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Taiwanese Ginger Fish Soup is a light healthy and tasty soup that’s also easy to make! Chunks of white fish simmered with julienned ginger and chopped green onions – so warming to the tummy!

In Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine it is very common to have soup as part of most meals. At my house, we usually this is what dinner usually looks like: 1 protein dish (such as chicken, beef, pork), 1 seafood dish (such as shrimp, fish, clams), and 1 veggie dish (so many types of Chinese veggies it can be!), served family style along with a bowl of rice per person. Then, at the very end, we have soup!

This Taiwanese Ginger Fish Soup is one of the soups we make sometimes because it is literally so easy to make, and it’s also nostalgic, delicious, healthy, and light.

What kind of fish to use

Taiwanese ginger fish soup is usually made with white fish, so that is what I recommend. With that said, there are many different types of white fish you can try. Here are some ideas:

Grouper is the fish we use most often. One reason is because we can find really good quality frozen grouper near us – which means it’s so easy to defrost it and cook with it at any time. The second reason is because grouper is my mom’s favorite fish.

It is a lean, moist, mild flavor fish. It’s got large flakes and a firm texture. The Red Grouper has has a slightly sweet flavor than Black Grouper.

Cod is a mild and somewhat buttery white fish. It’s got pretty delicate and flaky flesh – so you may want to be more gentle when stirring as to not make it fall apart completely.

Sea bass is another good white fish to go with this dish. Similar to cod – sea bass also is a mild, slightly sweet, white fish. It’s flesh is described as moist moist, buttery, and tender.

How to julienne ginger

Julienne ginger aka matchstick ginger is basically cutting the ginger in to thin strips. To do this, you will first slice the ginger in to think slices or rounds with a sharp knife. Then, stack them together flat on the cutting board, and cut them in to thin strips.

What is rice cooking wine (michiu)

Michiu is also known as Rice cooking wine. It contains about 20% alcohol, and is very popular in Taiwanese cooking. Many folks get this cooking wine confused with another cooking wine – Shaoxing. The difference is that Shaoxing is lower in alcohol and darker. Michiu is more dry and has a higher alcohol content.

Michiu is commonly used in stir fry, soup, braising, and more. It’s equivalent to adding wine to western dishes, but it also helps eliminate a ‘raw flavor’ of seafood and meat dishes too.

If you can’t find michiu, you technically don’t absolutely NEED it for this soup so you could skip it, or you can also substitute it with Mirin (Japanese rice cooking wine).

Some other delicious dishes I make with Michiu are Chinese Chicken Mushroom Soup, Sesame Oil Chicken Recipe (Ma You Ji 麻油雞), and Red Braised Pork Belly.

If you’re looking to buy some you can find it at your local Asian supermarket, or on Amazon too! Here are two I found: Taiwan Michiu and Qian Hu Michiu Rice Cooking Wine

How to make Taiwanese Ginger Fish Soup

This soup sounds so simple and it actually is so simple, but you’d be amazed by how delicious the ginger and green onion add to the soup.

First gather your ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 lb of fish fillet, cut in to 1 inch chunks
• 1 tbsp ginger, julienned
• 2 tbsp rice wine (michiu)
• 1 green onion, chopped 1-inch length
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Salt, to taste

Fill soup pot with 2 cups of water. Heat on high, and bring to a boil.

While you wait for the water to boil, you can julienne the ginger and slice fish in to one inch chunks if you haven’t already done so.

Add fish fillet in to water carefully.

Then add ginger and allow to cook for about 5 minutes or until cooked thoroughly.

Then add rice wine, green onions, sesame oil, and salt to taste and stir well to distribute evenly.

Remove from heat and serve!

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