Build Your Own Perfect Bowl Of Cold Noodles
I love cold noodles, especially to cool down on a particularly hot day. It’s been so hot, I’ve even eaten cold noodles for a whole week this summer. I want to share with you how I put together a bowl of cold noodles whenever I’m craving something refreshing. I’ve got some of best noodles, sauces, and toppings you can use to assemble your perfect bowl of cold noodles!
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Making A Good Cold Noodle Recipe
Cold noodle recipes are truly the key to surviving hot weather. A great cold noodle consists of 3 main parts: the noodles, sauces, and toppings. This may be a combination that’s impossible to mess up. As long as you have all 3 components in your bowl, you’ll have a great time with your noodles.
There’s so much variety to cold noodles, you really can customize to your tastes. If you’re craving something herbal and fresh, you can try a pesto pasta salad. Or, if you’re looking for something spicy, Korean cold noodles might be your pick. There’s tons of possibilities!
What Noodles To Use For Cold Noodles
A good noodle for serving chilled maintains a good firm texture while cold, and can absorb or catch the sauces well. If it is easily overcooked, or if it gets mushy or slimy easily sitting in liquid, it’s probably not a great option for cold noodles. Some of my favorite noodles to serve cold are soba noodles, frozen udon, and of course, Kai Dong Noodles. I also share 2 noodle recipes below that you can make at home!
Choose Your Noodle!
Hand Cut Noodles?
Thick, ribbon-like noodles catch tons of chunkier sauce for a super flavorful bite!
QQ Noodles?
Thin, yet chewy sun dried noodles perfect for coating in a light or thin sauce and slurping up!
The most important step to cooking a cold noodle is lowering the noodle temperature. After cooking the noodles, make sure to rinse with cold or ice water for 30 seconds. This cools down the hot noodles and makes them extra chewy! Rinsing also washes off extra starch on the surface of the noodles so they won’t come out slimy.
Chinese Hand Pulled Noodles
These Chinese hand-pulled noodles are SUPER chewy and I promise will taste better than ANY store-bought noodles in your cold noodles. I originally used this recipe for my 10 minute Spicy Garlic Noodles, and it’s super addicting. These hand-pulled noodles soak up sauce like nothing else!
Hand Pulled Noodles Ingredients
- ¼ cup of Oil
- 2 cups (280 g) of Bread Flour or All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp of Salt
- 2/3 cups (160 g) of Warm Water
Gluten-Free Rice Paper Noodles
These rice paper noodles are super easy to make in a pinch, and only takes one ingredient! This gluten-free noodles soak up sauces super well. Their textures are nice and chewy and just makes you want to pair it with something crunchy like cucumbers and peanuts.
Gluten Free Noodles Ingredients
- 5 – 10 pieces of Rice Paper
- 1/2 cup of water
Best Sauces For Cold Noodles
Cold noodle sauces can be mixed in, used as a dip, or drizzled on. Depending on how you’re serving your noodles, the consistency of the sauces can differ. I love a spicy sesame sauce on my cold noodles, but I also love to make up a sauce as I go. I find that my go-to tends to be soy sauce, vinegar, and something fragrant like the golden shallot oil.
Choose Your Sauces!
Mama’s Chili Oil?
Thick, ribbon-like noodles catch tons of sauce for a super flavorful bite!
Four Season Scallion Sauce?
Thin, yet chewy sun dried noodles perfect for slurping up!
Golden Shallot Oil?
Thin, yet chewy sun dried noodles perfect for slurping up!
Spicy Garlic Chili Paste
I add this Spicy garlic chili paste to EVERYTHING, and cold noodles are no exception. This sauce is spicy, savory, and so fragrant from all the aromatics we add in. Its chunkier texture makes it a good pair for thicker, flatter noodles. A spoonful of this with soy sauce, vinegar, and green onions gives a fragrant and savory cold noodle sauce.
Garlic Chili Paste Ingredients
- 30 cloves of Garlic (minced)
- 20 Red Chili (minced)
- 2 slices of Baby Ginger or regular Ginger (peeled & minced)
- 5 small Shallots (peeled & minced)
- 8 stalks of Green Onion (cut in half)
- 1 tbsp of Salt
- 1 cup of Oil (I use grapeseed)
Creamy Sesame Peanut Noodle Sauce
You can’t go wrong with a creamy sesame peanut sauce when it comes to cold noodles. This recipe is one of the most REFRESHING, healthy, and DELICIOUS summer noodles ever! If you never tried Taiwanese 10 Minutes ONLY Traditional Cold Sesame Noodles, you need to give it a try.
Cold Sesame Noodles Ingredients
- 2 servings Noodles
- 2 tbsp Sesame Paste cooked
- 1 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tsp Sugar
- 2.5 tbsp Black Vinegar
- 3 tbsp Hot Dashi Stock or Water
- Your Favorite Toppings
Classic Japanese Soba Dipping Sauce
One of the most iconic cold noodles is Zaru Soba, a simple Japanese cold soba enjoyed by dipping in a dashi-based sauce. I love having Soba Noodles for lunch because it is fast, healthy, and delicious. I always have a jar of Soba Noodles Dipping Sauce at the start of the week to save time. It’s lunch ready in less than 5 minutes!
Soba Dipping Sauce Ingredients
- 2 cups of Dashi Stock
- ½ cup of Soy Sauce or Gluten Free Soy Sauce
- ½ cup of Mirin
Bibim Guksu: Summer Spicy Korean Cold Noodles
Korean Spicy Cold Noodles Bibim Guksu is the best summer lunch or dinner for a hot day! It’s so hot outside, and there’s nothing more refreshing and satisfying than spicy cold noodles on a hot day. If you have kimchi in your fridge, this is a super appetizing cold noodle dish you can make. It’s a quick summer meal you can make in 10 minutes,
Bibim Guksu Ingredients
- 2 servings noodles
- 5 ounces kimchi chopped
- 1/4 cup kimchi juice optional
- 2 tbsp Korean red chili paste gochujang
- 0.5 tbsp sweetener I like to use plum extract or you can swap for sugar (optional)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 0.5 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 cup cucumber sliced
- 2 soft boiled eggs
- Sesame seeds to garnish
- Your Favorite Toppings
What To Add As Toppings For Cold Noodles
Cold noodles are so easy to make and customize with anything you have in the fridge. I usually like pairing my cold noodles with 1 protein and at least 2 refreshing, crunchy veggies.
My favorite toppings to add are shredded eggs or Asian shredded rotisserie chicken, cucumbers, carrots, and roasted peanuts. I find this combination gives it both the nutrients and the crunch I love in my cold noodles. I’ve also included a couple of side dishes that I find myself add into my cold noodles if I ever have them in the fridge!
Asian Shredded Rotisserie Chicken
Inspired by the flavors of Taiwanese Chicken and Rice, this is a shortcut 10 minute meal made with Kai Dong sauces. When I’m in a pinch, I love this Asian shredded rotisserie chicken on top of chilled noodles. This easy shredded chicken uses only 3 ingredients: leftover rotisserie or soy chicken, Golden Shallot Oil, and Four Season Scallion Sauce.
Asian Shredded Chicken Ingredients
- 2 cups leftover Rotisserie chicken
- 2.5 tbsp four season scallion sauce
- 2 tbsp golden shallot oil
The Crispiest Vegetable Tempura
When you put assorted tempura together with soba noodles, you get Tenzaru Soba, another classic Japanese way of enjoying cold soba noodles. One bite of hot, crunchy steaming pumpkin tempura, one bit of cold, refreshing soba noodles. It’s the best of both worlds. I love that the soba dipping sauce doubles as a sauce for tempura too!
Vegetable Tempura Ingredients
- Your Favorite Vegetables
- 1 cup ice cold club soda or beer
- 1 beaten egg
- 3/4 cup cake flour or all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad
I always make this sweet and sour cucumber salad to go on top of my savory rice bowls such as my slow-braised pork rice and my shredded chicken rice bowl. Adding this cucumber salad is the easiest way to add a little sweet and sour to your cold noodles, too. It’s tasty, easy to make, and keeps well in the fridge for multiple meals.
Cucumber Salad Ingredients
- 1 English Cucumber whole, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
Marinate:
- 3 tbsp Rice Vinegar or Sushi Seasoning
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Sesame Seeds
- 1 tbsp Cilantro
Spicy Korean Mayak Gyeran Marinated Eggs
These Korean Marinated Eggs are delicious on their own, but also amazing as part of a cold noodle bowl. The yolk of these eggs are creamy, and i love mixing it into my noodles. In fact, the sauce for these Korean Marinated Eggs is good enough to be a noodle sauce on it’s own! Mayak Gyeran is easy and affordable to make, and I promise you will love it too!
Korean Marinated Eggs Ingredients
- A dozen Eggs
- 2 tsp of salt
- 2 tbsp of Vinegar
- 6 cloves of Garlic (minced)
- 2 Korean Green Pepper (chopped)
- 1 Red Chili (chopped & optional)
- 3 stalks of Green Onion (chopped & optional)
- 1 tbsp of Sesame Seeds
- 1 cup of Soy Sauce
- ½ cup of Honey
- 1 tbsp of Sesame Oil (optional)
- ½ cup of Water
