Trader Joe's Recipe Files: Dumpling Noodle Soup
Stock your cart with frozen dumplings, noodles, and pre-cut veg for this easy 20 minute dinner
Introducing the Trader Joe's Recipe Files, in which we take Trader Joe's products and turn them into a family meal. Today's products: Pork Gyoza Pot Stickers and Squiggly Knife Cut Style Noodles.
Why these products are on my Trader Joe’s shopping list:
Frozen dumplings are a powerhouse convenience food. Served on their own with a dipping sauce or added to soup, stir-frys, or on top of a salad, they are a protein-packed meal. It also helps that they are my daughter's absolute favorite food, ahead of even pizza and chicken nuggets.Â
The noodles (which come with individual sauce packets) make for a quick work-from-home lunch on their own. I usually jazz it up by mixing the included sauce with a bit of peanut butter and/or tahini to make the it a bit richer and the overall meal more filling. But at this point, I am really buying the 4-pack package to support my family's dumpling noodle soup habit. My daughter requests this dinner nearly every week.
What's great about this recipe:Â
It's a one-pot meal. I don't always find soup dinners to be satisfying enough, but this one is. It's not just that there are plenty of vegetables and protein; the variety of textures in the bowl really make this compelling.
It's adaptable. Check out the swaps and add-ins section for ideas on how to customize this soup to your liking. The basic template can hold up to lots of tinkering.
It's fast. This is a soup recipe that doesn't require time or patience — bonus for everyone living in areas of the country that are still quite warm and don't want to overheat their kitchen. All in, you're looking at about 20 minutes till dinner's on the table.
Do you have any great ideas for the pot stickers or noodles? Share your ideas in the comments!
Recipe: Trader Joe's Dumpling Noodle Soup by Hillary Dixler Canavan
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 scallions, chopped, with whites and greens separated
1 1-inch piece ginger, grated (you can keep the skin on or peel it)
1 14.5 oz. container Trader Joe's Mirepoix Chopped Vegetable Mix
2 quarts Trader Joe's Low Sodium Chicken Broth
1 bag of bok choy (2 pieces), each sliced lengthwise into halves or quarters
1 16 oz. package frozen Pork Gyoza Pot Stickers
1 portion Squiggly Knife Cut Style Noodles, set aside sauce packet
Instructions
Set a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil. Once the oil is warm (shimmery but not smoking), add the scallion whites, grated ginger, and mirepoix and cook, stirring occasionally until the onion becomes translucent, about 3-5 minutes.
Add 2 quarts of low sodium chicken broth and bring the mixture to boil over medium-high heat. When the broth is boiling, add the bok choy, the frozen pork gyoza, and the knife-cut noodles. Cook, letting the broth come back to a boil and occasionally stirring to break up the noodles, until the noodles are springy and the dumplings are soft and fully warmed through, about 6 minutes. To finish, add the sauce from the knife-cut noodle kit and stir to fully incorporate, about a minute. Serve in bowls, and top with chopped scallion greens.Â
Notes:
For a toddler's portion, use kitchen shears to cut the noodles into shorter pieces. You could also use a slotted spoon to separate some dumplings, veggies, and noodles onto a plate, and offer the broth in a cup for sipping. I also highly recommend training chopsticks (these are the ones in the picture above).Â
Adults might like a drizzle of chili crisp on top. Trader Joe’s has a mild one called Crunchy Chili Onion, or try Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp, Momofuku Chili Crunch, or Fly By Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp.
Swaps and Add-ins:
As I mentioned, this recipe is forgiving. If you don’t have scallions, no worries. No ginger? Also fine. Don’t like bok choy? A couple handfuls of baby spinach works great, too.
This would work with other frozen dumplings, including the Trader Joe's Chicken Gyoza Pot Stickers or dumplings purchased elsewhere. Opt for dumplings where the filling is already cooked to keep the cooking times more closely aligned with the recipe above.
If you don't have the Trader Joe's noodle kit, you could also add whichever noodle you prefer, adjusting cooking time accordingly. Instead of the sauce packet, add 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce to season.
For more umami flavor, swap 1 quart of chicken broth for 1 quart of the Trader Joe's Miso Ginger broth.
Feel free to add more vegetables; sliced mushrooms, broccoli florets, or snow peas would all be great.
You could also bulk this up by adding egg: Add a soft-boiled egg to each bowl, or make this an egg-drop soup by lightly beating two eggs, and drizzling the eggs into the soup after stirring in the sauce packet.
So how many does this serve? Would A single person cut it in half?