Transform Canned Chicken Noodle Soup Into A Japanese-Inspired Delicacy With One Ingredient

Though other comfort foods are more indulgent, chicken noodle soup is what we eat when we're sick or want to throw off a chill during the winter months. Perhaps it's the act of sipping savory broth or nostalgia, but something about this particular soup makes the world seem a little brighter. Even better, classic canned chicken noodle is the perfect base for creating a quick, delicious version of a traditional Japanese noodle-based soup that's just as comforting and about 10 times more flavorful. All you need are a few teaspoons of mentsuyu.

Mentsuyu is one of the many traditional sauces you'll find in Japan. It's a combination of soy sauce, sake, mirin, kombu, and dried bonito flakes, with each ingredient contributing to the sauce's final distinct, balanced flavor. Soy sauce brings savory salt, while sake brings a hint of bitter richness. Mirin (a type of rice wine) offers subtle sweetness, while kombu (dried sea kelp) adds signature umami. The mixture is also a little astringent and smoky from the addition of dried bonito flakes, which are smoked, dried flakes of tuna.

Additionally, the word mentsuyu literally means noodle soup, which means this sauce is concentrated and designed to be lightly diluted in water or broth. If you've ever elevated your chicken noodle soup with lemon juice, the effect of adding mentsuyu is similar, but more complex. All the aforementioned flavors mingle with the seasoned chicken broth and gently soak into the noodles, saturating the entire bowl with flavor and taking your favorite brand to the next level.

Though you can make mentsuyu at home with the list of aforementioned ingredients, you should also be able to find bottles of it in the international aisle of your supermarket, or at your local Asian grocery store. Since both mentsuyu and condensed, canned noodle soup are both designed to be diluted with water, this presents an opportunity for experimentation with new, interesting flavors. One option is to simply add mentsuyu to the canned soup and allow them to dilute each other. However, this may result in an extremely salty flavor bomb. Unless that's what you're going for (no judgement), you'll likely want to dilute both soup and sauce with a little water or broth.

As condensed soup preparation instructions typically call for 1 can of water per can of soup, it's best to prepare your soup before adding any mentsuyu to ensure you add the right ratio of sauce to get the best flavor. Once the condensed soup is properly diluted, use that volume of soup to determine how much mentsuyu to add. The general rule is about 1 tablespoon per every ¼ cup of broth. That means if you end up with 1 cup of broth, you'll want to add about ¼ cup of mentsuyu. However, it's completely okay to start with less and add to taste, especially if you're not very familiar with Japanese cuisine. That way, you can determine the right dilution ratio for your personal preferences.