I blanket my pan fried noodles with chili crisp and herbs for smokey, pungent, fragrant heat. The noodles themselves are a Hong Kong staple; they’re crunchy, chewy and way more addictive than I’d care to admit. My sauce is brimming with authentic flavors, but no fancy techniques needed. I can have this recipe on the table in under 20 minutes.
Pan fried noodles come in many forms. But this is probably my favorite. It’s Hong Kong style chow mein noodles, fried in a little bit of oil until just straddling the fine line between crispy and chewy. But, instead of making a more common savory Cantonese sauce to pour over the top, I use spicy chili crisp, chinkiang vinegar and tons of fragrant basil, cilantro and chopped green onions. I’m gaga for the bright yet smokey, funky heat.
While I love experimenting in the kitchen, sometimes I just want to eat right NOW. My favorite part about the actual cooking process of this recipe is that the simple 4 ingredient sauce does all the heavy lifting here. Chopping the herbs is probably the most labor intensive step I take here.
Table of Contents
Why I Love This
These noodles are hot, salty and fragrant with a texture as addictive as potato chips. Back when I lived in Hong Kong, I was always on the lookout for food. And I can still remember the first time I tried proper pan fried noodles with hot chili oil. It was a transformative food experience. I walked away from that meal promising myself I’d make something similar at home. And this is it.
Ingredients
Scroll to the bottom of this page for the full recipe steps and measurements.
- Chow Mein Noodles: These are delicate, thin egg noodles that have usually been parboiled before packaging.
- Oil: Any neutral flavored cooking oil works here. Because of it’s grassy flavor and low smoke point, olive oil is the wrong choice for fried noodle cakes. I use grapeseed oil, avocado oil or vegetable oil.
- Green Onions, Cilantro and Basil: These are my greens of choice. The basil and cilantro in particular veer away from what you’d typically find in HK – and lean a little more into a Southeast Asian flavor profile.
- Sesame Seeds: Optional, but delightful.
Sauce Ingredients
4 ingredients: chili crisp, chinkiang vinegar, soy sauce and broth. These days I use vegetable broth – but chicken broth is absolutely delicious too.
Chili crisp is Chinese chili oil that has been long simmered with spices, chilis and Sichuan peppercorns. It is then packed with fragrant fried garlic, fried onions and roasted fermented soy nuts for even more flavor and a crispy, crunchy texture.
Depending on the brand, the resulting chunky chili oil has a bit of of funk and heat, mixed with an almost numbing quality – that also happens to be heavy on the browned goodness from perfectly caramelized garlic and onion chips.
I use chili crisp liberally in everything from garlic shrimp to my Sichuan mapo tofu recipe.
Variations
Here are a couple ingredient substitution ideas.
- Switch sauce components. I’m partial to chili crisp. But I experimented by making this with Sichuan chili oil once. It was delicious. Smokier and much spicier.
- Use different noodles. Fair warning, rice noodles will not crisp up in a frying pan. But chili crisp goes with all noodles. I often mix this sauce in with whatever cooked pasta I have handy.
- Add chopped mint and peanuts. Fresh mint leaves take this into almost Vietnamese territory. But this two ingredient addition delivers another layer of flavor complexity with very little effort.
How To Make It
- Mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl and set it aside.
- Boil and drain the noodles. Make sure to drain off any excess moisture. Separate the noodles into 4 equal sized bunches.
- Pan fry the noodles in a little oil until browned and crispy on the exterior. Flip and repeat on the other side. See the recipe card below for general timing guidelines.
- Sauce, garnish and serve. Place the crispy noodle cakes on plates, top with sauce and chopped herbs. Serve immediately.
Expert Tip
Don’t overcook the noodles. Chow mein are Chinese egg noodles that have been parboiled and dried before packaging. They’re essentially partially pre-cooked. So I never go overboard and boil them for a long time. I’ve found that after a quick dunk in boiling water – and a good draining, Hong Kong style noodles crisp up super well in a hot pan with a little oil.
Note: While some brands will call for a dunk in boiling water, others will call for a soak in a bowl, covered in hot water. If there are cooking instructions, follow them. When in doubt, I soak in hot water until they have softened – yet still have a good chew to them. Either way, I always drain well before pan frying.
Storage
Store leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. However, these pan fried noodles are definitely best eaten fresh and hot out of the wok.
While they won’t be crispy anymore, the leftovers are actually super flavorful. I prefer eating the leftovers cold. Eat them quick! After a day in the fridge, I’ve found the noodles start to get mushy and a little spongy.
What I Serve With Spicy Pan Fried Noodles
When I make a full on Chinese feast at home, here are some of my favorite sides.
- Chinese Eggplant With Garlic Sauce
- Restaurant Style Vegetable Wonton Soup
- Veggie Egg Rolls with a side of Duck Sauce
- Chicken Egg Foo Young
- Cabbage Stir Fry with Shrimp and Dried Chiles
Frequently Asked Questions
Were they super wet when they went into the pan? Excess moisture is the number one reason pan fried noodles don’t crisp up. Drain them well after boiling. Also, the pan needs to be hot. Dripping wet noodles in a cool pan will result in steamed noodles.
Actually a mixture of both! The exterior of the noodle cake will have a crisp texture – while the interior keeps a bit of chew. It’s the best of both worlds!
As written, it’s vegetarian (provided you use veggie broth instead of chicken broth). But it isn’t vegan. Since chow mein noodles are egg noodles, vegans may want to try this sauce with something like cooked rice noodles or spaghetti – and forget about making crispy noodle cakes. Or you can try one of these plug and play vegan Asian noodle recipes: spicy vegan Sichuan noodles, vegan dan dan noodles, japchae, vegan jajangmyeon or vegan tantanmen.
Did you like this recipe? Are there changes you made that you would like to share? Share your tips and recommendations in the comments section below!
Print
Pan Fried Noodles With Chili Crisp
- Prep Time: 7 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 2 people 1x
- Category: Noodles
- Method: Pan frying
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Hong Kong crispy pan fried noodles with a spicy, fragrant twist. Simple ingredients list – but there’s nothing simple about the punchy flavor and addictive texture.
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 2 tablespoons chili crisp
- 2 tablespoons vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon chinkiang vinegar
Dry ingredients:
- 12 ounces chow mein noodles (about 340 grams)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 4 green onions, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup basil, finely chopped
- ground sesame seeds for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Make the sauce. Mix the chili crisp, broth, soy sauce and chinkiang vinegar in a bowl and set aside.
- Boil and drain the noodles. Prepare the chow mein noodles according to the timing instructions on the package. Don’t overcook! Drain well and separate the cooked chow mein noodles into 4 equal bunches.
- Pan fry the noodles. In a large pan over medium-high heat add vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add one bunch of the noodles and spread evenly across the bottom of the pan like a pancake. Fry the noodles for 3-5 minutes, until they become browned and crispy – then carefully turn them over. Fry on the other side for an additional 2-3 minutes until both sides are golden brown. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining noodle bunches.
- Sauce, garnish and serve. Drizzle the pan-fried noodle cakes with about half of the sauce. Top noodles with cilantro, basil and scallions – and serve with remaining sauce on the side.
Notes
These pan fried noodles are best when served immediately. While leftovers can be kept in the fridge for 1 day, the leftover noodles will no longer be crispy.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 821
- Sugar: 9.6g
- Sodium: 2140mg
- Fat: 35.8g
- Saturated Fat: 5.1g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10.8g
- Trans Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 107.6g
- Fiber: 5.7g
- Protein: 13.1g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
This recipe was delicious! So tasty and simple. I did have a question for next time – how do you keep the first batches of noodles hot for serving? The last batch cooked obviously was great but the first couple were no longer hot and lost some of the crispiness. Any suggestions? Was thinking putting in the oven on low temp possibly…
Hi Amanda! If you are serving several plates of noodles, I would suggest using more than one skillet if that’s a possibility, and cook them at the same time. If not, you could definitely try to keep them in the oven. That’s a great idea that I think would work well 🙂
I can’t find chow mein or pan fried hong Kong noodles. Can you suggest something thanks
Hi Angela! The result won’t exactly be the same but you can use vermicelli noodles or thin spaghetti 🙂
I can wait to try this recipe I ordered the Hong Kong egg noodles and bought the fly by jing chili crisp. Do I have to use that exact vinegar or is there a substitute?
Hi Karen! It’s preferable to use chinkiang vinegar as it has a unique, fruity taste. But you can achieve a similar taste by mixing 2 part rice vinegar and 1 part soy sauce, or 1 part balsamic vinegar and 1 part rice vinegar. I hope this helps and that you enjoy the dish 🙂
These are delicious, but I could never get them to pan fry consistently. Today my partner cooked them in the waffle maker, and they were perfect
How do I “pin” your recipes?
Hi Jo Ann! The Pinterest feature has been temporarily disabled as we are in the midst of a website redesign. But here’s one pin from this dish I posted a while ago 🙂 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/297448750398142376/
Omg this turned out so nice and it’s so cheap to make too!
I couldn’t find Chow mein noodles so I substitute with thin egg noodles and instead of 2tbsp soy I did 1 and 1tbs sweet soy, and the crisp chili I you d was “prawn crisp chili”. I also added some sesame oil at the end and wow! Enjoyed it a lot
Thanks for sharing this recipe, I’ll be making this again and again.
That’s so great Andrew! We love this recipe quite a bit too and make it whenever we feel lazy in the kitchen :)!
Just wondering whether I could make chilli crisp at home? Or buy ingredients separately? I couldn’t find it in the supermarket. Thank you.
Hi Grace, I wouldn’t know how to make chili crisp from scratch 🙁 The flavor is pretty complex so it might be hard to find the ingredients and match the flavor. You can order it online on Amazon or do a Google search for the closest Asian supermarket in your area as they might have it 🙂
I’m not sure I got exactly the right kind of noodles, but this dish was wonderful! I loved the contrast of textures and flavors. I could eat this every day. 🙂
Thank you Jen! 🙂