Here's everything worth knowing about rice vermicelli and how to pick it, what it is, how to store it, and what to use instead, plus 23 recipes to cook tonight.

What is rice vermicelli?

Rice vermicelli are thin, brittle white noodles pressed from rice flour and water, sold dried in tight bundles or nests. In Chinese cooking they go by mai fun or mei fun; in Vietnam they are bun, and across Southeast Asia they anchor soups, salads, and fresh rolls.

They cook fast and cook gently. Unlike wheat pasta, you rarely boil them hard, and most brands need only a soak, which keeps them springy instead of gummy.

Naturally gluten-free, they carry whatever sauce or broth you give them.

How to Cook Rice Vermicelli

For salads and stir-fries, soak the dried bundles in hot or just-boiled water off the heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until pliable but still with a little bite. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking and wash off surface starch.

For soups, drop the soaked noodles into hot broth for the last minute and let the broth finish them. Over-soaking is the usual mistake: leave them too long and they turn to mush in the bowl.

A third trick is frying them dry. Dropped straight from the package into 375°F (190°C) oil, they puff into a crisp white nest in seconds, the classic base under Seven Flavor Chicken.

Cooking and Pairing

Rice vermicelli love bright, punchy partners: fish sauce, lime, chili, garlic, fresh mint and cilantro, and crunchy raw vegetables. They are the cold base in a Vietnamese bun bowl and the slippery thread inside fresh spring rolls.

They also take rich peanut and sesame dressings well, as in this Spicy Peanut Butter Noodle Salad with Cucumber and Bok Choy, and they stretch a brothy bowl like Laksa.

The most common failure is clumping. Drained noodles left to sit will fuse into a solid mat, so toss them with a little oil or keep them submerged until you build the dish.

Substitutes

The closest swap is thin rice stick (banh pho cut narrow), which behaves almost identically. Bean thread glass noodles work in soups and rolls but turn slippery and translucent rather than soft-white.

In a real pinch, cooked angel hair or thin wheat noodles give the right slither, though they lack rice flavor and are not gluten-free. Capellini cooked just to al dente is a better wheat stand-in than thicker spaghetti.

Buying and Storing

Look for bundles that are bright white and intact, not yellowed or shattered to dust. Width varies by brand, from hair-fine to slightly thicker, and thinner strands need the shortest soak.

Dried, they keep almost indefinitely in a sealed bag in a cool, dry cupboard, so they are worth stocking.

Once soaked or cooked, refrigerate in an airtight container and use within 2 to 3 days. Revive cold leftovers with a quick dip in hot water to loosen them.

Quick facts

In Chinese

米粉

British (UK) term

Rice vermicelli

en français

vermicelles de riz

en español

fideos de arroz

Recipes using rice vermicelli

There are 23 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 23 recipes