Noodle mush, no more! Here’s how we make perfect rice noodles for dishes like pad thai, pho, and spring rolls, plus a few extra tips.
Rice noodles are much more delicate and fragile than their wheat noodle counterparts. This actually makes them so easy to prepare that we hardly think of it as cooking.
Place all your rice noodles in a deep mixing bowl, trying to snap as few of them as possible as you remove them from the package (always a challenge for us). Bring a good amount of water to boil. Pour the boiling water over the rice noodles until they are completely submerged.
Every minute or two, give the noodles a stir to loosen them up. When they are completely limp, give them a taste to see if they’re cooked through. The thread-like vermicelli noodles used in spring rolls will cook through in just a few minutes. The flat rice noodles might take upwards of ten minutes depending on thickness. Pay attention and test the noodles frequently because they’ll become mushy if they overcook.
Once the noodles are tender, drain them and run them under cool water to stop the cooking. Toss them with a bit of sesame oil to keep the noodles from sticking to each other if you’re not going to use them right away.
Additional Tips:
• If the noodles will be used in a stir-fry dish like pad thai, you definitely want to under-cook them a bit. They will absorb more moisture and cook the rest of the way through once in the stir fry. If your noodles are perfectly cooked to start, they will turn to mush in the stir fry. Trust us, we’ve done that more times than we can count!
• If you’re making a soup, you can cook the noodles directly in the broth. Add them just before serving and monitor closely to make sure they don’t over-cook.
• Even with a bit of sesame oil, the noodles still tend to clump up after you drain them. They will loosen again once you mix the noodles into your dish.
What other tips do you have for cooking with rice noodles?
Related: New from Annie Chun’s: Brown Rice Noodles
(Image: Emma Christensen)
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omg how did you know I've always wanted to make rice noodle the right way. thank for sharing this now I have to go try to prefect it.
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When I make them for spring rolls, after soaking and before rolling, I cut them into smaller pieces; I find them easier to eat that way.
I could have used this last night! I had serious rice noodle malfunction and had to redo a batch for soup. I always make the mistake of boiling them.
For thicker noodles in a soup or broth, I tend to cook them separately because they can release a lot of starch into the broth by the time they're done cooking.
I like to soak them in hot, not boiling water - makes it harder to overcook and turn them into mush.
We had this discussion on the Kitchn a few weeks ago: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/good-questions/how-can-i-keep-rice-noodles-from-sticking-together-good-questions-127357
There was lots of consensus that boiling water is too hot, and that for stirfrying rice noodles, a soak in cold or room temp water is actually preferred.
For Pad Thai and similar dishes, you should soak in cold water. The noodles will still be a tad stiff. Then fry them in a super hot wok.
I just made some rice noodles for dinner tonight. I soaked in warm water for about 10 mins, then stir-fried. They weren't really soft yet, so I kept going another minute or two. Boy, did they go from firm to mushy fast! Luckily I caught them right as they were turning, but I was a bit late. Next time I will pull them just before they seem done.