Why You’ll Love This Asian Chicken and Cabbage Soup

• It’s the ultimate comfort food that feels light. Unlike heavier, cream-based soups, this one relies on a deeply flavoured broth that won’t weigh you down. It’s the perfect meal for when you want something warm and cosy but still want to feel energised afterwards.
• The aroma is pure therapy. The moment the ginger and garlic hit the hot pot, your kitchen will be filled with the most incredible, inviting scent. It’s a sensory experience that begins long before the first spoonful.
• It’s incredibly versatile and forgiving. Don’t have savoy cabbage? Use napa. Want more heat? Add another chilli. This recipe is a fantastic template that welcomes improvisation based on what you have in your fridge.
• It’s a true one-pot wonder. From building the flavour base to cooking the chicken and wilting the cabbage, everything happens in one single pot. That means maximum flavour with minimal washing up—a win in anyone’s book.

Ingredients & Tools

• 1 tbsp neutral oil (like avocado or grapeseed)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 red chilli, thinly sliced (deseed for less heat)
• 1.5 litres good-quality chicken stock
• 3 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari for gluten-free)
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 500 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• ½ a large savoy cabbage, core removed and thinly sliced
• 4 spring onions, thinly sliced
• Small bunch fresh coriander, chopped
• 1 lime, cut into wedges for serving

Tools: A large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, a sharp knife, and a grater.

The quality of your stock really is the foundation here, so if you can, use the best you can find or even a good homemade one. And don’t skip the fresh ginger and lime at the end—they provide the essential bright, zingy notes that lift the entire soup.

Serves: 4 | Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes

Before You Start: Tips & Ingredient Notes

• Chicken thighs over breasts? Honestly, yes. Thighs stay incredibly moist and tender during simmering, and they impart more flavour into the broth. Breasts can easily become dry and stringy in a soup like this.
• How to slice the cabbage. The trick is to slice it quite thinly so it wilts beautifully into the soup without needing to cook for ages. Remove the tough core and stack the leaves before slicing into ribbons.
• Grating ginger the easy way. If you hate dealing with ginger fibres, try freezing your ginger first. A frozen knob of ginger is much easier to grate on a microplane, and it keeps for ages in the freezer.
• Taste your stock first. Stocks vary wildly in saltiness. Have a quick taste of yours before adding the soy sauce. You can always add more seasoning at the end, but you can’t take it out.

How to Make Asian Chicken and Cabbage Soup

Serving Suggestions

Complementary Dishes

• Steamed Jasmine Rice — A small bowl of fluffy rice on the side is perfect for spooning the fragrant broth over. It makes the meal more substantial without overshadowing the soup’s delicate flavours.
• Simple Sesame Cucumber Salad — The cool, crisp, and slightly tangy crunch of a quick cucumber salad provides a wonderful textural and temperature contrast to the warm, savoury soup.
• Pan-Fried Dumplings or Gyoza — For a truly feast-like meal, a few crispy dumplings dipped in a chilli-soy sauce alongside this soup is an absolute dream combination.

Drinks

• Iced Green Tea — The clean, slightly grassy notes of a good green tea complement the ginger and soy in the soup beautifully, and its coolness is refreshing.
• A Crisp Lager or Pilsner — The light carbonation and mild bitterness of a cold lager help cut through the savoury richness and cleanse the palate between spoonfuls.
• Ginger Tea — If you want to double down on the cosy, warming feeling, a cup of fresh ginger tea alongside the soup feels incredibly nurturing.

Something Sweet

• Mango Sticky Rice — The sweet, creamy coconut and fresh mango are a classic and delightful way to end this Asian-inspired meal on a high note.
• Lychee Sorbet — A few scoops of light, floral lychee sorbet are a palate-cleansing and elegant finish that feels light and refreshing.
• Fortune Cookies — A little bit of fun! The simple, vanilla-scented sweetness of a fortune cookie is a playful and traditional end to the meal.

Top Mistakes to Avoid

• Mistake: Boiling the soup aggressively after adding the chicken. A rolling boil will toughen the chicken proteins, making the meat dry and stringy. A gentle simmer is the key to tender, shreddable chicken.
• Mistake: Adding the cabbage too early. If you add the cabbage at the same time as the chicken, it will overcook and become unpleasantly mushy and lose its vibrant colour. It only needs a few minutes to wilt.
• Mistake: Skipping the acid at the end. The rice vinegar (or a squeeze of lime) isn’t just an afterthought. It brightens all the other flavours and makes the soup taste more complex. Without it, the soup can taste a bit flat.
• Mistake: Not tasting before serving. Because stocks and soy sauces vary so much in salt content, always do a final taste test and adjust with more soy, a pinch of salt, or a splash of vinegar until it’s perfectly balanced for you.

Expert Tips

• Tip: Make a double batch of the broth base. You can easily double the aromatics (onion, garlic, ginger) and stock, then freeze half of the plain broth before adding the chicken and cabbage. It’s a fantastic freezer staple for a super-quick meal another day.
• Tip: Use a rotisserie chicken for speed. If you’re really short on time, you can skip cooking the chicken from raw. Simply shred a store-bought rotisserie chicken, add it to the finished broth with the cabbage, and just heat through.
• Tip: Infuse even more ginger flavour. For an extra gingery kick, after grating the ginger, squeeze the pulp in your hand over the pot to extract the potent juice, then throw the squeezed pulp in too for maximum flavour.
• Tip: Add a teaspoon of miso paste. For an extra layer of umami depth, whisk a spoonful of white or yellow miso paste into a ladleful of hot broth until dissolved, then stir it back into the main pot at the very end.

FAQs

Can I make this soup vegetarian or vegan?
Absolutely! The base is very adaptable. Simply swap the chicken stock for a robust vegetable stock and use a 14-ounce block of firm or extra-firm tofu, cubed, instead of the chicken. Add the tofu when you would add the cabbage, just to heat it through. Use tamari instead of soy sauce to keep it gluten-free if needed. The result is a wonderfully light but satisfying plant-based soup.

How long will leftovers keep in the fridge?
This soup keeps really well! Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. The flavours often meld and improve the next day. The cabbage will soften further, but it’s still delicious. I actually love it for lunch leftovers.

Can I freeze this Asian Chicken and Cabbage Soup?
You can, but with a small caveat. The cooked chicken freezes perfectly. However, cabbage can become a bit watery and soft upon thawing. For best results, freeze the soup before adding the cabbage. When you’re ready to eat, thaw, reheat, and then add fresh sliced cabbage and simmer until wilted.

My soup isn’t very flavourful. What can I do?
Don’t worry, this is an easy fix! First, ensure you salted the broth adequately—undersalting is the most common culprit. Add more soy sauce in small increments, tasting as you go. Secondly, a squeeze of fresh lime juice can work wonders to wake up the flavours. Finally, a dash of fish sauce (even if it’s not traditional here) will add a powerful umami boost.

What other vegetables can I add?
This soup is a great canvas! Sliced mushrooms sautéed with the onions would be lovely. You could add a handful of spinach or kale in the last minute of cooking. Thinly sliced carrots or bell peppers could be added after the broth comes to a boil, before the chicken, to soften them up. Just be mindful of cooking times so nothing gets overcooked.