Basic Chinese style homemade (handmade) Chinese noodles recipe. If you are searching for some idea about how to make yummy Chinese style noodle dishes, check Chinese noodle recipes.
It is really interesting when you make noodles at home. Chinese people especially people from the Northern provinces think this is just a routine for daily life. Homemade noodles usually provide a more chewy taste than store bought ones. If you visits Chinese friends, and they treat you with fresh handmade noodles, then I would love to congratulate you for a real friendship.
The basic steps are easy but there are lots of details for the perfect outcome.
Firstly about the basic ingredients:
For noodles, high gluten flour will be highly recommended for a chewy taste. But if you really do not care about the taste that much, all-purpose flour is quite Ok too.
About how much water;
Usually the dough for noodles should be tougher than steamed buns so for 250g flour, I would use around 120g of water. The ratio is slightly less than 2:1. However this is not a actuate number since different flours have different water-absorbing capacity. Usually high gluten flour has a higher water-absorbing capacity. So the rule is to add the water little by little and make some adjustment if necessary.
The toughness of the dough should be harder than steamed buns. You may feel difficult in kneading the dough at the very beginning. If you are not skilled in dealing with tough dough, rest it for around 10 minutes and then continue kneading until the dough is smooth.
If you use egg liquid to replace water partly or completely, then this will be homemade egg noodles.
Now let’s begin
Add flour, (egg) pinch of salt in a deep bowl. Pour in water step by step. Stir the flour with a tool. Stop pouring water when you see there is no dry flour in your bowl.
Grasp everything together and begin kneading the dough until your hand is clean, your bowl is clean and the dough has a smooth surface. Then keep kneading for another 10 minutes. Cover with a wet cloth and rest for around 30 minutes. After that, the dough will become slightly softer.
Transfer the dough to a floured operating board, should be large enough in picture 1. Roll it into a thick wrapper firstly as picture 2.
Roll the dough into rectangle or round wrapper with around 0.5 cm in thick, keeping remaining dough covered with flour (picture 3 and 4).
Fold the large dough wrapper around 5cm wide(picture 5) . Each time after folding up, spread the surface with flour. Cut the remaining part off.
Cut the folded dough into thin strips with a sharp and dry knife. (picture 6)
Spread flour on the surface before picking the noodle strips.
Unfold the strips one by one and then shake the extra flour off.
Here we are.
How to cook: cook the noodles in boiling water for around 4 minutes. Each time when the water is boiling in your pot, add around 1/4 cup of cold water, wait boiling again. Repeat the process once.
Ingredients
- 250 g high gluten flour , around 1 cup+2/3 cup
- 120 g water , around 120ml, can be replaced by egg liquid partly or completely
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Add flour, pinch of salt in a deep bowl. Pour in water slowly. Stir the flour with a tool. Stop pouring water when there is no dry flour in the mixing bowl (depending on the flour you are using, the water absorption might be different. )
- Knead the dough until your hand is clean, your bowl is clean and the dough is smooth. Then keep kneading for another 10 minutes.
- Cover with a wet cloth and rest for around 30 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a large floured operating board. Roll it into a thick wrapper firstly.
- Roll the dough into paper-thin rectangle or round wrapper, keeping remaining dough covered with flour.
- Roll the dough into rectangle or round wrapper with around 0.5 cm in thick, keeping remaining dough covered with flour.
- Fold the large dough wrapper around 5cm wide. Each time after folding up, spread the surface with flour. Cut any irregular part if necessary.
- Cut the folded dough into thin strips with a sharp and dry knife.
- Spread flour on the surface before picking the noodle strips.
- Unfold the strips one by one and then shake the extra flour off.
- Cook them directly or refrigerated up to 7 days in air--tight bags.
Nutrition
Cooked ! It tastes really good!
I love fresh prepare knife noodles,thank u ur noodles look yummy…lov it
Since the dough for Chinese noodle is the same as other pasta or noodle recipes, how are they different?
Thank you
Marie
Hi Marie,
Frankly I do not know the exact differences too. Noodles are always made from flour, water, salt and eggs. The only difference might be the ratio of the ingredients.
I love every bit of your methods and will love to practice them on my own.
Im a lover home made foods and i believe your site will make me better.
Thanks.
Thanks May! I believe I am a home made foods lover too, as I am always trying to make various ingredients at home. Let’s cook and share together in the next year. Happy new year.
hi, i tried at home but did not turn good as it was eggless.
Hi Heena,
Egg really is not essential to noodles for soups, but more kneading is needed. If you plan to make pan-fried noodles, you need to add egg liquid to the dough like this one https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/chinese-egg-noodles-handmade-version/.
Hi,,,thanks for the sharing the information and anything else.that’s is so great.now i cant make handmade noodles.thank you so much.???
You are the most welcome! Vicky. Happy cooking.
I made these today with my children. It was fun and they taste really good. I used bread flour. We put a little soy sauce on top. I am wondering if there is an easier way than unfolding each noodle individually? The kids liked them so much that they wanted quite a lot.
Hi Beth,
Thanks for the feedback. If you do not need to make them neat for a nice picture like me, you can grasp the noodles and swing them slightly.They should be separated quickly.
Hey all
I brought a noodle machine you turn the handle and the pastry comes out as noodles , its the first time I tried to make noodles so i looked online and followed your simple recipe just flour water little salt , first time was alittle sticky as noodles would stick together so I put back in bowl added more flour to make them dryer gave them a little more push pull ,then holy moly they came out perfect and more tasy than the shop ones
thanks so easy peasy
Russell from New Zealand
Thanks Russell for the feedback.
Homemade noodles really taste great. But they are time-consuming. I love the idea to use a noodle machine for time saving. I personally love hand-kneading because I can eat one more bowl after the kneading exercise.
Thank you for this recipe! So amazing how such simple ingredients can come together into something so delicious 🙂 I appreciated how quickly these noodles came together as I’m terrible at planning ahead with these things 😛 I’m trying to avoid packaged goods because of a) minimizing trash and b) additives that I can’t pronounce so this recipe is definitely going into my “pantry staples” category. I kneaded it by hand since my kitchenaid bowl needs more volume of stuff to properly knead with the hook but I rolled it out with the pasta attachments & they came out perfect! Next time I’ll probably double or triple the recipe so my kitchenaid can do the work for me & freeze into portions 🙂 Thanks again!
Thanks Ling for the lovely feedback. It’s amazing how ingredients work together and become yummy dishes together. You can freeze the noodles directly in small portions and cook them directly.
I just visited my grandma and she made these noodles. Her recipe is pretty much exactly the same as this one so I can vouch for the authenticity and deliciousness of the noodles. These are the best noodles I will ever eat and they always take me back to when I was younger. My sister and I would sleep over at Grandma’s and we would be woken up for a warm bowl of handmade noodles and a mantou before going to Chinese school.
I plan to reverse the roles and make these noodles for my grandma next month. I hope it meets her standards.
Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks Shelley for the lovely feedback. When I was a little girl, I always stood near the kitchen store, watching my mom to cook. It just seems magic to me because she can turn common ingredients to yummy dishes. I believe that’s because of love. Your grandma must be a very lovely grammy! Go ahead and I wish your noodles will comfort her too.
Happy cooking!
It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Wish you success, and tell me about the follow-up.
Your link at the top “Chinese noodle recipes” leads to 404 (Page Missing) error. Great recipe on this page though!
Thanks John for pointing that out. I change the tag to topic so the page responds 404. I have updated to the newest link. Happy cooking.