Banh canh noodles substitutes

The best accessible answer and stocked in almost any Asian grocery and many large supermarkets. Frozen udon is far better than the shelf-stable vacuum packs, which tend to be soft and sour-tasting, so buy frozen if you have the choice.

Best for

banh canh cua, banh canh gio heo, banh canh ca, any banh canh soup

Right thickness, right satisfying heft, and it takes a hot broth without falling apart. What changes is the bite and the broth. Udon is wheat, so it is soft, dense and slightly doughy rather than bouncy and slippery, and it releases almost no starch, so the soup stays thin and clear where banh canh broth should cling to the spoon. Rinse the noodles briefly after boiling, then add a tapioca starch slurry to the broth to make up the difference.

The cylinder-shaped tteokbokki rice cakes, or the oval sliced ones for soup, are the nearest thing in the mouth to a real banh canh noodle. Soak refrigerated ones in cold water for ten minutes first so they soften evenly.

Best for

banh canh cua, crab and pork soups, when the chew matters most

The bouncy, springy, slightly resistant chew is almost exactly right, and rice cakes shed starch as they cook, so the broth thickens the way it should. The shape is the compromise: they are short and stubby rather than long, so you eat them with a spoon rather than slurping them, and they are denser and more filling, so use a little less than you would noodles. They also keep softening and eventually go pasty, so do not let the pot sit.

This is what banh canh bot loc actually is, and it costs almost nothing. Pour boiling water into the starch, stir hard, knead the hot dough until smooth and elastic, roll it out, cut fat strips, and boil them for two to three minutes until they float and turn clear.

Best for

banh canh bot loc, authentic texture, gluten-free banh canh, when no shop stocks the noodle

The real thing, chewy and translucent, and it thickens the broth exactly as it should because it is pure tapioca. The only difficulties are practical: the dough must be worked hot or it crumbles, the strips stick to each other so toss them in a little dry starch after cutting, and they turn gluey if boiled more than about three minutes. Boil them in water, not directly in your broth, or the soup thickens into paste.

Fresh wide or thick rice noodles from the chilled section, sometimes sold as fresh rice noodle rolls or thick pho noodles. Cut the wide sheets into fat strips if that is the format you find.

Best for

banh canh ca, fish and light broths, gluten-free versions

Rice-based like some banh canh, so the mild, faintly sweet flavour is right and the broth thickens a little. But rice noodles are soft and tender rather than springy, so you lose the specific bounce entirely, and they break apart if you stir the pot hard or reheat leftovers. Fold them into the bowl at the last moment rather than boiling them in the soup.

The supermarket-only option, and bucatini is the better of the two because the hollow centre traps broth. Cook it most of the way in salted water, then finish it in the simmering soup for the last two minutes so it picks up flavour and gives back some starch.

Best for

improvised banh canh, when only Italian pasta is available

You get the right heft and something to chew, and finishing it in the broth adds a little body. But durum pasta tastes distinctly of wheat, it is firm and toothy instead of slippery and bouncy, and it never becomes slick, so the soup and the noodle stay separate rather than merging. Salt the broth a touch harder, because unsalted pasta pulls seasoning out of the soup.

The wide, thick Korean or Chinese sweet potato starch noodles, not the thin glass noodle threads. A good pick if your grocery has the noodle aisle but no banh canh.

Best for

banh canh cua, hearty pork broths, gluten-free versions

Excellent chew, arguably chewier than the real thing, and satisfying to eat. They are greyer and more translucent though, so the bowl looks wrong, and they keep drinking broth as they sit, so a bowl left ten minutes has swollen noodles and very little soup. They also stay resolutely elastic where banh canh softens slightly. Cook them separately and portion into bowls just before serving.