Japanese Glass Noodle Soup (Harusame Soup)

Japanese Glass Noodle Soup is one of the quick and easy glass noodle recipes. Chicken tenderloin, vegetables, and glass noodles (also called bean vermicelli) are cooked in a Chinese-style chicken broth. It is a simple and comforting clear soup – a perfect soup on a cold day.

Japanese glass noodles/bean vermicelli is called ‘harusame’ (春雨), which means spring rain. I documented more details about harusame as well as Chinese bean vermicelli in my post, Japanese Vermichelli Salad (Harusame Salad).

Harusame is low in calories, fat, and carbohydrates compared to other noodles such as rice vermicelli and udon noodles. It is also low in GI, which helps with weight loss. The sticky texture of the harusame makes this soup surprisingly filling.

If the soup contains glass noodles, Japanese people call it harusame soup generically. But the ingredient combinations and the types of soup can vary a lot, and the words representing other key ingredients are added to the name of the soup to clarify what kind of harusame soup it is.

So the Japanese name for today’s Glass Noodle Soup with chicken and vegetables is called ‘toriniku to yasai no harusame sūpu’ (鶏肉と野菜の春雨スープ), which translates to chicken (‘toriniku’, 鶏肉) and (‘to’ – pronounce /to/ not /tu:/, と) vegetables (‘yasai’, 野菜) of/with (‘no’, の) glass noodle (‘harusame’, 春雨) soup (‘sūpu’, スープ).

You can also add beaten eggs to the broth instead of using meat. Wakame seaweed and tofu are great in Harusame Soup too.

What’s in My Japanese Glass Noodle Soup (Harusame Soup)

Today’s soup is made from the broth that you get when you cook chicken tenderloins as a base. Then I added Chinese chicken broth powder.

• Chicken tenderloins
• Salt
• Sugar
• Water
• Cooking sake

Vegetables

I used carrot, shiitake mushrooms, and snow peas, but the vegetables that go into the soup can be almost anything that goes well with the chicken broth.

• Carrot, cut into 3cm/1⅛” long, 3mm/⅛” wide buttons.
• Shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced.
• Snow peas, ends removed.
• Bean vermicelli, soaked in hot water for 30 seconds, then rinsed in cold water.

Flavouring

• Chinese chicken broth powder
• Light soy sauce
• White pepper
• Salt
• Sesame oil

Chinese chicken broth is different from the Western-style chicken stock, because it does not contain vegetables and spices. You can find a few brands of chicken broth powder like the photos below. Knorr and Lee Kum Kee brands are available in supermarkets, while the Japanese chicken powder is available at Japanese grocery stores and some Asian stores.

From left: Knorr chicken powder, Lee Kum Kee brand chicken broth powder, Sōmi brand Japanese chicken broth powder.

How to Make Japanese Glass Noodle Soup (Harusame Soup)

1. Rub salt and sugar into the chicken tenderloins and leave them for 15 minutes. Pat dry.
2. Cook the chicken tenderloins in the boiling water for a couple of minutes. Take the chicken pieces out and shred them. Keep the broth.
3. Add carrot, shiitake mushrooms, and the Flavouring ingredients, excluding sesame oil, to the broth and bring to a boil. Cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Add chicken, snow peas, and vermicelli to the pot and cook further 30 seconds.
5. Dribble sesame oil into the soup.

Rubbing the chicken with salt and sugar makes the chicken moist, and at the same time removes the chicken smell.

Today’s Harusame Soup is a low-calorie soup using low-calorie chicken meat and low-calorie noodles, yet it is quite filling because of the glass noodles. It is simple and fast to cook involving only about 5 minutes of cooking time. You spend the most time curing the meat at the beginning.

Enjoy the healthy Harusame Soup!

Yumiko

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Japanese Glass Noodle Soup (Harusame Soup)

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

5 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

My Japanese Glass Noodle Soup is made of chicken tenderloin, vegetables, glass noodles (also called bean vermicelli), and Chinese-style chicken broth. Glass noodles are called ‘harusame’ (春雨) in Japanese. It is a simple and comforting clear soup, which is great to have on a cold day.

Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.

Recipe Type: Soup

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: chicken noodle soup, chicken vegetable soup, glass noodle recipe, harusame recipe

Serves: 2

Author: Yumiko

Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)

• 2 chicken tenderloins (about 125g/4.4oz, note 1)
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp sugar
• 500ml water
• 1 tbsp cooking sake

Vegetables (note 2)

• 30g/1.1oz carrot cut into 3cm/1⅛" long, 3mm/⅛" wide buttons
• 30g/1.1oz shiitake mushrooms thinly sliced
• 30g/1.1oz snow peas ends removed, diagonally halved (note 3)
• 15g/0.5oz bean vermicelli (before soaking, note 4)

Flavouring

• 1 tsp Chinese chicken broth powder (note 5)
• 1 tsp light soy sauce (note 6)
• A pinch of white pepper
• A pinch of salt (if needed)
• ½ tsp sesame oil

Instructions

1. Remove the tendon from each chicken tenderloin. See the post, Marinated Chicken Tenderloin, which shows you how to remove the tendon.

2. Rub the tenderloins with salt and sugar thoroughly and leave them for 15 minutes. Pat dry.

3. Soak the vermicelli in a bowl of hot water for 30 seconds. Drain into the sieve and rinse them under running water to quickly cool them down.

4. Add water and cooking sake to the pot and bring it to a boil.

5. Add the chicken tenderloins to the pot and reduce the heat to medium.

6. Cook for 2 minutes, during which remove scum if it arises.

7. Turn off the heat and put the chicken pieces on a plate/bowl (keep the broth). Cover the plate/bowl so that the surface of the chicken does not dry.

8. When the chicken pieces cool down slightly, shred them by hand into thin small pieces.
9. Add carrot, shiitake, chicken stock powder, light soy sauce, and pepper to the broth in the pot (note 7) and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for a couple of minutes until the vegetables are nearly cooked.

10. Add snow peas, vermicelli, and shredded chicken to the pot, and cook for 30 seconds or so.

11. Taste test and add salt if required. Add sesame oil to the pot and turn the heat off.

12. Serve while hot.

Recipe Notes

1. I used chicken tenderloin, but chicken breast is OK too. You could use chicken thigh, but I think the leaner meat suits today’s soup better.

2. You can vary the combination and quantity of vegetables. Other vegetables that suit the soup include (but not limited to) cabbage, zucchini, beans, Chinese greens, lettuce, Asian mushrooms, and green onions.

3. If you can, remove the tough string along both sides of the pod. If you gently break the end and pull it down along the pod, the string will come off. If the string breaks half way or you cannot take it off, don’t worry.

If your snow peas are small, you don't have to halve them.

4. Vermicelli is called ‘harusame’ (春雨) in Japanese. Harusame is made from either mung bean starch, potato starch or combination of those starches. I like harusame as it is semi-transparent.

Bean vermicelli sold at Asian grocery shops and supermarkets is very close to harusame. If you prefer, you can also use rice vermicelli as an alternative.

5. I used Knorr chicken powder, but you can use other stock powder or chicken broth powder/paste such as Lee Kum Kee brand chicken bouillon stock powder. See the sample photo in the post.

6. If you don’t have light soy sauce, you can use normal soy sauce, but the colour of the soup becomes slightly darker.

7. If there are a lot of scum and/or tiny coagulated chicken protein bits are in the broth, you may want to put the broth through a sieve to remove them before adding other ingredients to the broth.

8. Nutrition per serving. 

serving: 381g calories: 145kcal fat: 3.1g (4%) saturated fat: 0.6g (3%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 0.8g monounsaturated fat: 0.9g cholesterol: 46mg (15%) sodium: 884mg (38%) carbohydrates: 10g (4%) dietary fibre: 1.5g (5%) sugar: 2.4g protein: 16g vitamin D: 0mcg (0%) calcium: 26mg (2%) iron: 1.0mg (5%) potassium: 365mg (8%)