Naengmyeon Noodles substitute

Substitutes for Naengmyeon Noodles with ratios

1. 2Korean sweet potato starch noodles (dangmyeon)

   Different taste

   Use 3 oz / 85 g dry for every person

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

   What changes

   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.

2. 3Half soba and half sweet potato starch noodles

   Close match

   Use 1.5 oz / 45 g of each for every person, cooked separately

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

   What changes

   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.

3. 4Somyeon or somen (thin wheat noodles)

   Taste and texture differ

   Use 3 oz / 85 g dry for every person

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

   What changes

   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.

4. 5Kelp noodles or shirataki

   Taste and texture differ

   Use One 7 oz / 200 g drained pack for every person

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

   What changes

   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.

5. 6Angel hair or capellini, iced (last resort)

   Taste and texture differ

   Use 3 oz / 85 g dry for every person

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

   What changes

   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.