How to make Chinese Crispy Noodles
Deep-fried noodles are commonly served at Chinese restaurants, which are crunchy.
Sure, it’s tasty, but my skinny jeans don’t really like it. .
Thus, I pan-fry my Chinese Crispy Noodles when I make them at home. The meaning of this is that the middle part of the noodles doesn’t go as crispy as it would when deep-fried.
However, as long as you make the noodles relatively thin, the entire surface area of the “pancake” does become crispy, so you won’t feel like you’ve been cheated out of crispiness!
What you need for Crunchy Chow Mein
Here’s what you need for Crunchy Chow Mein. I’ve separated the photos into two components:
- base ingredients: noodles that are crispy and sauce; and
- Vegetable options for topping – there’s really no rules here. Simply use four to five cups of your favorite vegetables.
Because egg noodles are wetter and stickier than Hokkien noodles and don’t crisp up as well, they won’t work as well in this recipe for Chinese Crispy Noodles.
The reason chow mein noodles can turn crispy in a pan is because they have a distinct dryness and slightly crunchy texture (see below).
Use instant noodles or ramen noodles (see this recipe for photos), and you should be good to go! Apply oil to the uncooked noodles and bake them! (Yes, it really does work perfectly, 90% of the time)
An Appetizer of Days Past
Every few days, the Chinese crispy noodles in the restaurants I worked for were freshly fried. We gave them out as free appetizers and served them with chow mein and chop suey dishes in addition to soups.
These freshly made deep-fried noodles are becoming less and less common in restaurants these days.
Friends who live across the nation have informed me over the years that although these crispy fried noodles were a favorite in the Northeast, they were uncommon in other American Chinese restaurants.
They might look familiar to you as crispy noodles from American salads with Asian influences. e. as something of a crouton replacement. Additionally, pre-packaged La Choy chow mein noodles might be recognizable to you.
That being said, I doubt you’ll ever go back to store-bought after you try making these at home!
