Stir-fried noodles are a cornerstone of Asian and Chinese cuisine. For millennia, cooks have prepared noodles in countless ways. Here is my street-food style stir-fried noodle recipe.
Why call it street food? Street food is defined by lightning-fast cooking and plenty of fat. Although almost any stir-fried noodle dish could be labeled “street food”, you can also make refined versions… but these noodles are not one of them! For something similar, my pork noodles recipe is fantastic.
Ingredients for street-food style stir-fried noodles
Light and dark soy sauce: The light version is the standard bottle you will find in most supermarkets, while dark soy sauce is a bit harder to source; look for it in Asian grocery stores.
Rice vinegar: An Asian vinegar that is now widely available. I highly recommend having a bottle on hand.
Oyster sauce: It does not taste like oysters, but it is essential to the flavor of many Asian dishes. You can replace it, though imperfectly, but I suggest getting the real thing.
Shaoxing wine: This Chinese cooking wine is indispensable in many recipes on the site. Click to see possible substitutes, but be aware the taste will not be the same.
Cornstarch or Maizena: It gives the meat a wonderful texture and also thickens the sauce to the syrupy consistency we love.
How to make street-food style stir-fried noodles?
The first step is to marinate the meat; that is what gives it amazing flavor. I recommend one hour, but if you are pressed for time, 5-10 minutes will still work wonders.
Meanwhile, cook the noodles, rinse them under cold water to stop the cooking, and prepare the sauce.
We will start by cooking the eggs; they are not essential, but they add a nice touch to the dish, just like the bean sprouts.
Finally, after stir-frying the meat and setting it aside, sauté the aromatics, then the vegetables, before returning everything to the wok: noodles, sauce, meat, and eggs. Give it all a good toss.
Street-Style Stir-Fried Noodles
Ingredients
- 300 g sliced beef
- 150 g pre-cooked noodles (dry weight)
- 1 handful of bean sprouts
- 1 sliced onion
- 3 minced garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon sliced white part of spring onions
- 3 beaten eggs
- 5 leaves Chinese cabbage, white and green parts separated and cut into strips
- 3 tablespoons animal fat (beef, duck, …) or alternatively vegetable oil
MARINADE
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
SAUCE
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 0.5 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Marinate the meat for one hour
- In a bowl, prepare the sauce and cook the noodles
- Cook the eggs in a pan like an omelette, then set aside on a plate and cut into pieces
- Heat some oil in a wok over high heat and stir-fry the meat for 2–3 minutes, then set aside.
- Reheat the wok and add the garlic/ginger/white parts of the spring onions
- As soon as it browns, add the onions, white parts of the cabbage, and bean sprouts
- Once they have softened, add the green parts of the cabbage and stir-fry for another 3 min.
- Add the noodles, meat, eggs and sauce, and stir-fry for a good 5 minutes, or until the sauce has evaporated and the whole dish is nicely browned.
The smell of garlic, ginger, and soy sizzling in the wok took me straight back to my uncle’s tiny kitchen, where he’d toss noodles in a hot pan and tell us to wait for that caramelised edge. Loved the street-food richness here, especially with the eggs and bean sprouts mixed in, it’s pure comfort food. 😊
Wasn’t convinced the oyster sauce and animal fat would work together, but after letting the sauce really evaporate and caramelise in the wok the noodles turned out insanely flavorful with that perfect street-food char 😋
Made these last night and the sauce caramelized beautifully; honestly they’re as good as, if not better than, the stir-fried noodles I get at my local Chinese restaurant. The beef stayed super tender thanks to the marinade, and the oyster sauce plus dark soy combo really nailed that street-food flavor 😋
Made these on a busy weeknight when I was exhausted and short on time, and they came together so fast with big street-food flavor. The sauce caramelized beautifully and dinner was on the table in no time 🙂