If chinese flour noodles have turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use them with confidence and how to choose them, cook them, store them, what to substitute, and 15 recipes to try them in.

What are chinese flour noodles?

Chinese flour noodles are wheat-flour noodles, the plain wheat-and-water kind without egg, sold fresh or dried across a range of widths. They are the everyday noodle of Chinese cooking, the base for stir-fries, cold sauced noodles, and brothy bowls alike.

Without egg, they cook up a touch softer and less yellow than egg noodles, with a clean wheat flavor that carries sauce well. Think of them as the workhorse, not a specialty noodle.

How to Use Chinese Flour Noodles

Boil them in plenty of water until just tender, usually 3 to 6 minutes depending on thickness, then drain. As with most Asian noodles, you stop short of fully soft so they keep some chew for the wok or the bowl.

For a cold dish, rinse the drained noodles under cool water to wash off starch and stop the cooking; this keeps them springy and separate. For a hot stir-fry or soup, skip the rinse and move them straight into the pan.

They carry bold, savory sauces beautifully. See Spicy Cold Noodles with Chicken and Peanut Noodles, or tossed with spring vegetables in Chinese Noodles with Spring Vegetables.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

These noodles take well to soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, chili, and peanut, plus stir-fried vegetables and any protein you like. Their neutral wheat flavor lets the sauce lead.

The first mistake is overcooking. A plain flour noodle without egg has less structure, so it slides into mushy quickly. Pull it while it still has bite.

The second mistake is letting cooked noodles sit and clump. Drain, then either rinse for a cold dish or toss with a little oil, and use them while they are loose.

Substitutes

Egg noodles like lo mein or chow mein are the closest swap and add a little richness and color. Fresh Hong Kong or Shanghai-style wheat noodles are an even closer match in flavor.

In a Western pantry, spaghetti, linguine, or thin fettuccine cover the range of widths well; match the noodle width to the sauce. For a wheat-free version, rice noodles change the texture but carry the same sauces.

Buying and Storing

Look for fresh wheat noodles in the refrigerated case of an Asian market, or dried bundles on the shelf. Fresh has the best texture; dried is the reliable pantry version.

Fresh noodles keep about a week refrigerated and freeze for a couple of months. Dried wheat noodles last a year or more in a cool, dry pantry.

Keep dried noodles sealed, since humidity makes them brittle and stale.

Quick facts

In Chinese

中国面粉面条

British (UK) term

Chinese flour noodles

en français

nouilles de farine chinois

en español

fideos de harina de China

Recipes using chinese flour noodles

There are 15 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 15 recipes