Oriental noodles rewards a little know-how: how to choose them, cook them, store them, and substitute in a pinch. Browse 13 recipes to cook with them.

What are oriental noodles?

"Oriental noodles" is a catch-all label rather than one specific noodle. When a recipe calls for it, it usually means whatever quick-cooking Asian noodle suits the dish, most often a thin wheat or egg noodle, sometimes ramen, occasionally a rice noodle.

Because the term is so loose, the right move is to read the dish and pick. A stir-fry wants a springy wheat or egg noodle; a brothy soup wants something that stays tender; a cold salad wants a noodle that holds up after rinsing.

How to Use Oriental Noodles

Most of the wheat and egg noodles this label covers cook fast, in roughly 3 to 5 minutes in boiling water. The key, true of nearly all Asian noodles, is to stop while they still have bite, since they finish cooking in the hot pan or broth.

Drain, and for stir-fries toss with a touch of oil so the strands stay loose. They take a savory sauce built on soy sauce and sesame oil, sharpened with garlic, then get tossed with vegetables and protein.

This is the noodle behind Indonesian-style fried noodle dishes like Bep's Barmi Goreng and Bahmi Goreng (Fried Noodles), and behind a cold, spicy plate like Good Neighbor Szechuan Noodles.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

These noodles pair with the usual stir-fry crew: soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, scallion, and crunchy vegetables, plus chicken, beef, shrimp, or tofu.

The first mistake is overcooking. Boiled limp, the noodle turns to mush in the wok, so pull it while firm and let it finish in the sauce.

The second mistake is treating "oriental noodles" as one thing. A rice noodle and an egg noodle behave very differently, so match the noodle to how the dish is built. If the recipe pan-fries until crisp, reach for a wheat egg noodle, not a delicate rice noodle.

Substitutes

Since the label is already generic, swaps are easy. Chow mein, lo mein, ramen, or any thin fresh wheat egg noodle cover most stir-fry and soup uses interchangeably.

For a gluten-free dish, rice noodles or rice sticks step in, though they go soft faster and need a gentler hand. In a Western pantry, thin spaghetti or vermicelli, drained and oiled, is a workable stand-in for the wheat types.

Buying and Storing

Because this is a category, you will rarely see a package literally labeled "oriental noodles." Shop for the type your recipe implies: fresh egg noodles in the refrigerated case, or dried bundles and ramen-style blocks on the shelf.

Dried wheat noodles keep for a year or more in a cool, dry pantry. Fresh noodles last about a week refrigerated and freeze for a couple of months. Keep dried noodles sealed against humidity, which makes them stale and brittle.

Quick facts

In Chinese

东方面条

British (UK) term

Oriental noodles

en français

nouilles orientales

en español

fideos orientales

Recipes using oriental noodles

There are 13 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 13 recipes