Skip to main content

Cold-Busting Ginger Chicken Noodle Soup

"A spicy addition to a classic soup. I normally make this with a whole chicken and let it cook for an hour, remove the meat, and return the bones for another hour on their own, chicken breasts are used here for simplicity."

Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Chicken and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,493 recipes mention both. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

The recipe

8 servings
Prep30 min
Cook1 hr 15 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion, celery, carrots and kohlrabi and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring, until softened.

  2. Add the crushed garlic cloves, then the chicken breasts, water, white wine, lemon juice, sliced ginger, peppercorns, bouillon cubes, bay leaves, sugar, rosemary and thyme. Bring to a boil.

  3. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for about 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken reaches 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part.

  4. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let it rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, remove and discard the bay leaves and ginger slices from the pot.

  5. Shred the chicken with two forks, discarding any skin or bone, and return the meat to the pot.

  6. Stir in the egg noodles, minced garlic and grated ginger. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, until the noodles are tender.

  7. Stir in the salt and chopped parsley. Taste and add more salt if needed, then serve hot.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Chicken + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together23,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Lemon + gingertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Chicken + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together10,839 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, chicken, onion, garlic, white wine, ginger, sugar):

  1. Lemonthe original
  2. Mangoabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Grapeabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, chicken, onion, garlic, white wine, ginger, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).