Quorn chicken pieces add heartiness to this quick, Japanese Wagamama-style vegetarian noodle dish. With flavoursome miso and green tea broth, there’s scarcely more involved than boiling the kettle.
Updated 2026 · recipe originally published after attending an event celebrating Russell Hobbs kettles (2015).
Quorn chicken pieces – a staple freezer ingredient
I’m not vegetarian but I often use Quorn chicken pieces; these frozen protein pieces are a staple freezer food to have on standby. When you’ve run out of fresh meat and fish before going shopping, frozen vegetarian protein chunks – Tesco do a great own-brand equivalent – are easy to chuck into pasta or stir-fries for an economic and low-fat protein fix.
Whether from the chiller cabinet or defrosted ones from the freezer aisle, they heat through very quickly and lend themselves especially well to ramen-style noodle dishes.
Coming home, after the Russell Hobbs kettles anniversary event, I wanted to create a dish that combined using the kettle and tea but in an actual dinner recipe. A quick steep in piping hot broth is all the cooking required for quorn chicken pieces and recalling the Clearspring miso tasting evening, I thought tea and miso soup might complement each other.
Although I don’t drink traditional English tea with milk, I often drink green tea (known for its health benefits and high antioxidant levels) or peppermint infusions. So it’s green tea which has inspired my get-the-kettle-on recipe today.
Quorn Chicken Noodles with Miso Soup (Vegetarian)
Ingredients
- Boiling water straight from the kettle
- 200 g soba noodles
- 2 tbsp miso dark paste
- 1 bag green tea
- 300 g shiitake mushrooms fresh and washed
- 350 g Quorn pieces vegetarian protein chunks
- 1 handful coriander torn into individual leaves
- 1/2 red chilli finely sliced into rings
- 2 spring onions finely sliced into rings
Instructions
- Fill the kettle with around 2 litres of water and boil. In a measuring jug pour one litre of water and add the miso and green teabag. Leave to infuse for 3-4 minutes.
- Meanwhile, pour the remaining water over the soba noodles in a large pan and leave to soak with the lid on.
- Remove the teabag from the infusion and stir the miso so it dissolves in the hot water.
- Drain the noodles and return to the pan. Pour the miso and green tea infusion over the noodles. Submerge the shiitake mushrooms and Quorn pieces / vegetarian protein chunks in the noodle broth and switch on the heat to bring back to a simmer.
- When hot, ladle portions into wide bowls and scatter over the spring onion, red chilli and coriander leaves. Serve immediately.
Notes
Tips and variations for vegetarian Quorn chicken noodle soup
- For a smokier flavour: try Lapsang Souchong tea instead.
- Make it wheat free: If you use soba noodles made from 100% buckwheat, this dish is wheat free because buckwheat is different to wheat. But watch out for soba noodles that have had standard wheat added.
- Do not refreeze or reheat: Once the broth is added, this dish is not suitable for reheating or freezing. But with it being so simple why would you need to?
Quorn Chicken Noodles for a Quick Office Lunch
If your office has modest kitchen facilities, you could make single portions of this with just the kettle and microwave:
1. Soak the soba noodles in advance at home
Rinse and drain them before transporting in a sealed container with the other ingredients. The Quorn chicken pieces will have defrosted by lunchtime if you’ve gotten them out of the freezer that morning.
2. Make the broth in the office kitchen
When lunchtime comes, boil the kettle and make your miso and green tea broth: pour this over the cold noodles and Quorn chicken pieces. Then blast this for two minutes in the microwave. This quick burst in the microwave avoids the cold noodles and defrosted Quorn chicken pieces cooling the miso soup broth too much before you eat it.
Low-fat Quorn Chicken Noodles for Weight Watchers
This Quorn chicken noodles dish is low in fat and suitable for vegetarian diets. Dieters will be happy to note that according to their website calculator, a portion contains around 7-8 Weight Watchers ProPoints:
- 5 points for 50g soba noodles
- 2 points for 85g quorn pieces
- 1 point for shiitake mushrooms
- all other ingredients ProPointed at zero
Pin these Quorn chicken noodles with miso soup for quick vegetarian weekday dinners!
You might also enjoy:
- Cold egg noodles in Leftover Chicken Noodle Salad
- Vermicelli rice noodles in Chopped Fennel Salad
- Hot sour soup noodles in Tom Yum Prawn Noodle Soup
- Or my friend Helen of Fuss Free Flavours’ Japanese-style – shiitake mushrooms and seaweed noodles
I am not a tea drinker either Sarah. I am coffee all the way but agree the kettle gets used all the time and I do the heating the water for pasta trick too and rice and everything! I am a massive noodle fan and I would love to try your version out as I actually like green tea far more than normal tea. Also this really is about as quick as a meal can be to put together, great for busy times!
Yes I won’t drink real tea at all but I don’t mind the odd green tea or a Lapsang Souchong.
so amazing, feel like in a Japanese restaurant
Sarah you are a woman after my own heart! I’m not really a tea drinker either but when I do its got to be herbal and more often than not green! I don’t cook enough with green tea and would never have come up with using it in a soup – what a fun original idea! I’m going to give this recipe a go – I’ll let you know how I get on!
And couscous! You forgot couscous!
A good kettle is essential in our kitchen too, for tea drinking and making quick and easy meal.
Lovely recipe here – I love noodle soups at this time of year.
Yes they’re so warming and comforting but still a light lunch that’s easy to prepare.
I find it quite hilarious you talking about kettles longingly as I walked through John Lewis earlier and found myself stopping to gaze at the kettles! This soup looks delicious too, definitely giving it a go!
I gaze longingly at most things in John Lewis 😉
It was a fun evening. Tim looks like he is about the magic a rabbit out of that kettle at any second!
I had a K2 at university. It did sterling service.
I couldn’t believe it when I saw my parents’ and grandparents’ kettle on display! Took me back 30 years!!
I love the idea of using green tea on these noodles! I don’t drink much tea either, but I do use my kettle multiple times a day – it makes boiling water so quick!
This looks wonderful Sarah and so comforting. I think a kettle is essential to everyday living, even if you don’t drink tea or coffee. Also, it’s handy if you’re caught short with no hot water for your shower.
Ah yes, the horror of kettle fuelled washes when the boiler had packed up. Kettle to the rescue!!
I love this recipe. How super fast and easy it is!
Yes that’s right – no excuses really!!
The recipe looks really tasty, a kettle is a personal thing for me – I hate it when I need a new one!
I think we forget how close we are to our kettles don’t we?
This recipe sounds perfect for an in-office autumnal treat! Speaking of kettles, a group of friends and I have pitched together to buy one for an American friend who boils her cuppa water on a stovetop – a gift for her new English home!
Oh yes she totally needs one. Who would want the aggro of boiling stuff on the stove?
Love the look of the noodles Sarah. I reckon our kettle is the most used appliance in our entire kitchen, working from home I am forever topping up my hot water!
Janie x
We really take them for granted don’t we?!
Your noodles look SO delicious! I am inspired to try these for a quick work at lunch, with just a little prep to do at home to get the ingredients ready (I might use cold chicken and carrots instead)
That sounds like a good plan!
I bet the miso gives the noodles a great umami depth of flavour. I love my tea, and I am probably the male equivalent of a tea jenny whatever that is 😀
I have no idea what a tea jenny is, is it Scottish?!
I love anything Japanese inspired and this looks right up my street. That picture of the kettles is lovely too x
Thanks – they put on a great display of vintage products for us to admire.
One of my favourite comfort foods in Winter especially when trying to ‘eat clean’ as they say. wonderful pics as always – want to dive in! Pinning to my Veggie recipes board