What to use instead of egg noodles
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Soft noodle that soaks up a cream or gravy sauce
The egg gives a softer, more absorbent noodle that drinks sauce rather than shedding it, and the flat ribbon puts a lot of surface under every spoonful.
Fettuccine or pappardelleRan out
Match by weight, dry
Firmer bite and 3 to 4 minutes longer in the water. It wears the sauce on the outside instead of absorbing it.
Fresh pasta ribbonsRan out
4 oz fresh per 3 oz dry egg noodles
Cooks in 2 minutes, comes out softer and richer, and welds together if it sits in the colander.
SpaetzleRan out
Match by weight
Chewier, with craggy edges that hold more gravy, and the leftovers fry well the next day.
Gluten-free ribbon pastaGluten-free
Match by weight, cooked 1 minute under
It sheds starch that thickens the sauce on its own, and the noodles break up if they sit in the hot pan.
What doesn't work: Rice noodles. They are built to be slippery, so a sour cream or gravy sauce slides off and pools at the bottom, and they turn to paste when reheated in the pan.
Noodle sitting in a bowl of hot broth
It goes into hot liquid and keeps sitting in it, so it has to hold enough structure to still be a noodle by the time the bowl reaches the table.
Fresh Chinese egg noodlesRan out
Match by weight, boiled 60 to 90 seconds in a separate pot
Springier with an alkaline tang. They bloat quickly, so they go into the bowl at the last second.
Fresh ramen noodlesRan out
Match by weight, cooked separately
Chewier and bouncier from the alkaline water, and they turn the broth cloudy and yellow if you boil them in it.
Wide rice noodlesGluten-free
Match by weight
No egg richness, and they split and go soft if the bowl stands more than ten minutes.
Small pasta such as ditaliniRan out
Match by weight, cooked separately
Firmer and neutral, and it survives a night in the fridge without turning to mush the way egg noodles do.
What doesn't work: Boiling the noodles in the soup to save a pot. They take up a third of the broth and shed starch into the rest, so by the next day the pot is a solid mass of bloated noodles with no liquid left.
Noodle tossed in a hot wok
It is par-cooked, dried off and then hit with high heat, so it has to be firm enough to toss without shredding and dry enough on the surface to brown.
Fresh chow mein or lo mein noodlesRan out
Match by weight, blanched 45 seconds and drained dry
Browns better and stays springy. They glue themselves to the wok unless it is properly hot before they go in.
Spaghetti, boiled 2 minutes under and rinsedRan out
Match by weight, with 1 tsp baking soda in the cooking water
The soda gets some of the alkaline spring back. Without it the strands are soft and break up in the toss.
Rice noodles, soaked rather than boiledGluten-free
Match by weight, soaked 30 minutes in warm water
They take the sauce faster and scorch faster, so the wok has to keep moving. The dish tastes cleaner and less eggy.
What doesn't work: Instant ramen blocks boiled soft first. They carry too much water and too little structure, so they shred against the spatula and the whole wok steams into a wet clump.