This easy and quick Chinese Cabbage Soup is a nutritious dish on the dinner table in 20 minutes (unlike other Asian soups which typically take forever to cook!) Moreover, you can get the ingredients at your regular store without having to go to the Asian market (just substitute the goji berries with carrots.) I also show you how to make a light version for a family dinner in summer and a heartier one for winter.
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⭐ Why This Recipe is a Star
- Quick & easy: Chinese Cabbage Soup (紹菜汤/大白菜汤 Da Bai Gai Tang) is a simple soup that can be made with easily available ingredients that you can get at your regular grocery store. If you have chicken or pork stock, it's done in 20 minutes (if not, you'll need about 45 minutes to simmer the pork or chicken bones.) Like egg drop soup, it's perfect for busy weeknights!
- Nutritious: Napa Cabbage is high in fibre, vitamins and minerals. As it is naturally sweet, you do not need to add any sweetener to the Chinese soup, making it healthier for you.
- Inexpensive: And the ingredients don't cost a lot too! Another budget-friendly soup is this Chinese ABC Soup!
🥘 Ingredients
You'll only need a few simple ingredients that are readily available at mainstream grocery stores:
- Napa cabbage: known as Wombok, Wong Bok Cabbage, Siu Choy, 黄芽白, or Da Ba Cai in Chinese, this is a delicious veggie that's great for those on budgets. (As it's huge and can be used in many Chinese recipes.)
- Broth: For a lighter meal in summer, use chicken stock. You can use homemade, shopbought, or stock cubes. (I've tested the recipe with 1 bouillon cube dissolved in 1 litre of water and it works. If using shop bought stock, I recommend not seasoning till the end as these are usually loaded with salt (so extra sodium may not be necessary.)) For a more warming soup in fall or winter, use pork stock which is more gelatinous. You can even mix pork and chicken stock for more flavor.
- Fresh ginger: reduces any "gaminess" from the meat stock
- Woflberries: This adds a natural sweetness to the soup. Rinse and soak in cold water for 5-10 minutes. Substitute with carrots if you don't have wolf berries. (You'll need to simmer the soup for slightly longer if using carrots, to soften them- about 15 minutes.)
- Optional, dried shrimp: Don't worry if you don't have this- as mentioned above, the soup can be made using just regular ingredients- but adding dried shrimp to the soup helps to give it more umami and depth of flavor. Rinse and soak in hot water for about 30 minutes before cooking.
- Optional, white pepper: add a pinch of white pepper (it's very strong), and the taste will take you right back to your childhood! But it's totally OK to skip this ingredient too.
📖 Variations & Substitutes
The recipe above focuses on the sweet cabbage flavor but this comforting soup is very flexible. You can add many other ingredients such as:
- Other veg: Corn, daikon radish, shimeji mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, potatoes, onions etc
- Dried Seafood: Dried Kelp, Dried Scallops etc
- Meat: leftover chicken or roast turkey meat can be added towards the end of the boiling. Just simmer them long enough to heat through completely. You can even use ground beef if you wish. If adding meat, you can add a touch of Shaoxing wine to complement the flavor.
- Asian cabbage and pork soup: After adding the stock to the cabbage, add Chinese pork meatballs as well, boil till they're cooked, then serve. If your porkballs are pre-seasoned, you may not need salt in the recipe.
- Chinese Cabbage Tofu Soup 白菜豆腐汤: Add firm tofu blocks to the pot and simmer for about 5-10 minutes with the cabbage.
🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions
Note: This soup can be made with ready chicken broth/ pork stock OR with pork ribs, whole chicken, chicken thighs or pork bones. If making the soup from scratch with the ribs and bones, the soup will take longer to cook as we need to draw the flavor out. (Skip to the section below.)
With pre-made chicken or pork broth
1. Over high heat, in a large pot, heat oil till shimmering then stir-fry ginger and (if using) dried shrimps till fragrant.
Note: there will be OIL SPLATTER so be careful and make sure your shrimp is as dry as possible. If you're not confident of your stir-frying skills, you can give them a quick stir over medium heat instead.
2. Add the sliced Napa cabbage to the pot. Do not stir for about 1 minute. We want to allow the leaves and ginger to char a bit for more flavor. (They should char in a few spots but not turn completely black!)
Note: everyone's fire is different so if your veg is burning after less than 1 minute, lower the heat and quickly stir it!
3a. Pour in the stock carefully (liquid + oil = sizzle) and bring to the boil on medium-high heat. If using carrots, add them now too.
3b. Once boiling, lower the heat to medium and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes. (Don't overcook the Napa cabbage to preserve its nutrients.)
4a. 5 minutes before you want to turn off the fire, add the wolfberries and soaking water to the pot, simmer for 5 minutes.
4b. Season to taste with salt and white pepper (if using) then serve and enjoy.
Making the stock from scratch using meat and/ or bones
- Blanch the meat/ bones by covering the bones in cold water then bringing to the boil and simmering for about 5 minutes. This is necessary for pork which produces a ton of scum. (If in a hurry, you can skip it for chicken and just skim off the dirt produced during cooking with an oil strainer.)
- Wash the blanched meat and bones, put in a new pot or Dutch oven, add enough water to cover then simmer for at least 60 minutes. (The longer, the more flavorful the stock will be once seasoned. The best soups are made with stock that has been cooked for hours!)
- Once the stock is ready, you can use them to make the soup!
🥡 How to Store
Store in the fridge for 2-3 days in an airtight container. Bring to a rolling boil when re-heating.
Freezing
Can be frozen in an airtight container for 1 month but the texture of the cabbage will suffer.
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
Tip #1: Using chicken stock makes for a much lighter soup. To get the traditional Chinese soup mouthfeel, fry the ginger in pork lard or chicken fat. This will also give the soup more flavor
Tip #2: To make a meal in one pot, add glass noodles to the soup. (I prefer them to rice noodles for this recipe as they won't release starch into the soup.)
💭 Recipe FAQs
You can but the taste will be different. Chinese Cabbage has a distinctive sweetness that is delicious and very unlike regular cabbage. If you use regular cabbage, you'll just be making chicken soup with cabbage (or pork soup with cabbage, depending on what type of stock you use.)
Chinese Cabbage, or Napa cabbage, is only 20 calories a cup. It is also full of B vitamins such as Vitamin B6, Vitamin B9, Riboflavin, Pantothenic acid, Thiamin, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, iron etc.
🥗 Suggested Accompanying Recipes
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Easy Chinese Cabbage Soup Recipe (20 minutes)
Equipment
- Large pot/ Dutch oven with heatproof spatula You will need 2 pots if making your own meat stock
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil Or to taste I don't recommend olive oil if you want authentic Chinese flavor. If you have lard, use it and your taste buds will thank you.
- 5 slices fresh ginger Do not use ginger powder! Wash and dry (or the oil will fly later!)but don't worry about peeking if lazy
- 1-2 Tablespoons dried shrimp Optional. washed and soaked for 30 minutes.
- ⅛ Napa Cabbage This doesn't sound like much but these cabbages are huge! Alternatively, make it 1-2 Cups of washed & chopped cabbage. You can cut them small as shown in my photos above, or slice into larger pieces (more chewing.)
- 1 litre Chicken Stock/ Pork Stock Chicken Stock for lighter flavor. Pork Stock for more savory and flavorful soup. I prefer chicken in summer and pork in colder weather. Can be made with 1 stock cube dissolved in 1 litre of water.
- 1-2 Tablespoons wolfberries Substitute: 1 carrot cut into rounds
- ¼-½ teaspoon ground white pepper optional. Go slow and taste as you go because the flavor is strong!
- Salt to taste. I don't add any if using bouillon cube.
Instructions
Making the Soup with ready-made stock (See section below on how to make your own stock)
- Over high heat, in a large pot, heat oil till shimmering then stir-fry ginger and (if using) dried shrimps till fragrant. Note: there will be OIL SPLATTER so be careful and make sure your shrimp is as dry as possible. If you're not confident of your stir-frying skills, you can give them a quick stir over medium heat instead.
- Add the sliced Napa cabbage to the pot. Do not stir for about 1 minute. We want to allow the leaves and ginger to char a bit for more flavor. (They should char in a few spots but not turn completely black!)Note: everyone's fire is different so if your veg is burning after less than 1 minute, lower the heat and quickly stir it!
- Pour in the stock carefully (liquid + oil = sizzle) and bring to the boil on medium-high heat. If using carrots, add them now too.
- Once boiling, lower the heat to medium and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes. (Don't overcook the Napa cabbage to preserve its nutrients.)
- 5 minutes before you want to turn off the fire, add the wolfberries and soaking water to the pot, simmer for 5 minutes.
- Season to taste with salt and white pepper (if using) then serve and enjoy.
Making Chicken of Pork Stock
- Blanch the meat/ bones by covering the bones in cold water then bringing to the boil and simmering for about 5 minutes. This is necessary for pork which produces a ton of scum. (If in a hurry, you can skip it for chicken and just skim off the dirt produced during cooking with an oil strainer.)
- Wash the blanched meat and bones, put in a new pot or Dutch oven, add enough water to cover then simmer for at least 60 minutes. (The longer, the more flavorful the stock will be once seasoned.
- The best soups are made with stock that has been cooked for hours!)
- Once the stock is ready, you can use them to make the soup!
Notes
Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.
Nutrition
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