How to Cook Rice Noodles Properly (No mush, no clumps!) (2024)

Maybe this has happened to you, you try to cook pad thai, and the noodles are soggy and clumpy. Or you try to cook pad see ew using fresh rice noodles, and they end up broken into bits. Or at the Asian supermarket your eyes glaze over at all the noodle options because you have no idea what to choose. Sounds familiar?

In this post I’m going to give you everything you need to know about all the different kinds of rice noodles used in Thai cooking, including how to cook them properly so you'll have perfectly cooked noodles every time.

But first, what are rice noodles anyway?

When it comes to dried rice noodles, the various types are all made from the same two ingredients: rice flour and water. Fresh rice noodles, however, have other starches and additives mixed in to make them sturdier and last longer.

Unlike pasta or wheat noodles, rice noodles are gluten free and are not chewy. They are quite tender, which also makes them harder to work with because they can go from cooked to mush much more quickly. (Al dente is not a thing we aim for in rice noodles; that's just called undercooked 😂.)

Different Types of Rice Noodles:

Despite the many options at the store, rice noodles can be divided simply into two major categories: Fresh and dry.

• Thai Rice vermicelliorSen Meein Thai. These thread-thin rice noodles and are the smallest ones and they can be used in soups or stir fries, like thispad see ew vermicelli. These are not this is not to be confused with Vietnamese rice vermicelli which are very different and are discussed below.
• Size small(2 mm wide) orsen lek. These are my preference for Southeast Asian noodle soups such asVietnamese pho and Thai boat noodles,but you can also stir fry them.

• Size medium (3 mm wide)is what we use as pad thai noodles and indeed in Thai we call themsen pad thai.They can also be used in noodle soups.
• Size large (4 mm wide) isn’t actually a size that exists in Thailand and so it might be for export only, but some people use these for pad thai. These are too large for noodle soups and I recommend using these only in stir fries.

• Size extra large (9 mm wide) orsen yai,which also doesn’t exist in Thailand in dried form because these are made to be a shelf stable version offresh rice noodles (pictured at the bottom)that you associate withpad see ew, rad na, and drunken noodles. These are best used in stir fries.
• Vietnamese rice vermicelliorsen kanom jeen.Despite the similar name to the one above, it's an entirely different type of noodle. Vietnamese rice vermicelli are thick and round, similar to spaghetti. They are cooked by boiling in hot water just like pasta (timing varies depending on the size) then rinsed in cold water to remove excess starch. They are a little different in that they are not served hot but there are many things you can do with them! You can make acold rice noodle salad, a healthy lettuce wrap, or makekanom jeenwhich is basically the Thai version of pasta!

*Glass noodles, bean threads, or cellophane noodles are often misunderstood to be a type of rice noodles. The Thai/Chinese ones are actually made from mung bean starch, and the Korean ones are made from sweet potato starch.

Cooked fresh rice noodles (ho fun)

These are the tender noodles with a slightly chewy texture that has gained a cult following for dishes like pad see ew. In Cantonese these are called “ho fun”. They are made mostly from rice flour but often have other starched such as tapioca starch mixed in.

This is a fresh, fully-cooked product that simply needs to be tossed with seasonings, meat and veggies. It's highly perishable which means they are usually made locally, so what you get from city to city is going to vary a lot in size and texture.

These can actually be made at home, check out my video tutorial for making your own fresh rice noodles!

Preparing Fresh Rice Noodles for Cooking:

Before cooking them, you’ll want to peel apart the noodles. But cold noodles are often stuck together and are impossible to peel apart without breaking. If that's the case, separate them into chunks best you can, spread them out on a plate and microwave them for about a minute.

Take them out, see if any noodles are hot and soft enough to be peeled apart and peel them and set them aside. Return the hard noodles into the microwave for another minute, and repeat this until all the noodles can be separated. It usually takes me 3-4 minutes of microwaving for 1 lb of noodles.

Raw fresh rice noodles

You may also see vacuum packed bags of rice noodles in the fridge that look very similar to the dried noodles. You can think of these as semi-dried version of the Small and Medium size dried noodles above. This type of noodles is what most restaurants use because they do not need to be rehydrated before using.

Choosing the Right Noodles for the Job

Best Noodles for Soups

For noodle soups you want to go small. Anything from the vermicelli to the medium size is fine. This is because rice noodles have no flavour whatsoever, so all the flavour will comes from the broth. With small noodles there’s a lot of surface area for the broth to cling to. If you go too big, in each mouthful it’s going to feel like too much bland noodles and not enough broth flavour.

Fresh wide noodles (ho fun noodles) are the exception because fresh noodles are more tender and are less dense than the dried version, they can work fine in soups IF they’re not made too thick.

In Thailand, we actually have two types of fresh wide noodles: One for soups, which is thinner and more delicate, and one for stir fries, which are thicker and sturdier so they’re less likely to break in the wok!

How to cook rice noodles without making them soggy, clumpy, or broken.

Cooking rice noodles is not actually hard, but most people misunderstand how they need to be treated.The #1 reason why your rice noodle stir fries are a soggy mess is that you’re cooking thembeforecooking them.

What I mean is that people often boil the noodles and cook them to perfection, and THEN they put them into the pan. But when you stir fry, there is a lot of liquid that comes from sauce, the meat, and the veggies. It doesn’t take much for rice noodles to over cook, so if they go into the pan already cooked, then they’ll very likely end up overcooked by the end.

Note that this isn’t an issue with egg noodles because they don’t overcook nearly as quickly, and in fact, you want egg noodles to be fully cooked before you stir fry them.

1. Do not boil dried noodles. Soak them.

All dried noodles simply need to be soaked until fully rehydrated before being stir fried or blanched for noodle soups.

The reason we want to soak rather than boil is because rice noodles overcook very easily. Soaking allows the noodles to hydrate evenly, and then the heat from the pan is cooking the noodles using the water that’s already IN the noodles. This results in even cooking inside out, and a very low chance of over cooking.

How do You Know When Noodles Have Soaked Enough?

Pick the noodles up and they should droop completely, not resisting gravity. If they’re still trying to hold their original shape, they’re not ready.

2. For stir fries, add soaked noodles directly into the pan.

Once soaked, noodles are ready to go into the pan. Generally they will need a little extra liquid, but how much depends on how much liquid is already in the sauce, how crowded your pan is, how high your heat is, etc.

So I recommend following a trusted recipe amounts before winging it so you add the right amount of liquid for the dish. And when in doubt, add less water, then taste and add more as needed.

3. Push, flip and toss. Don't stir.

Noodles break because your spatula cut them into bits while you're stirring. Once you add noodles into the pan, especially delicate fresh cooked rice noodles, don't use a spatula and haphazardly stir them which can cause the edge of the spatula to cut the noodles. Use a flipping motion or push the noodles from the edges inward. Watch my video demo to see this technique in action!

4. Use a wooden spatula.

Metal wok spatulas are like blades to these noodles, and they can easily chop your noodles without you realizing it!

5. Use a nonstick pan or a well-seasoned wok.

Whatever pan of your choice, the surface should be nonstick because rice noodles, especially fresh ones, are notorious for sticking. And if you’re having to scrape them off, that’s one sure way to get broken noodles.

6. Don’t crowd the pan

Crowding the pan is all sorts of bad news, but when it comes to noodles, this is likelythemost common reason people end up with soggy and mushy noodles. Crowding traps moisture, and this moisture steams the noodles and you're basically boiling them, which causes the noodles to overcook. Overcooked noodles are too soft...too soft noodles break into bits.

This is why I stress so much that you should only cook pad thai in batches of 2 servings, and the most delicate fresh noodles should be cooked ONE portion at a time. There is a reason why street vendors cook them one order at a time!

On a related note, you should always use high heat when stir frying noodles to maximize liquid evaporation and prevent excess moisture in the pan.

7. For soups, blanch soaked noodles for just a few seconds

While stir fried noodles get a little extra liquid from the stir fry sauce, noodles for soups are going to be sitting in a bowl of hot broth. This means that they should go into the bowls still a little al dente, and the heat of the broth will cook them through.

To get al dente noodles, blanch them in boiling water for just a few seconds: rice vermicelli noodles take 3 seconds, size small take 5 seconds, and size medium take 8 seconds. Cooking time will vary between brands.

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