A humble Chinese Fish Soup that will nourish the body down through to your soul! This silky smooth soup is beautifully fragrant and can be made with ANY fish you love!
The Ultimate Chinese Fish Soup Recipe
I never discriminate when it comes to soups. Vegetable, chicken, seafood, pork and beef soups…I adore them ALL. Soups are a love affair of mine and will make my knees instantly buckle in the presence of it.
But this Chinese Fish Soup…it’s a game changer.
In fact, no other soup I’ve had in the past has made me feel this nourished. After satisfying multiple cravings, I’ve narrowed its success down to a few (but crucial) things: our family’s Chinese Fish Soup is incredibly aromatic, gently simmered until a rich savouriness perfumes the broth. Not only that, but it’s filled with melt-in-your-mouth bites of the most tender fish.
It’s the one dish that’s bound to make everyone feel at home!
What makes this fish soup unique
Our secret ingredient that makes this soup absolutely wonderous is pickled mustard greens! You may remember its saltier cousin from my Steamed Pork Belly with Mustard Greens recipe, but the one we use for this soup is pickled, which gives it an amazing crunchy tanginess that gets infused in the broth.
But what differentiates this Chinese Fish Soup from all the other fish soups is that absolutely no part of the fish goes to waste. This is a Teo Chew style fish soup and is traditionally cooked using bass groper fish head. Yes, you heard correctly.
Now, if you’re anything like our family then you’d want more than just fish head bones. We usually buy extra fish to accommodate for that. And you can always substitute the fish for whichever you’d prefer!
What you'll need to make Chinese Fish Soup
- 1 bass groper fish head (we ask the fish monger to clean and cut it up for us)
- 1/2 kg (1 lb) fish (we use bass groper)
- 1 packet (400 g / 1 lb) pickled mustard greens (affiliate link; we buy it from the local Asian grocery)
- 1/2 kg (1 lb) taro (we buy it from the local Asian grocery)
- fried tofu
- 5 slices ginger
- 8 spring onion heads
- potato starch (affiliate link)
- 2 tbsp salt (or to taste)
- 1 tbsp sugar (or to taste)
- 1 tbsp chicken powder (affiliate link)
- 3 L water
- rice noodles (optional)
How to make Chinese Fish Soup
Prepare the fish by giving it a wash and using a knife to lightly scrape off any excess scales. If you ask your fish monger, they will happily do most of the scraping for you.
Cut the fish into chunks and lightly coat them in potato starch.
Fry the coated fish pieces in oil over a medium heat until they are golden.
Cut the taro into chunks or thick slices and fry in oil over a medium heat until golden.
Wash the pickled mustard greens then chop them into smaller pieces. If you’d prefer a crunch then keep the pieces larger.
Lightly oil a wok and pan fry the pickled mustard greens for 3 minutes then put it in a pot.
Heat up a pan with oil and add the ginger and spring onions until fragrant. Toss the fried fish in. This will reduce the fishy smell.
Pour the the fish, ginger, spring onions into the pot with the pickled mustard greens. Add water and season with salt, sugar and chicken powder.
Let the broth simmer for 30 minutes. You can add the taro and fried tofu in during this stage for a thicker broth as the taro melts into the soup or you can leave it until just before serving to add it in.
This also applies to the fish. The longer you cook it, the softer it will become. I recommend adding it in just before serving.
To enjoy this dish, have it as is or with rice noodles!
Make it a complete Chinese dinner spread
If you love Chinese food the way I do, make it a feast!
Chinese Fish Soup (魚頭爐)
Ingredients
- 1 bass grouper fish head (we ask the fish monger to clean and cut it up for us)
- 1/2 kg (1 lb) fish (we use bass groper)
- 1 packet (400 g / 1lb) pickled mustard greens (we buy it from the local Asian grocery)
- 1/2 kg (1 lb) taro (we buy it from the local Asian grocery)
- fried tofu
- 5 slices ginger
- 8 spring onion heads
- potato starch
- 2 tbsp salt (or to taste)
- 1 tbsp sugar (or to taste)
- 1 tbsp chicken powder
- 3 L water
- rice noodles (optional)
Instructions
- Prepare the fish by giving it a wash and using a knife to lightly scrape off any excess scales. If you ask your fish monger, they will happily do most of the scraping for you.
- Cut the fish into chunks and lightly coat them in potato starch.
- Fry the coated fish pieces in oil over a medium heat until they are golden.
- Cut the taro into chunks or thick slices and fry in oil over a medium heat until golden.
- Wash the pickled mustard greens then chop them into smaller pieces. If you’d prefer a crunch then keep the pieces larger.
- Lightly oil a wok and pan fry the pickled mustard greens for 3 minutes then put it in a pot.
- Heat up a pan with oil and add the ginger and spring onions until fragrant. Toss the fried fish in.
- Pour the the fish, ginger, spring onions into the pot with the pickled mustard greens. Add water and season with salt, sugar and chicken powder.
- Let the broth simmer for 30 minutes. You can add the taro and fried tofu in during this stage for a thicker broth as the taro melts into the soup or you can leave it until just before serving to add it in.
- To enjoy this dish, have it as is or with rice noodles!
Video
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I find that all kinds of soups are ideal for this time of year in the UK, and really enjoy making a variety of broths, and lighter soups. Such a good tummy warmer. I have never made anything like this, but it looks fascinating, and sounds utterly delicious. Such goodness with the tasty fish, and crunchy greens.
Thanks, Helen! This is certainly a family favourite for all the reasons you’ve mentioned!
So delicious and comforting. This is such a flavorful soup recipe and perfect for this chilly time of year. Absolutely love this recipe. Thanks so much for sharing!
You’re so very welcome, Angela! I do love a good soup during the colder seasons!
I’m a huge soup fan and I love trying new varieties. This one is new to me and sounds very flavouful.
I hope you try this out some day! I’m a huge soup fan too and this one gets me every time!
What a lovely and light dish. So much flavour in it too.
Thanks!
I made this for dinner last night and it was incredible! So warm and comforting, I will definitely be making it again soon!
That’s wonderful to hear! Thanks for your kind words, Jessica!
I love this soup and how much nutritious value it has!! There isn’t anything in here that isn’t natural and that upsets the stomach easily. Thank you so much for providing this soup. My family really appreciated the meal!
That’s wonderful to hear, Wyatt! Thanks!
Awesome blog, many thanks for your effort
You’re very welcome, Maxima! Thanks!
I’m very excited in the kitchen to try this new recipe, particularly the pickled green mustard.
I got the fish cutlets and prepared two rather larger heads of groper. I’m just not clear what to do with the heads? The recipe suggests to put all pieces of fish in the pot with vegetables and water but is that includes the heads too? Do you leave them in the soup or remove them at some stage?
Awaiting for your kind reply.
Cheers, George
Hi, George! I’m so glad you’re trying this recipe out. For the fish heads, you can just prepare them as you would the rest of the fish. So a light dusting of potato starch and then fry until just golden. You can put the fish heads in along with the fish as well. When it’s serving time, we enjoy the heads too because they do have a fair amount of meat on them. I hope you get to love it as much as we do! Happy cooking!
Thank you for your prompt and kind reply!
Since I am of European descendant, I’m familiar with the making a fish stock out of fish bones, tails and heads. Have you heard of the spicy Hungarian Fish Soup?
Tha’s the stock I just made and I am using the stock as base for the soup you provided to us. The broth is magnificent!
I am comencing now the other components of the soup and hope to get as close as possible to the recipe you helped us with.
I’ll come back reporting on the outcome….
You’re very welcome, George. Always happy to help where I can. I haven’t had Spicy Hungarian Fish Soup before, but I searched it up and it looks delicious! I might have to try making it one day 😀
Enjoy the meal today and I hope you love it as much as we do!
It’s GROUPER; not groper. You don’t want at groper in your soup!
And it’s usually made with 大头鱼。
Hi! Thanks for bringing my attention to this! I’ve looked into the names and it must have been confusing because here in Australia we call the fish I used ‘bass groper’. Sorry about that!
Yes, we do like it with 大头鱼 as well 🙂
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I could never get the richness into my fish head soup but the preserved mustard greens are exactly what it needs, and I would never have been able to discover this on my own. Will be part of the repertoire moving forward, can’t wait to make this for my Chinese mother!
Hi, name twin 😀 This is really exciting since not many people who share our name have it spelt with the doubles! I’m thrilled that the recipe worked well for you and I hope that your Chinese mother approves of the soup too!