Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Soto Ayam
A fragrant golden turmeric chicken soup with noodles, egg, and crisp shallots, Indonesia's everyday bowl of comfort.
Indonesian · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 40 min
~638 cal · 58g protein · 65g carbs · 16g fat · 5g fiber · 5g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Soto ayam, chicken soto, is one of the countless regional soups that Indonesians eat at all hours, and one of the most beloved. Aromatic, golden, and endlessly customisable at the table, it is the sort of dish sold from carts, warungs, and home kitchens across the archipelago.
The broth is built on a spice paste of turmeric, garlic, ginger, candlenut, and , which turns it fragrant and golden. It is ladled over rice or rice with shredded poached chicken, then loaded with bean sprouts, boiled egg, celery, a squeeze of lime, and a shower of crisp fried shallots, with sambal on the side for heat.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1 1/2 lb chicken pieces
8 oz rice
1/2 cup turmeric, coriander, garlic, ginger, and (spice paste)
4 kaffir lime leaves
Hard to find? the zest of a lime, about a quarter teaspoon for every two leaves - frozen or dried makrut leaves keep well and are much closer than any substitute. Lime zest gives brightness but not the deep floral note, and lemon zest pulls the dish in the wrong direction entirely
4 eggs, hard-boiled
2 cups bean sprouts
to serve lime and celery leaves
1/2 cup fried shallots
Instructions
1
Fry the spice paste until fragrant, then add the chicken, kaffir lime leaves, and water and simmer to a golden broth.
✎ Chef’s note
Coriander and kaffir lime leaf are what make soto ayam smell unmistakably itself. Bruise the lime leaves as they go in so they perfume the broth.
2
Lift out the chicken, shred it, and keep the broth hot.
✎ Chef’s note
Fry the turmeric spice paste in oil until it darkens and smells fragrant before adding liquid. Raw, it makes the broth taste flat and dusty.
3
Soak the vermicelli and divide among bowls with bean sprouts and shredded chicken.
4
Ladle over the hot broth and top with egg, lime, celery, and fried shallots.
Indonesian warung tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Jakarta. Jakarta is a megacity fed by roaming carts, where gado-gado dresses blanched vegetables, tofu, and egg in thick peanut sauce. Betawi cooking leans on coconut milk, candlenut, and palm sugar, in soto soups, nasi uduk rice, and richly spiced beef.
🗺️
Indonesia. Indonesia's seventeen thousand islands each guard their own sambal, uniting a vast archipelago through chili heat, coconut, and aromatic spice pastes. Rich rendang, fragrant nasi goreng, and satay skewers showcase a cuisine shaped by the original Spice Islands.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Indonesia
Nasi Goreng KampungVillage-style fried rice, smoky and sweet with kecap manis, crowned with a crisp-edged fried egg.
Gado-GadoJakarta’s "mix-mix": blanched vegetables, tofu, tempeh, and egg under warm peanut sauce.
Beef RendangBeef simmered for hours in coconut milk and spice paste until the liquid vanishes and the meat turns dark, dry, and intense.
Browse all Indonesia recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Soto Ayam?
A fragrant golden turmeric chicken soup with noodles, egg, and crisp shallots, Indonesia's everyday bowl of comfort.
Where does Soto Ayam come from?
Soto Ayam is a Indonesian dish from Jakarta, Indonesia.
Can Soto Ayam be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Soto Ayam recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Soto Ayam safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Soto Ayam take to make?
About 65 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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