checkout lane. But minestrone is one of those soups you should really take the time to make yourself. Our recipe acts as a guide, so you can add all your favorite vegetables at just the right time, so nothing gets too mushy. Consider this a blueprint for the best possible minestrone soup.

The Best Minestrone Soup
Soto Ayam Madura (Indonesian Chicken Noodle Soup)

Serious Eats / Shri Repp

Fragrant with turmeric, coriander, lemongrass, and makrut lime leaves, this noodle soup from Madura, an island off Java's northeastern coast, is typically served with mung bean threads and shredded chicken.

Soto Ayam Madura (Indonesian Chicken Noodle Soup)
Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Cathy Erway

This Taiwanese beef noodle soup is incredibly rich and satisfying. The dark broth—which balances between acidic, sweet, and slightly spicy—is a vessel for thick chewy noodles, fall-apart beef shank, and wilted greens.

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup
Miso Ramen With Crispy Pork and Burnt Garlic-Sesame Oil

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

The best soups are the ones that act as an entire meal in a single bowl. This miso ramen is exactly that. The rich and creamy miso-flavored pork stock is topped with crispy braised pork, a soft-boiled egg, and any other toppings you have on hand.

Miso Ramen With Crispy Pork and Burnt Garlic-Sesame Oil

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Pressure Cooker Chintan Shoyu Ramen

Vicky Wasik

This recipe provides all the building blocks of a perfectly balanced chintan shoyu ramen. Plus, it all comes together in your pressure cooker. The soy sauce–flavored, clear-broth ramen is an ideal base for rich pork belly and homemade, or store-bought, ramen noodles.

Pressure Cooker Chintan Shoyu Ramen
Miso Tori Paitan Ramen (Creamy Chicken Broth Ramen)

Vicky Wasik

This ramen features a creamy, rich chicken paitan broth flavored with a tare, or seasoning, made from a mixture of red miso, soy sauce, sake, dried fish, kelp, and optional fresh red chilies. To round out an already-great bowl of ramen, we add sliced braised pork belly, finely diced white onion, and thin slices of scallion.

Miso Tori Paitan Ramen (Creamy Chicken Broth Ramen)
30-Minute Pressure Cooker Pho Ga

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

Making pho from scratch might sound intimidating, but this pressure cooker version makes it quite easy—and extremely fast. In 30 minutes, you'll have a flavor-packed bowl of pho, complete with tender chicken legs, thin rice noodles, and bright herbs.

30-Minute Pressure Cooker Pho Ga
Khao Soi Gai (Northern Thai Coconut Curry Noodle Soup With Chicken)

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

This Northern Thai khao soi gai perfectly blends rich coconut curry with tender braised chicken and crisp fried noodles. Toasting aromatics for the soup's curry paste will up their flavor and make them easier to pound. Makrut lime zest and fresh turmeric round out this full-bodied, creamy soup.

Khao Soi Gai (Northern Thai Coconut Curry Noodle Soup With Chicken)

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Homemade Shin Cup–Style Spicy Korean Ramyun Beef Noodle Soup

This is an upgraded version of the instant-noodle Shin Cup, with a beefed up short rib broth and toppings including mushrooms, scallions, kimchi, and a soft boiled egg. We promise, it's worth the extra effort. Get the recipe » [Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

This Korean beef noodle soup is our nod to a much-loved spicy beef instant noodle. The rich bowl of soup gets its depth from short ribs, sea kelp, Korean chili paste, and kimchi. This isn't a quick soup, but when you have a slow and leisurely evening, it's more than worth your time.

Homemade Shin Cup–Style Spicy Korean Ramyun Beef Noodle Soup

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Our 17 Warmest, Coziest Noodle Soups for Winter

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