Chinese Egg Noodles substitute

Best substitute

Plain instant ramen noodle bricks

Use 1 brick (about 85g) for every person

Best for wonton noodle soup

Close match

Steamed and dried alkaline wheat noodles, sold everywhere for very little money.

Other chinese egg noodles substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Fresh yellow noodles, Hokkien mee or yakisoba noodles
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Fresh or pre-steamed alkaline wheat noodles from the refrigerated aisle, usually eggless despite the yellow colour.
What changes
Best for
stir-fried noodles, noodle soup, saucy noodle dishes
The bounce and colour are right, so structurally these are a straight swap. Without egg the flavour is slightly leaner and less round, which matters most in a plain broth and hardly at all in a soy-and-oyster-sauce stir-fry. Hokkien-style noodles are usually thicker than Hong Kong noodles, so the finished dish feels heavier and holds less sauce per bite.
3Spaghetti, thin spaghetti or linguine boiled with baking soda
Different taste
Use the same amount by dry weight, plus 1 teaspoon baking soda per 2 litres of water
Alkaline cooking water reproduces some of what the alkaline salts in the dough are doing.
What changes
Best for
stir-fried noodles, lo mein, chow mein, noodle salads
Expect a yellower, slippier, distinctly springier noodle and a faint pretzel smell from the pot. Leave out the salt, use a large pan because it foams, and cook two minutes shy of the box. It still tastes like durum wheat, so it is sweeter and rounder than the real thing, and it is too smooth to ruffle in soup the way a fresh noodle does. Very good in a stir-fry, only adequate in a clear broth.
4Western dried egg noodles or fresh tagliatelle
Different texture
Use the same amount by dry weight
The curly nests and flat ribbons sold as egg noodles in most supermarkets, made from wheat and egg with no alkaline salts.
What changes
Best for
noodle soups, saucy braised dishes, one-pan noodle dinners
Right richness, wrong texture, and worth understanding because it is the commonest mix-up. Without alkali the gluten stays slack, so these noodles cook up soft and floury, absorb liquid greedily and break when tossed hard in a wok. In a brothy dish they will thicken the soup and go mushy if it sits. Undercook by two minutes, rinse, and add them at the very last moment.
5Udon noodles
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount or 200g frozen or vacuum-packed udon per person
Thick, white, extremely chewy wheat noodles with neither egg nor alkali.
What changes
Best for
hearty noodle soups, saucy stir-fries, winter noodle bowls
Sturdy and satisfying, and completely different in the mouth: thick and dense rather than thin and springy, with a smooth surface that carries much less sauce or broth per bite. Thicken your sauce slightly so it clings, or season the broth a little more strongly. Serve smaller portions, because udon is much more filling by volume.
6Rice noodles or rice vermicelli (gluten-free)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by dry weight
The practical gluten-free option, since every Chinese egg noodle is a wheat noodle.
What changes
Best for
gluten-free noodle soups, gluten-free stir-fried noodles
Honest expectations: you lose both things that define the noodle, the egg richness and the alkaline bounce. Rice noodles are soft, slippery and fragile, they break under tossing, and they keep drinking up broth so the bowl dries out. Soak rather than boil, undercook, and add them at the end. Sweet potato starch noodles are the better gluten-free bet if what you want is chew.

What is Chinese Egg Noodles?

Chinese Egg Noodles is Chinese egg noodles are wheat noodles made with egg and a small amount of alkaline salt, sold fresh in springy coils or dried in flat nests, and labelled variously as Hong Kong noodles, wonton noodles, yellow noodles or just mein.

Cooking tips

Fresh Chinese egg noodles are coated in starch or flour to stop them sticking in the packet. Shake the coil hard over the sink and fan the strands apart with your fingers before they go into the water, or the coating gums together and the middle of the nest cooks unevenly.
For wonton noodle soup, cook the noodles in a separate pot for only 60 to 90 seconds, then lift them into cold water and back into hot broth. That double dip is what gives the springy, almost snappy bite the dish is known for, and it keeps the alkaline starch out of your clear broth.
Do not salt the water for alkaline noodles. They already carry salt from the dough, and salted water flattens the flavour and does nothing for the texture. Save the salted water rule for the Italian pasta you are using as a stand-in, and even then skip it if you are adding baking soda.
For a stir-fry, boil the noodles a minute short, rinse them cold, drain very thoroughly and toss with a teaspoon of oil. Any water left clinging turns to steam in the wok, and steamed noodles never take on the browned, faintly smoky edge that makes stir-fried noodles taste like takeout.
Fresh egg noodles keep only a few days in the fridge and turn grey and sour-smelling when they go off. They freeze well in their packet for a couple of months and can go straight from frozen into boiling water; just add about 30 seconds to the cooking time.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Chinese egg noodles and regular egg noodles?

The alkali. Chinese egg noodles contain a little alkaline salt, traditionally lye water or kansui, which tightens the gluten and gives them their yellow colour, springy snap and slippery surface, and lets them sit in hot broth without dissolving. Western dried egg noodles, the curly nests sold for soups and stroganoff, have no alkali, so they cook up soft, floury and absorbent. You can swap them, but a stir-fry made with the Western kind will be softer and the noodles will break more.

Can I use instant ramen instead of Chinese egg noodles?

Yes, and it is the best cheap swap there is. Instant noodle cakes are made from the same alkaline wheat dough, then steamed and dried, so the bounce and colour are right. Throw away the seasoning sachet, boil for two minutes only, and drain well. They contain no egg, so a plain broth will taste slightly less rich, which a little sesame oil or a richer stock easily covers.

Which noodle should I buy for wonton soup versus lo mein?

For wonton noodle soup you want the thinnest fresh Hong Kong style egg noodles, sometimes labelled wonton noodles, because their snap is the point and they cook in about a minute. For lo mein you want a slightly thicker fresh or dried egg noodle that can be tossed in sauce without breaking. If the shop has only one kind, use it for both; adjust the cooking time rather than hunting for a second packet.

Are Chinese egg noodles vegan or gluten-free?

Neither, as a rule. Most contain wheat flour and egg, though a few brands labelled yellow noodles or Hokkien noodles are eggless and get their colour from the alkali alone, so the ingredient list is worth reading. There is no gluten-free equivalent, because the texture depends on wheat gluten reacting with alkali; rice noodles are the usual substitute and give a soft, slippery result instead.

Can I leave the noodles out of the dish?

In a noodle soup or a stir-fried noodle dish the noodle is the dish, so no, but serving the broth, meat and vegetables over rice is a genuine and common alternative rather than a compromise. What is worth avoiding is substituting something that collapses, such as fully boiled rice vermicelli in a hot wok, because a broken mushy noodle spoils the dish more thoroughly than having no noodle at all.

Related substitutes

More pasta & noodles substitutes

Chinese Egg Noodles substitute

Other chinese egg noodles substitutes

2Fresh yellow noodles, Hokkien mee or yakisoba noodles

3Spaghetti, thin spaghetti or linguine boiled with baking soda

4Western dried egg noodles or fresh tagliatelle

5Udon noodles

6Rice noodles or rice vermicelli (gluten-free)