Slow cooker beef and bok choy noodle soup

6
Points®
Total Time
6 hr 10 min
Prep
10 min
Cook
6 hr
Serves
6
Difficulty
Easy
Here’s a gingery, Asian-inspired soup that’s great on a chilly night. Toss together your ingredients in a short 10 minutes and let the slow cooker do the rest. The rich beef becomes tender and takes on the varied flavors of the star anise, cinnamon and soy (which together mimic five spice), while the mushrooms are rehydrated, sharing a lot of great umami in the sauce. The final product is a hearty noodle-bowl full of crunch and unctuous flavor. Try this for a weeknight dinner by cooking while you are away and adding the bok choy to finish while you prepare the noodles.

Ingredients

Uncooked lean trimmed sirloin beef

1½ pound(s), cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Less sodium soy sauce

¼ cup(s)

Mirin

4 fl oz

Minced ginger

2 Tbsp

Fat-free reduced sodium chicken broth

6 cup(s)

Scallions

3 medium

Dried shiitake mushroom

¼ oz

Star anise

2 tsp, use two pods

Cinnamon stick

1 item(s)

Uncooked bok choy

1 pound(s), leaves separated and washed, the larger leaves torn

Packaged rice noodles

4 oz

Instructions

  1. Mix the beef, soy sauce, mirin, and ginger in a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker. Stir well to coat the meat. Add the broth, scallions, dried mushrooms, star anise pods, and cinnamon stick. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6 hours.
  2. Discard the star anise pods and cinnamon stick. Stir in the bok choy. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, soak the rice noodles in a large bowl of very hot tap water for 30 minutes.
  4. Drain the noodles; divide among six serving bowls. Ladle the soup over the noodles and let stand for 2 minutes to continue to soften the noodles before serving.
  5. Serving size: 1 2/3 cups soup and 1/3 cup noodles.