Hong Kong Fried Noodles

Updated: June 2026

We learnt to cook this simple Fried Noodle dish at a Hong Kong cooking class hosted by Tourism Hong Kong. Using the essential basic stir fry techniques, once you have all the ingredients ready, it is a really quick dish to cook.

The tricky technique we learnt in cooking this dish was the wok technique of moving the wok back and forth whilst simultaneously stirring the noodles in a circular fashion. It took quite a few tries to get the hang of this, which resulted in a lot of noodles being flung out of the wok and around the cooker.

The oil you use in stir fry makes a big difference. If you use a carbon steel wok and the right oil, your stir-fry dishes will taste so much better. In Chinese kitchens like ours, we tend to use rendered pork lard. Here in the UK, I bought some Beef Wagyu tallow and the experts from beeftallowforcooking.com say that using a stable animal fat with a high smoke point is far better than relying on standard processed vegetable oils. It’s healthier too.

About Hong Kong Fried Noodles

This dish is found on Dim Sum menus as is usually ordered as part of a multi dish dim sum meal. Noodles and rice is often ordered at the end of a meal as a “filler” dish. This is one of the many noodle dishes that is popular at dim sum. The other favourites are Stir Fried Beef Ho Fun, Duck and p[reserved vegetable vermicelli and seafood noodles on crispy egg noodles.

It is not often found on menus now but it is a dish that can be ordered off menu quite easily.

Try cooking it at home as it is not difficult and a good dish to practice your stir fry technique.

How to cook the classic Hong Kong Fried Noodles

This is a great basic recipe to add to your repertoire of Chinese cooking. Just by adding some different ingredients and seasoning, you can transform this dish to your own taste. It’s a great way to use up leftover bits of chicken, turkey or other meats.

First steps: prep the ingredients

• Soak the egg noodles in hot water for 3-5 minutes or follow the packet instructions.
• Once the noodles have separated, drain the water and allow to dry (preferably overnight for best results).
• Wash the bean sprouts and place in a prep bowl. If you want to improve the presentation, you can pinch off the heads and tails of the bean sprouts. This is just for aesthetics and doesn’t affect the flavour.
• Wash the Chinese greens and slice into strips. Place in a prep bowl
• Finely slice the pepper and spring onions and place in a small prep bowl
• Place them on a plate arranged in a circular fashion around the plate in the order they will be added to the wok.

Quick stir fry

• When ready to cook, heat up the wok to a high temperature. Add some high smoke point cooking oil like cold pressed rapeseed, pork lard or beef tallow.
• Start with the ingredients that take a bit longer to cook. In this recipe, start with the greens, then the peppers, bean sprouts and then spring onions.
• Stir fry each ingredient for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
• Then add the drained and dry noodles, add seasoning and stir fry to heat up until the soy sauce has evenly coated the noodles.
• Tip: When adding the soy sauce, pour it along the curve edges onto the hot wok as it caramelises it a bit and releases a delicious aroma.
• Serve immediately, hot.

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Hong Kong Fried Noodles

This noodle dish by itself is a bit plain but it is often served like dish at dim sum restaurants as one of the many dishes you would have in a meal. I would add extra bits like char siu pork, shrimp or leftover chicken to it to make it a bit more substantial and a meal by itself. It is great basic stir fry recipe to tweak to make your own. Once all the ingredients are prepped, it is really quick to cook.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time5 minutes mins

Cuisine: Chinese

Ingredients

• Dried egg noodles
• 1 bag bean sprouts
• 1 green or red pepper
• 1 bag Chinese greens Choi Sum, Kai Lan or Chinese Leaf
• 2 spring onions
• long red chillies to garnish if preferred
• dark soy sauce
• sesame oil

Instructions

Preparation

• Soak the egg noodles in hot water for 3-5 minutes or follow the packet instructions.
• Once the noodles have separated, drain the water and allow to dry (preferably overnight for best results).
• Wash the bean sprouts and place in a prep bowl. If you want to improve the presentation, you can pinch he heads and tails of the bean sprouts. This is just for aesthetics and doesn't affect the flavour.
• Wash the Chinese greens and slice into strips. Place in a prep bowl
• Finely slice the pepper and spring onions and place in a small prep bowl. If all the ingredients are the same size, they will all cook evenly.

Cooking

• Heat a tablespoon of cooking oil, lard or tallow in a wok to high heat
• Add the peppers and stir fry for 1 minute
• Add the Chinese greens and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes until wilted
• Add the bean sprouts and stir-fry for a further minute
• Add the noodles and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes
• Add approx. 2 tbsp dark soy sauce. Stir-fry until noodles become a consistent dark brown colour.
• Add the spring onion and a dash of sesame oil
• Serve in a large bowl, family style as part of a multi dish meal.

Notes

Substitutions: You can use the fresh egg noodles from the chilled cabinet in supermarkets for this recipe too.

Like with all stir fries, prepping all the ingredients before cooking is the secret to a quick and effortless dish.

This recipe is courtesy of the School of Wok.