Today we’re making Chinese noodles packed with a deeply intense chicken flavor.
Here are a few tips to get the most out of it: after the first step, remove everything from the wok, including the chicken juices. Add the juices back one spoonful at a time as you cook.
This dish, along with the Thai rice noodles, is one of my favorite noodle recipes, so be sure to send me photos of your chicken noodles on Instagram!
Ingredients for chicken noodles
Light soy sauce: Light soy sauce differs from dark soy sauce, but don’t worry: it’s the salty kind you can find in any grocery store!
Hoisin sauce: Widely known for its role in the sauce for Peking duck, it is also used in many other dishes – including this one! Its distinctive sweetness enriches the overall flavor. Click here to learn more about this tasty sauce
Sesame oil: I prefer toasted sesame oil (find out the difference here), but the regular variety is usually easier to find. Either way, it is delicious, but use it sparingly – its flavor is potent.
Tips for chicken noodles
If you have an Asian supermarket nearby, you can pick from a wide range of noodles suited to this cooking style. Check the refrigerated section for fresh noodles that will heighten the “restaurant-style” feel of your chicken noodles.
Place the chicken in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes before slicing. The slight chill firms it up, making it easier to cut into paper-thin strips
At the end, let everything fry until most of the liquid at the bottom of the pan has evaporated. This concentrates the flavors as much as possible.
After cooking the noodles according to the package instructions, rinse them under cold water. This applies to any stir fried noodle dish: the cold water stops the cooking and firms up the noodles so they can withstand the wok’s high heat. Skip this step and you may end up with mushy, floury noodles – they will still taste good, but the overall flavor will be different.
You can mix and match vegetables, but pay close attention to the cooking order: small aromatics like ginger and garlic go in first to scent the oil. Onions, the white parts of cabbage, or sturdy vegetables like bell peppers come next. The green parts always go in last
Chicken Stir-Fry Noodles
Ingredients
- 450 g sliced chicken breast
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil, divided
- 60 ml chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger
- 0.5 sliced onion
- 4 servings cooked noodles
- 2 tablespoons bean sprouts
- 2 Chinese cabbage leaves with the green part separated from the white part, both sliced
- 500 g cooked noodles
Instructions
- In a bowl, season the chicken with pepper, salt and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil. Mix well and set aside.
- In another bowl, combine the chicken broth, the remaining tablespoon of sesame oil, the soy sauce, the hoisin sauce and the cornstarch. Mix well and set aside.
- Heat some oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until no longer pink inside, 3–4 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
- Add the garlic and ginger to the pan and cook until they start to brown.
- Add the onions, bean sprouts and cabbage. Stir-fry until the vegetables are tender, then add the green part of the cabbage.
- Return the cooked chicken to the pan, add the cooked noodles and the reserved sauce. Cook for 3 minutes, until everything is well coated with sauce.
Wasn’t sure about adding hoisin since I worried it would make the noodles too sweet, but it balanced beautifully with the soy and ginger and tasted way more restaurant-style than expected 🙂
These chicken stir-fry noodles took me right back to Saturday nights when my mom would toss noodles in a hot pan with garlic and ginger and the whole house smelled amazing. The little spoonfuls of reserved chicken juices is exactly the kind of trick she’d do to make everything extra savory. Made this tonight and it tasted like pure comfort 😊
Served these chicken stir-fry noodles at a dinner with friends last night, and the wok-fried flavor was such a hit that the bowl was empty in minutes. Two guests asked me to send them the recipe before they even left, and everyone kept complimenting the sauce and how perfectly the noodles held up. 😊
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, the tip about adding the chicken juices back gradually made a huge difference and the noodles turned out really flavorful. Super helpful instructions, especially the cold rinse step, it kept everything perfectly springy 🙂