17 Chinese Noodle Recipes You’ll Make Again and Again

Noodles are a staple in Chinese cuisine, enjoyed during lunch rushes and as crowd-favorites at holiday celebrations. They come in a wide range of forms, from egg to rice noodles, from wide and chewy to crispy and thin, from fried to steamed, there are so many types and ways to cook them. The combinations truly feel infinite. Here, we’ve put together a modest list of recipes that just scratch the surface of noodle dishes within Chinese cuisine. You’ll find Chinese American restaurant icons like lo mein, dim sum staples like fresh rolled rice noodles and whimsical spins like oversized chewy potato noodles tossed in chili oil.

Start with Soy Sauce Chow Shrimp Egg Noodles. This recipe is loosely based on a traditional noodle dish called soy sauce chow mein, made by stir-frying noodles with soy sauce, sesame oil, bean sprouts and scallions and served as a side dish. We’ve developed this version to include a protein in the stir-fry, so it makes a complete weeknight meal that can be prepared in a little over 30 minutes. We've also made it easy to customize with different types of proteins and leafy greens as an alternative to bean sprouts. The sauce has a good balance of savory, sweet and umami to showcase the flavor of the shrimp from the noodles; it is pretty close to the traditional version but with fish sauce added for more umami flavor. A good tip for every stir-fry is to have all the components ready as there is no time to prep during the high-heat cooking.

Steamed beef rice rolls are another highlight of dim sum. The trickiest part of the dish is perfecting the beef mixture. It has to be thin enough to steam within the same time frame as the rice noodle, yet there has to be enough of it to fill the whole piece. This recipe helps you achieve both.

Lo mein is a stir-fried noodle dish that has become a staple on Chinese American restaurant menus. This recipe is Jet Tila's adaptation of the American takeout favorite.

Pro-tip: tianjin preserved vegetable is a salted cabbage. It adds a delicious tang and umami to Jet Tila’s recipe. Leave it out if you can’t find it. But it’s available online and in many Asian stores.

Singapore mei fun, a classic noodle dish in Chinese restaurants around the world, did not originate in Singapore — and many Singaporeans have not even heard of the dish that bears their country’s name. It was created in Hong Kong when it was a British colony and curry powder was readily available. Mixed with rice noodles and a variety of proteins and vegetables, it is the perfect seasoning for this satisfying stir-fry.

Crispy pan-fried noodles originated in the Shanghai and Suzhou region of China. As Shanghainese people migrated to Hong Kong, the dish came with them and became very popular there. It’s known by a number of names, including "Hong Kong–style noodle" and "pan-fried noodles" in English; in Cantonese, it’s often called "gong sik chow mein," and also the traditional "liang mein huang" (literally "two face golden," describing the two golden sides of the noodle nest). This recipe is the restaurant-style version with crunchy deep-fried noodles surrounding sautéed chicken and vegetables covered in brown gravy.

Steamed shrimp rice rolls are a staple at any dim sum restaurant. The homemade versions are even more delicious — just minutes out of the wok, the noodles melt in your mouth. Making them takes a little practice. The rice roll itself needs to be thin enough so you can see the just cooked pink shrimp peering out through the translucent “blanket,” yet it must be sturdy enough to wrap the seafood without any tears or cracks.

Soft and chewy rice noodles, strips of tender marinated flank steak and crisp vegetables are all bathed in a wonderful amount of flavorful sauce in this stir-fry. Sometimes called saucy beef chow ho (“sup chow ngau ho” in Cantonese), it’s a close cousin to the dry beef chow fun that is popular in Chinese restaurants. The difference is the generous amount of savory gravy that coats everything in this version, making it terrifically slurp-able. The tender noodles are cut wide from sheets of fresh rice noodles, which can be found in stores specializing in Chinese ingredients. This recipe is similar to what you might find in a restaurant, although in our recipe we’ve replaced the usual vegetable, leafy green choy sum, with bell peppers and onions for a touch of sweetness and crunch.

Wonton mein, or Wonton Noodle Soup, is a comfort food classic in Cantonese cuisine. As Jet Tila describes it, this dish is a “threefer,” with its soft tangle of noodles, satisfying dumplings and soul warming broth. Here, Jet shows us how to put together a quick chicken broth so you can get dinner on the table fast. Look in the refrigerated aisle of your local Asian grocery store for fresh wonton noodles, otherwise feel free to swap in any other noodles you have on hand.

Walk past any of the eight Xi’an Famous Foods in New York City and you’re bound to see a crowd. The restaurants are legendary for their hand-pulled noodles, inspired by the foods of Xi’an, China, where owner Jason Wang grew up. His dad David Shi opened their first restaurant in 2005, and since then the family has introduced thousands of people to Xi’an’s dense, chewy, irresistible noodles. We asked Jason to show us how to make them at home.

In this version of chow mein, you’ll get a crispy-on-the-outside-but-soft-on-the-inside noodle cake, smothered with a rich savory chicken and bok choy gravy.

Noodles are a part of many celebratory Chinese meals, Lunar New Year included. Not only do these yi mein symbolize long life, but eating them is believed to bring prosperity and luck.

This is a favorite Southern Chinese dish made with wide, thick rice noodles. The noodles are tossed in a searing hot wok along with beef and veggies to make a smoky, charred noodle dish. The right noodles may not always be easy to find, which is why this recipe includes instructions for how to make your own rice noodles from scratch!

This noodle dish makes for a filling and pretty complete meal. The key is to use Shanghai-style noodles, which are thick and bouncy. If those are difficult to find, Japanese-style udon noodles are a great substitution. While the dish calls for pork, it's not central to the flavor, so vegetarians can omit it if they wish.

This combination of thin chewy rice noodles wrapped around crunchy fried dough with a drizzle of sweet soy sauce is irresistible.

While shrimp lo mein is normally stir-fried in a wok, this version of the Chinese American classic is cooked and tossed together on a sheet pan. This method takes advantage of the pan's large surface area and the intense heat of the broiler, which allow you to cook a generous amount of lo mein (enough to feed four) without the constant stirring. If you want to step it up a notch, we recommend adding minced garlic (along with the shrimp) and a splash of Chinese dark soy sauce.