Shanghai noodles substitutes
Shanghai noodles substitutes — 6 options, ranked, with the exact amount
Use Fresh or frozen udon
One 7 oz / 200 g pack for every person
Fresh or frozen udon is the swap most sources miss and it is genuinely excellent, one 200 g pack per person, since it matches the thickness and the soft chew almost exactly. If you are working from a supermarket, use thick spaghetti, spaghettoni or bucatini at about 3.5 oz dry per person and boil it just past al dente rather than firm. Whichever you use, toss the drained noodles in a dry hot wok for thirty seconds before the sauce goes in, because Shanghai noodles rely on surface starch to make a dark soy sauce cling.
- Verdict —
- Works
- Best for —
- Shanghai fried noodles
Updated 19 Aug 2026 · no sponsored swaps
Every option, one card
Ranked| # | Substitute | Instead of Shanghai noodles | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fresh or frozen udonShanghai fried noodles | One 7 oz / 200 g pack per personWorks | Works |
| 2 | Thick spaghetti, spaghettoni or bucatinisupermarket-only cooking | 3½ oz / 100 g dry per person, boiled just past al denteYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 3 | Fresh thick ramen or Hong Kong style noodlesstir-fried noodles | Same amount by weightYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 4 | Fresh kalguksu or jjajangmyeon noodlesShanghai fried noodles | Same amount by weightWorks | Works |
| 5 | Linguine or fettuccinepantry cooking | 3 oz / 85 g dry per personYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 6 | Dried lo mein or Hong Kong egg noodleswhen only thin noodles are stocked | Same amount by dry weightYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
Fresh or frozen udon
similar taste and texture
Thick soft Japanese wheat noodles, almost identical in gauge and softness to Shanghai noodles.
- Best for
- Shanghai fried noodles, stir-fried noodles with pork and cabbage, any thick saucy noodle dish
The best answer and surprisingly under-recommended. Same thickness, same soft yielding chew, same neutral flavour. The one real difference is that udon is smoother and pre-rinsed, so a dark soy sauce slides off rather than coating. Fix it by dry-frying the drained noodles in a very hot wok for thirty seconds until they blister slightly, then add the sauce. Frozen udon goes into boiling water for 60 to 90 seconds with no thawing.
Thick spaghetti, spaghettoni or bucatini
different taste and texture
The fattest round dried pasta available, cooked slightly softer than you would for an Italian sauce.
- Best for
- supermarket-only cooking, Shanghai fried noodles, weeknight stir-fries
Right shape, wrong firmness. Pasta stays taut where Shanghai noodles should yield, so cook it a minute past the packet time. Do not salt the water heavily, since dark and light soy will bring plenty. Save a quarter cup of the cooking water for the wok: without that starch the sauce beads up and pools instead of glazing the strands. Bucatini is the best of the three because the hollow centre traps sauce.
Fresh thick ramen or Hong Kong style noodles
different taste and texture
Refrigerated alkaline wheat noodles in a thicker cut, sold for ramen or Cantonese noodle dishes.
- Best for
- stir-fried noodles, when a Japanese or Chinese grocery is nearby
Very good, but knowingly different. The alkaline salts make these yellow and springy, so the dish snaps between the teeth rather than yielding softly, and there is a faint mineral tang that reads as ramen rather than as Shanghai noodles. Structurally excellent for stir-frying, because that same springiness means they hold up to hard tossing without breaking. Boil ninety seconds and rinse.
Fresh kalguksu or jjajangmyeon noodles
similar taste and texture
Korean fresh wheat noodles from the same soft non-alkaline dough family, flat or thick round respectively.
- Best for
- Shanghai fried noodles, when the Korean aisle is better stocked than the Chinese one
Effectively the same product under different labels, and both arrive dusted with loose flour like Shanghai noodles do, which means the sauce clings properly with no help. Jjajangmyeon noodles are the closer of the two, being thick and round. Kalguksu is flat, so it picks up more sauce per bite and the dish tastes saltier, which means cutting the soy back by about a fifth.
Linguine or fettuccine
different taste and texture
Flat dried Italian pasta, useful when nothing round and thick is available.
- Best for
- pantry cooking, quick stir-fried noodles
Edible, but the flat cross-section changes the balance noticeably. Flat strands carry far more sauce than round ones, so a soy mixture measured for thick round noodles will taste too salty and too dark against linguine. Cut the soy by roughly a fifth and add a splash of stock or water to make up the volume. Boil a minute past al dente so the noodles are soft enough to fold in the wok without snapping.
Dried lo mein or Hong Kong egg noodles
different taste and texture
Thin dried alkaline egg noodles, sold in nests or bundles.
- Best for
- when only thin noodles are stocked, chow mein style dishes
Reliable and available, but a real downgrade for this dish. They are much thinner and taste distinctly eggy, so you end up with something that eats like chow mein rather than like Shanghai fried noodles, where the whole appeal is a fat chewy strand carrying dark sauce. Use them if that is all there is, but do not expect the substitution to go unnoticed. Cook them a minute short so they survive the wok.
Questions
5 questionsCan I use spaghetti for Shanghai noodles?
Yes, and it is the most practical supermarket swap. Choose the thickest round pasta you can find, ideally spaghettoni or bucatini, and boil it about a minute past al dente so it is soft and yielding rather than firm. Go light on salt in the water because the soy sauce carries plenty. Save a quarter cup of the starchy cooking water and add it to the wok with the sauce, otherwise the sauce will bead up and slide off the smooth strands instead of glazing them.
Are Shanghai noodles the same as lo mein noodles?
No, and the difference matters. Shanghai noodles are thick, round, white and made without alkaline salts, so they are soft and doughy. Lo mein noodles are thinner, yellow and alkaline, usually with egg, so they are springy and snappy. Both get stir-fried, but Shanghai fried noodles depend on a fat, chewy strand standing up to a heavy dark sauce, and lo mein noodles are too slight for that. If you use lo mein, you have made a good dish but a different one.
What is the difference between Shanghai noodles and udon?
Less than you might think, which is why udon is such a good substitute. Both are thick, round, white wheat noodles with no alkaline salts and a soft chew. Udon is Japanese, generally a touch thicker and smoother, and it is usually sold pre-washed or frozen, whereas Shanghai noodles are sold fresh under a coat of dusting flour. The practical consequence is only that udon needs a little help gripping sauce, which a thirty second dry-fry in a hot wok solves.
Can I use rice noodles for Shanghai fried noodles?
You can, but you get a different dish. Wide flat rice noodles are the closest option and give you the right bulk, but they are slippery and tender rather than chewy, and they tear under the hard tossing this dish needs. They also absorb dark soy very readily, so the colour goes muddy fast. If you need gluten-free, use the widest fresh rice noodles you can find, toss gently with tongs, and add the sauce at the very end of cooking.
Can I leave the noodles out and use something else entirely?
Shanghai fried noodles is a noodle dish, so the noodle is not optional, but the sauce and stir-fry are versatile. The same pork, cabbage and dark soy mixture is excellent over steamed rice, which is a genuinely good dinner and takes no extra work. What you should avoid is spiralised vegetables, which release water into a wok sauce built to be thick and glossy and turn the whole thing into a puddle.
Tips for substituting Shanghai noodles
5 tips- Fresh Shanghai noodles come packed with a lot of dusting flour. Boil them in plenty of water for only two to three minutes and rinse briefly, or that loose starch turns the wok into paste and the finished dish looks grey and claggy.
- Toss the drained noodles with a teaspoon of neutral oil before they go anywhere near the wok. Thick fresh wheat noodles weld into a single block within about a minute of draining and no amount of stirring will separate them cleanly afterwards.
- Get the wok genuinely hot and then let the noodles sit still for thirty to forty seconds at a time. A few charred strands is the point of the dish. Stirring constantly steams the noodles instead and you lose the smoky edge entirely.
- This dish wants two soy sauces doing different jobs: dark soy for the mahogany colour and a faint molasses sweetness, light soy for the salt. Using only light soy gives a pale, flat-looking dish; using only dark soy gives colour but not enough seasoning.
- Buy them frozen if you have the choice. Fresh thick wheat noodles turn sour within a couple of days in the fridge, and a sour noodle cannot be rescued by any amount of sauce.