Zippy’s Oxtail Soup Recipe

Ask anyone who grew up in Hawaiʻi what tastes like home and oxtail soup will come up fast, usually followed by the word Zippy’s. The local chain’s version, a clear, deeply savory broth with fall-off-the-bone oxtail, ginger, and green onion, is one of the most beloved bowls in the islands. This post gives you the story behind the dish and a tested copycat Zippy’s oxtail soup recipe you can make at home, capturing the same clean, comforting flavors of the restaurant bowl.

Zippy’s Oxtail Soup at a Glance

Zippy’s oxtail soup: the recipe card

The dish	Oxtail soup, Zippy’s style: clear broth, ginger-scented, local Hawaiian comfort food
Hands-on time	20 minutes
Simmer time	3.5 hours
Total	About 4 hours
Serves	6

Why Zippy’s Oxtail Soup Is Legendary

Zippy’s was founded on October 17, 1966, by brothers Francis and Charles Higa, who opened a takeout shop at 1725 South King Street near McCully with saimin going for 50 cents. What started as one Okinawan family-owned diner grew into more than 20 locations across Oʻahu, Maui, and the Big Island, plus Napoleon’s Bakery and a Las Vegas outpost. The bakery, named for the founders’ father, became a destination in its own right for its Chantilly cakes and malasadas. As attorney Martin Hsia once put it, if you call Hawaiʻi home, home tastes like Zippy’s, and for thousands of locals that taste is specifically oxtail soup.

Oxtail soup earned its place on that menu as the ultimate local comfort food. Unlike the thick, gravy-like oxtail stews of other cuisines, Hawaiʻi’s version is a clean, clear soup: beefy broth, tender oxtail, ginger, and green onion, served with white rice for soaking up every drop. It is the bowl locals order when they are tired, when it rains, when they are homesick, or just because it is Tuesday. This recipe recreates that style at home. It is not Zippy’s proprietary recipe, which the company keeps to itself, but a faithful copycat built on the same principles: good oxtails, patience, ginger, and a clear broth.

Oxtail Soup in Hawaiʻi Food Culture

Oxtail soup belongs to a category of food that only exists in Hawaiʻi: the local bowl. It sits alongside saimin, Zip Min, and wun tun min as dishes born from the islands’ plantation-era mix of Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Filipino, and Hawaiian cooking, refined over generations into something you cannot find anywhere else. The Hawaiian version of oxtail soup took its cues from Chinese clear soups, with ginger and star anise in some family recipes, but the Zippy’s style keeps it minimal: beef, ginger, green onion, rice. That restraint is the point. When the broth is this clean, there is nowhere to hide, and every element has to be right.

You will find oxtail soup far beyond Zippy’s. It shows up at other local diners, at fundraiser plate sales, and in home kitchens across the islands, where every family has its own version with small differences: some add peanuts, some add dried orange peel or star anise for a deeper Chinese-style aroma, some toss in mustard greens or daikon at the end. If you are exploring the islands’ food beyond the resort restaurants, our Hawaiian food guide is the map to the dishes that matter, and the first-time visitor guide will help you plan a trip built around eating well.

The Anatomy of the Perfect Bowl

What separates a great oxtail soup from a merely good one comes down to four things. First, the broth must be clear and golden, which means blanching the oxtails and simmering gently, never boiling. Second, the meat must be completely tender, yielding at the touch of a spoon, which takes the full three and a half hours; undercooked oxtail is chewy and disappointing. Third, the ginger must be present but not dominant, a warmth in the background rather than a bite. Fourth, the seasoning must be restrained: soy sauce and salt added at the end, tasting as you go, until the broth sings without shouting. Get those four right and you have the bowl.

Ingredients

• 4 lbs oxtails, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 12 cups water (plus more as needed)
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 1 4-inch piece fresh ginger, sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (shoyu)
• 1 tablespoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced, for serving
• Steamed white rice, for serving

Instructions

1. Blanch the oxtails. Place the oxtails in a large stockpot, cover with cold water, and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 10 minutes, then drain and rinse the oxtails under cold water. Clean the pot. This step removes impurities and is the secret to a clear broth.
2. Start the broth. Return the blanched oxtails to the clean pot with 12 cups of fresh cold water, the onion, ginger, garlic, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil over high heat, then immediately reduce to the gentlest simmer.
3. Simmer low and slow. Simmer partially covered for 3 to 3.5 hours, until the meat is completely tender and nearly falling off the bone. Skim any foam or fat that rises in the first hour. Never let it boil hard; a rolling boil clouds the broth.
4. Season. Remove the onion, ginger, garlic, and bay leaves. Stir in the soy sauce and salt, then taste and adjust. The broth should taste clean and beefy with a gentle ginger warmth, not salty.
5. Degrease (optional but recommended). For the clearest, cleanest bowl, refrigerate the soup overnight and lift off the solidified fat in the morning. This is the restaurant trick for a broth that tastes rich without feeling heavy.
6. Serve. Reheat gently, ladle oxtails and broth into deep bowls, and shower with sliced green onions. Serve with plenty of steamed white rice on the side.

Tips for the Perfect Bowl

Buy meaty oxtails. The thick pieces from the middle of the tail have the best meat-to-bone ratio; thin tail-tip pieces are mostly bone, though they still enrich the broth. Ask your butcher to cut them into 2-inch pieces if they are not already. Do not skip the blanch: it is the difference between a clear golden broth and a murky one. Keep the simmer lazy, with just a bubble or two breaking the surface. And season at the end, not the beginning, because the broth concentrates as it cooks and early salt becomes late over-salting.

Leftovers are excellent. The soup keeps 4 days refrigerated and freezes well for 3 months; the flavor actually deepens overnight. Reheat gently and add fresh green onions at serving. One more tip from local kitchens: if the broth tastes flat after seasoning, it usually needs more salt, not more ingredients. Add it a quarter teaspoon at a time, tasting between additions, until the beefiness snaps into focus. If you want to round out a full local-style meal, our Hawaiian food guide covers the dishes that belong on the same table, and if you are visiting the islands to taste the real thing, our first-time visitor guide will help you plan the trip.

Shopping for Oxtails

Oxtails are not cheap anymore; their popularity has pushed prices up everywhere, including Hawaiʻi. Expect to pay a premium at the butcher counter, and buy more than you think you need, because the meat shrinks considerably as the fat renders. Look for pieces with a good cap of meat around the bone and avoid bags of mostly small tail-tip segments. In Hawaiʻi, larger supermarkets and warehouse stores carry them regularly; on the mainland, ask the butcher, since they are often kept in the back rather than the case. Four pounds sounds like a lot for six servings, but after trimming, rendering, and the bone weight, it is exactly right.

Variations Worth Trying

Once you have the basic bowl down, the local variations are worth exploring. For a deeper, more Chinese-style aroma, add 2 star anise pods and a strip of dried orange peel with the aromatics; remove them before serving. For extra heartiness, add a half cup of raw peanuts in the last 30 minutes of simmering, a classic home-style addition. Mustard greens or daikon, added in the final 20 minutes, turn it into a one-pot meal. And for the full Zippy’s-adjacent experience, serve it with a small dish of grated fresh ginger mixed with shoyu on the side for dipping the meat, the way many locals eat it.

Slow Cooker and Pressure Cooker Methods

The stovetop method gives the clearest broth, but the alternatives work. For the slow cooker: blanch the oxtails as directed, then cook on low for 8 hours with the aromatics; season at the end. For the pressure cooker: after blanching, cook at high pressure for 45 minutes with a full natural release, then simmer uncovered for 15 minutes to let the flavors meld. The pressure cooker broth will be slightly cloudier, but an overnight chill and degrease fixes most of that. All three methods end at the same place: tender meat, clean broth, green onions, rice.

Video: Making Oxtail Soup

How to cook Hawaii’s oxtail soup, step by step.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is in Zippy’s oxtail soup?

The restaurant version is a clear beef broth with tender oxtail pieces, ginger, and green onion, served with white rice. Zippy’s does not publish its exact recipe; this copycat recreates the style with oxtails, aromatics, soy sauce, and patience.

How long does oxtail soup take to cook?

About 4 hours total: 20 minutes of prep and 3.5 hours of gentle simmering. Oxtail is a tough cut full of connective tissue, and only a long, slow cook turns it tender.

Can I make oxtail soup in a pressure cooker?

Yes. After blanching, cook at high pressure for 45 minutes with a natural release, then simmer uncovered for 15 minutes to finish. The broth will be slightly less clear than the stovetop version but the meat will be perfectly tender.

Why is my oxtail soup broth cloudy?

Almost always one of two causes: skipping the blanching step, or boiling too hard. Blanch the oxtails first, keep the simmer gentle, and skim in the first hour for a clear broth.

Where can I eat the real Zippy’s oxtail soup?

At any of the 20-plus Zippy’s locations across Oʻahu, Maui, and the Big Island, plus their Las Vegas restaurant. The original King Street location in Honolulu is still operating.

Is oxtail soup healthy?

It can be, with a caveat. Oxtail is rich in collagen and protein, and the clear broth is lighter than it tastes. But oxtails are fatty, so the overnight chill-and-degrease step matters if you are watching fat intake. The sodium is the other thing to watch; season lightly and let people salt their own bowls.

What do you serve with oxtail soup?

Steamed white rice is non-negotiable; it is part of the dish, not a side. Beyond that, the local move is a small dish of grated ginger mixed with shoyu for dipping the meat, plus extra sliced green onions. A simple green salad or pickled vegetables round out the meal.

Can I freeze oxtail soup?

Yes, it freezes beautifully for up to 3 months. Cool it completely, portion into containers, and freeze. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat gently; add fresh green onions after reheating. The meat may fall off the bone even more after freezing, which nobody will complain about.

Zippy’s oxtail soup has anchored the menu for decades, and the traditional local method is what keeps it there. The oxtails simmer for hours until the meat surrenders from the bone, with fresh ginger doing most of the seasoning work and not much else. Purists insist on the long simmer rather than rushing it, arguing that time is the one ingredient you cannot shortcut. The result is a clear, deeply savory broth that tastes like patience.

This is true Hawaiʻi comfort food in its purest form: no shortcuts, no fuss, just oxtails, ginger, and time. Make it on a rainy weekend, serve it the local way with rice and green onions, and you will understand why the bowl has survived nearly sixty years on the Zippy’s menu. And save room for dessert: no local meal is complete without something sweet, and our malasada guide covers Hawaiʻi’s favorite Portuguese donut.