A bowl of comfort, beefy goodness, and the joy of humble cuts
A truly comforting meal spiced beef broth & noodles, gives you a hug in a bowl.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 2.5 – 3hrs (hands-off slow cooking)
- Serves: 4
- Difficulty: easy
- Ideal for: weekend meal, winter warmer
Spiced Beef Broth & Noodles
A bowl that hugs you back
There’s something about standing over a pot of simmering broth — that gentle burble, the lift of steam scented with ginger and soy, the quiet promise of something warming and deeply satisfying.
This spiced beef broth with chilli, sesame, soy, and slurpy noodles is exactly that: a bowl you lean into, a bit messy, a bit fiery, and utterly restorative.
It’s the kind of dish that has both a classic comfort, but with enough heat and savoury punch to wake your taste buds.
The ginger brings brightness, the chilli adds a cheeky kick, toasted sesamegives that nutty backbone, and the soy sauce pulls everything together with savoury depth.
And all of that soaks into a tangle of noodles
But the unsung hero here — the real flavour-building machine — is the beef osso buco quietly working away at the bottom of the pot.
Let’s Talk Beef Osso Buco
The humble cut that does the heavy lifting
If you’ve never cooked with beef osso buco, you’re in for a treat.
It’s a cut that doesn’t shout from the butcher’s counter. No glamorous marbling like ribeye, no grand roast presence like brisket.
Instead, it waits for someone who appreciates quiet, slow magic.
What is it?
Osso buco simply means “bone with a hole” — a cross-cut piece of beef shank, circular, with a marrow-filled bone in the centre.
Think tough, hardworking muscle. Rich connective tissue. And marrow. It’s the stuff that whispers “This will be good.”
Why is it so brilliant?
- Flavour. That central bone — filled with creamy marrow — melts slowly into your broth, creating body and richness without heavy fat.
- Collagen. The connective tissue breaks down into gelatin, giving your broth that luxurious mouthfeel restaurants pretend is a “secret technique.”
- Value for money. This is a budget-friendly cut that tastes like you spent triple.
- Built for slow simmering. You don’t rush osso buco. You let time transform it. And it rewards you with deep, beefy warmth.
It’s the perfect match for a noodle broth — it provides the savoury foundation that all those spices and aromatics cling to.
100% Grass-Fed Beef
Why it’s worth seeking out?
Now, you’ll often hear me bang on about good ingredients — but with beef, especially slow-cooked dishes, the difference is noticeable.
Opting for 100% grass-fed beef means:
Better flavour
Grass-fed beef tends to have a cleaner, more complex flavour — slightly sweeter, slightly “wilder,” and more reflective of the pasture it grazed on.
You’re tasting the landscape, not the feedlot.
Better fat quality
Grass-fed meat often contains:
- More omega-3s
- Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)
- Antioxidants like vitamin E
These aren’t just nutrition buzzwords — they translate into better-tasting broth. The fat is softer, the aroma gentler, the flavour deeper.
Better for the land & the animal
Cattle evolved to eat grass. When raised on pasture, they’re doing what they’re biologically built for — grazing, moving, living naturally.
When managed well, grass-fed systems can support healthier soils and biodiversity.
So, when you’re making a broth where the beef is the backbone of the entire dish, using grass-fed osso buco elevates everything — flavour, texture, and that feel-good factor.
Tamari vs Soy Sauce — What’s the Difference?
Because not all salty brown liquids are created equal
Since this broth leans heavily on those deep umami notes, it’s worth pausing for a quick flavour detour: tamari vs soy sauce.
Both brilliant. Both savoury.
But they’re not identical twins — more like siblings who grew up in different households.
Soy Sauce
This is the classic — fermented soybeans plus wheat, salt, and koji.
It’s usually:
- Saltier
- Thinner in texture
- More pungent and sharp
- Brewed with wheat (important if you’re avoiding gluten)
It gives a punchy, front-of-mouth savouriness and that sharp “soy sauce tang.” Great for everyday cooking.
Tamari
Tamari is traditionally a by-product of miso-making, so it’s made mostly from soybeans and little to no wheat, making many versions naturally gluten-free.
It tends to be:
- Less salty
- Richer and smoother
- More rounded and less sharp
- Deeper in umami, with almost a roasted nuttiness
If soy sauce is the loud friend who arrives early and brings energy, tamari is the friend who sits you down, hands you a warm drink, and says, “Let’s sort your life out.”
Which one for this Spiced Beef Broth & Noodles?
Both work beautifully — it just depends on the mood of your bowl.
- For bold, salty, punchy broth: go soy sauce.
- For deeper, darker, silkier umami: tamari is your ticket.
Personally, I love tamari in a noodle broth — it wraps itself around chilli, ginger, and sesame in a way that makes the whole thing taste a bit more… expensive.
But when I don’t have it in the cupboard, I use soy sauce.
The Bowl That Brings It All Together
This is deep, aromatic broth, has depth from the marrow and sesame.
Threads of ginger running through each spoonful.
A mellow heat from chilli warming your chest.
Soft, tender shreds of beef that have fallen off the osso buco bone.
Noodles soaking everything up like happy little sponges.
This is the kind of cooking I love — resourceful, flavour-driven, unfussy, and satisfying down to the last slurp.
Recipe by Gil Meller
Spiced beef broth and noodles
Ingredients
Base ingredients
- 1 kg (grass-fed) beef osso buco (shin of beef on the bone)
- 2 carrots, roughly chopped
- 1 onion, quartered
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 garlic cloves, bashed
- 2 Lemon grass, bashed
- 2 thumb-sized ginger, sliced
- 1 red chilli, roughly chopped
Final ingredients
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
- 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 3 – 4 tbsp Tamari or soy sauce
- 1 lime juice, squeezed
- 2 nests egg noodles
- 1 spring onion, chopped for garnish
- coriander, chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Heat a large heavy based casserole pan over a high heat. Add the seasoned beef to a little oil and fry for 4 to 5 minutes on each side until nice and brown and caramelised. Now add the rest of the base ingredients to the pan, then pour over 1.5 litres of water or enough to cover everything, and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down, cover with a lid and let it blip away for 2 – 2.5 hours or until the meat falls off the bone.
- Once done, take the pan off the heat and use a slotted spoon to lift the beef out onto a plate and let cool.Pour the cooking liquid through a fine sieve into a bowl or jug.While the beef is cooling, skim the excess fat off the top of the broth, then add the broth back to the pan. Set the pan back over the heat and bring it up to a simmer. Pull the beef into small pieces, throwing any tougher membrane or pieces of fat away.
- Add the beef (and carrots if you want to) back into the broth and start bringing back to a simmer then add in the rice wine vinegar, tamari (or soy), squeeze of lime, sesame seeds. You can add in the chopped spring onion (optional).Cook for a further minute or two then take the pan off the heat. Check the seasoning and adjust the balance with a splash of more vinegar or tamari sauce.Ladle the broth into a bowl and serve, with roughly chopped coriander (and extra chilli or lime juice)
