Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Guriltai Shul (Mutton Noodle Soup)
A hearty Mongolian soup of fatty mutton and thick hand-cut wheat noodles in a peppery broth with onion and root vegetables.
Mongolian · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 75 min
~716 cal · 49g protein · 43g carbs · 38g fat · 4g fiber · 4g sugars · 14g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Guriltai shul simply means noodle soup, and it is one of Mongolia's everyday comfort meals: fatty mutton or lamb simmered with onion and root vegetables, then finished with thick hand-cut wheat noodles. Its two non-negotiable elements are meat and noodles; everything else follows what the pastoral larder holds.
The dish traces back to the nomadic kitchen and the era of the Mongol Empire, when a simple, filling soup of mutton, onions, and noodles could be cooked quickly and feed people through the cold of the steppe. The hand-cut noodles, tasalsan guril, are rolled and sliced from a plain flour-and-water dough.
Seasoning stays spare, salt, black pepper, sometimes a little cumin or bay, letting the fatty broth carry the flavour. A spoonful of rendered sheep-tail fat melted on top is the classic finish, and the soup is served piping hot.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut-, egg- 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
1.5 lbs bone-in lamb or mutton shoulder, cut into chunks
1 large onion, sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaf
1 tsp black pepper
to taste salt
2 tbsp neutral cooking oil
12 oz thick hand-cut wheat noodles (tasalsan guril)
2 , sliced
8 cups water
Instructions
1
Heat the oil in a heavy pot and sear the lamb (or mushrooms) with the sliced onion over medium-high heat until browned and fragrant.
✎ Chef’s note
Traditional guriltai shul uses fatty mutton, so keep some fat on the meat, it enriches the broth.
2
Add the water, bay leaves, and a good pinch of salt, bring to a boil, and skim off any grey foam that rises.
3
Lower the heat and simmer the lamb for about an hour, until the meat is tender (mushrooms need only 20 minutes).
4
Add the carrots, potatoes, garlic, and black pepper and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes more, until the vegetables are tender.
5
Meanwhile, roll a plain flour-and-water dough thin and cut it into wide noodles, or use store-bought wheat or gluten-free noodles.
✎ Chef’s note
Cook delicate gluten-free noodles in a separate pot and add them to each bowl so they do not turn mushy in the soup.
6
Add the noodles to the simmering soup and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until just tender.
7
Taste and adjust the salt and pepper, then ladle into bowls and top with sliced scallions. Serve piping hot.
Mongolian nomadic home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ulaanbaatar. Dairy carries the year rather than the day. Milk from mares, cows, camels and yaks is soured, dried into rock-hard aaruul curds that keep for months, or fermented into airag, and salted milk tea is the default drink, poured before anything at all is discussed.
🗺️
Mongolia. The dairy has names and seasons. Suutei tsai is tea boiled with milk and salt and drunk all day; aaruul is curd dried hard on the roof of the ger and kept for months; airag is fermented mare's milk, mildly alcoholic and made in summer when the mares are in milk. The white foods are treated as a category of their own.
🌍
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 Mongolia
Khuushuur (Fried Meat Pastry)Crisp deep-fried half-moon pastries filled with minced mutton, onion, and garlic, the taste of the Naadam festival.
TsuivanSteppe-style fried noodles steamed over a mutton and vegetable braise, Mongolia’s one-pan answer to a cold night.
BoortsogSimple fried dough biscuits eaten with milky, lightly salted tea across the Mongolian steppe.
Browse all Mongolia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Mongolia meal
Suutei TsaiDrink
Khailmag (Caramelized Clotted Cream)Dessert
BuuzLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Guriltai Shul (Mutton Noodle Soup)?
A hearty Mongolian soup of fatty mutton and thick hand-cut wheat noodles in a peppery broth with onion and root vegetables.
Where does Guriltai Shul (Mutton Noodle Soup) come from?
Guriltai Shul (Mutton Noodle Soup) is a Mongolian dish from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Can Guriltai Shul (Mutton Noodle Soup) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Guriltai Shul (Mutton Noodle Soup) 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 Guriltai Shul (Mutton Noodle Soup) 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 Guriltai Shul (Mutton Noodle Soup) take to make?
About 105 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 75 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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