Naengmyeon noodles substitutes

Thin Japanese buckwheat noodles, the closest thing in colour and flavour that most shops carry.

Best for

mul naengmyeon, cold noodle soup, when buckwheat flavour matters most

Right colour, right earthy buckwheat note, wrong texture. Soba is brittle and slightly grainy where naengmyeon is rubbery and elastic, so it will not resist your teeth or stretch, and it starts to soften and break apart after about ten minutes in an ice-cold broth. Cook thirty seconds under the packet time, rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear, then plunge into ice water for a minute to tighten the strands.

The chewy translucent noodles used for japchae, made from sweet potato starch.

Best for

bibim naengmyeon, spicy cold noodles, when chew matters most

The opposite trade to soba and often the better pick for the spicy version. The bounce is genuinely close, glassy and elastic, because it comes from the same kind of starch. What is missing is the buckwheat: these are clear rather than grey, thicker than naengmyeon, and taste faintly sweet, so a bowl made with them reads rounder and less earthy. Rinse in very cold water and cut the tangle with scissors before serving.

A deliberate blend that splits the difference between the two things naengmyeon is doing at once.

Best for

mul naengmyeon, bibim naengmyeon, the closest available match

This is the best you can realistically get from an ordinary Asian grocery. The soba supplies the grey colour and earthy buckwheat flavour, the dangmyeon supplies the elastic chew, and in a bowl of icy broth with vinegar and mustard the mix genuinely reads as naengmyeon to most people. Cook them separately because the timings differ, then rinse both under cold water and combine in the ice bath.

Very fine white wheat noodles, widely available and the right thinness.

Best for

cold noodle bowls in general, children's portions, supermarket-only cooking

Easy to find and correctly thin, but white rather than grey and soft rather than chewy, so the defining texture is simply absent. They also go slack in cold broth within about five minutes, which is a real problem in a dish that is eaten slowly. Cook two to three minutes, rinse hard, ice-bath, drain well, and coil them into the bowl right before the broth goes in rather than in advance.

Konjac or seaweed noodles, sold ready to eat in liquid, rinsed and used cold.

Best for

low-carb cold noodles, gluten-free, very hot weather

The only option here that holds its texture indefinitely in ice-cold broth, which is a real advantage. The catch is that the texture it holds is crunchy-slippery rather than chewy-elastic, and it has no flavour at all. Rinse very thoroughly under cold running water for a full minute to remove the packing liquid smell. They also release water into the bowl, so make the broth a little stronger than usual.

The thinnest dried Italian pasta, cooked, rinsed cold and chilled.

Best for

when nothing else is in the house

Be honest with yourself here: this eats as cold pasta in cold soup. The thinness is right and the broth, which does most of the flavour work in naengmyeon, will still be excellent, so the meal is fine. But the chew that people specifically seek naengmyeon out for is gone entirely, and the pasta softens fast in cold liquid. Cook a minute short, rinse until completely cold, and dress with half a teaspoon of sesame oil to stop the strands welding.