This is probably one of my favorite noodle soups. I feel like it’s super underrated because pho gets the spotlight a lot. But this one is super flavorful and delicious!

Bún Riêu Cua a.k.a. Vietnamese Crab Noodle Soup is a tomato based crab soup. It’s known for its Riêu also known as the meatballs. In this case, we are making crab meatballs.

I like to use canned crab two ways. One just regular crab meat, if you can get fresh crab even better! And the second one is the spiced crab mix that you can find in the chili oil or chili section of Asian markets. These are the two that I use.

I also recommend using my favorite soup base which is from Quoc Viet Foods. You can buy it with this link here (use coupon code ‘Jenhdao’). This makes making the soup so much easier, with less ingredients, and also this container is good for about 2 to 3 pots of soup! So it lasts a while.

A quick tip is with the shrimp paste you can add more other less according to your taste. It’s super strong so use very little to begin with!

As always the recipe is below!

A Delicious (and Easy) Bún Riêu Cua a.k.a. Vietnamese Crab Noodle Soup!

Recipe by Jen H. DaoCourse: Recipes

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• 12 c chicken stock

• 4 tbsp Bun Rieu Base

• 1 tbsp sugar/1 palm sugar

• 2 tsp fermented shrimp paste (to taste)

• Meatballs

• 1 lb ground pork

• 6 oz canned crab (drained)

• 7 oz crab paste in soybean oil

• 2 eggs

• 3 green onions (white parts thinly sliced, green parts chopped)

• Additional Ingredients

• 2 tbsp cooking oil

• 3-4 tomatos (quartered)

• 1 pack of fried tofu

• 1 pack vermicelli noodles

• 1/2 cabbage (thinly sliced)

• 1 lemon/lime (slices)

Directions

• In a bowl mix crab meat, crab paste, ground pork, eggs, and green parts of the onion.
• In a pan, heat up oil and add white parts of the onions, tomatoes and 1 tbsp of soup base. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the chicken stock to a pot. Bring to a boil and add tomato stir fry mixture. Start dropping spoonfuls (about 1-2 tbsp) of meatball mixture into broth.
• Cook for 10 mins or until the meatballs start to float. Bring down to med/low heat. Season the broth (to taste) with 3 tbsp bun rieu soup base, sugar and shrimp paste. Add fried tofu, cook for 5 mins.
• Cook vermicelli according to package and serve in a bowl with soup. Garnish with green onions, cabbage and some lime/lemon.

Recipe Video