20 Noodle Recipes for When You Need a Bowlful of Joy

Whether it’s hot or cold, afternoon or evening, noodles always hit the spot. The best bit? There are so many different ways to spin a noodle dish you’ll never get bored. Here, we’ve got 20 of the best noodle dishes, from creamy cacio e pepe-inspired udon noodles to addictive Chongqing noodles and smoky char kway teow, from the likes of Recipetin Eats, Rosheen Kaul and Dan Hong. Get these down pat, and you’ll be able to satisfy your next takeaway craving in the comfort of your own kitchen.

Rosheen Kaul lends us her recipe for a simple yet satisfying dish that’s “easy as any instant noodle you’ll ever make”. Here, smooth tofu wraps the noodles in a weightlessly creamy blanket, cooling your tastebuds through the salty, spicy dressing. Bonus: it takes less than 15 minutes to make and you can use almost any type of noodles (Jinmailang, udon or instant).

Cumin is the major player in this noodle dish, which originates in the Shaanxi province in central-northern China. Toast your spices first in a dry wok to really amp up the flavor and bring out the signature nuttiness of the cumin. Making the noodles themselves is super easy – there’s no intricate wrapping or preparation required. Just roll out your dough and cut the noodles by hand. They can be thick, irregular and uneven – it’s just as tasty no matter the shape.

The idea for this carbonara-inspired dish came to Hetty Lui McKinnon when she was travelling through Japan. “At Shin Udon, a sliver of a restaurant in Tokyo’s Shibuya, they serve not only the best udon dish I’ve ever eaten … but they also offer a carbonara-inspired noodle dish that comes topped with butter, pepper, parmesan and bacon tempura,” she says. The To Asia, With Love writer and cook’s speedy dish is ready in 30 minutes, plus, you’ll only need six ingredients. Don’t scrimp on the miso, which gives it an extra layer of flavour.

Kimchi juice is the secret weapon in this fiery recipe from Recipetin Eats’s Nagi Maehashi. She reckons this might be “the world’s fastest spicy noodle stir-fry” – a niche claim, but as it clocks in at 15 minutes total cooking and prep time, Maehashi could be on to something.

There’s only 10 minutes between you and a bowl of these punchy wok-fried noodles from Melbourne Chinese fusion restaurant Lagoon Dining. This version incorporates elements from the various styles of mee goreng found in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and other nearby countries for what Lagoon Dining’s head chef Keat Lee says is a “bit more of a generic mee goreng”. Here the noodles team up with sour pork sausage, sambal and shrimp for a dish that’s a little bit spicy, a little bit funky and more than a bit delicious.

Need a weekend cooking project? Meet Poh Ling Yeow’s “top end” laksa, which takes 90 minutes to make – and is worth every minute. It’s a whirlwind of texture and spice inspired by the flourishing laksa culture of the Northern Territory, which reflects its proximity to Southeast Asia. This is a decidedly local take on the dish, blossoming with native ingredients like barramundi, finger lime and wattleseed.

Dan Hong, executive chef of Sydney’s Ms G’s and Mr Wong, says zha jiang mian (Beijing fried sauce noodles) is one of China’s most iconic noodle dishes. A caramelised brown sauce made with pork mince and fermented soy bean sauce coats the noodles for a deeply savoury, thoroughly satisfying dish. “The most important thing is your pork mince – it’s got to be nice and fatty,” he says.

This deceptively easy dish from the former head chef of Melbourne’s Etta offers a thwack of umami using ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. You can use whichever fresh or dried noodles you have at hand, and the end result is an explosively tasty dish. And, for future reference, you can make a big batch of the spring onion oil in advance and toss it through noodles any time you need a speedy meal.

A hot wok and speedy cooking are the keys to a char kway teow that wows. Masterchef winner Diana Chan’s version for one is the ideal weeknight dinner when you’re low on energy but only noodles will do. Like any good char kway teow, it’s smoky and slightly charred, offering a pleasant textural contrast between soft noodles, crispy lap cheong and prawns, and smooth eggs.

When Shannon Martinez’s tastebuds dulled during chemotherapy treatment, it meant she needed flavours that were extra punchy and spicy to break through. This ultra-comforting, numbing Sichuan-inspired dish ticked those boxes. It’s also completely vegan, and will be on the table in a little over half an hour.

On a hot summer’s day, Hetty Lui McKinnon’s noodle salad really hits the spot. It’s flush with crisp, fresh cucumber and cabbage, all supercharged with fresh herbs and plenty of lime juice. The black bean sauce adds some weight to the palate, while a sprinkling of cashews revs up the crunch factor. It’s well-rounded, and subtly filling – plus, it can be the main event, or a side to charred veggies or a tofu larb at your next picnic.

Have a crisper drawer full of veggies that need using up? This versatile dish from Sydney’s Woollahra Hotel will help you make use of them, alongside whatever protein you have on hand. The sauce will keep for up to a week in the fridge – chef Jordan Muhamad suggests doubling the ingredients and using any leftovers for your next noodle party. This dish serves four, and can be on the table in half an hour, making it a great recipe to pull out for family-friendly weeknight dinners.

One of Australia’s leading authorities on plant-based food reckons this flavourful Sichuan dish could become your next favourite. It’s punchy, creamy, spicy and full of texture. You’ll need a stack of ingredients – including tahini, Chinese five spice, Sichuan pickled mustard greens – but if you’ve got a fairly well-stocked pantry, you’ll likely have most of these to hand. “It’s time we ditched the pre-conceived notion of what vegan food is, or can be,” says the Vegan With Bite author. We couldn’t agree more.

Thailand’s national dish started life as a quick worker’s lunch, dating back to the 1940s. Nowadays, it’s a firm Australian favourite, and an easy go-to for takeaway. However, restaurateur-turned-farmer Palisa Anderson (Boon Cafe) thinks it’s time we tried making it at home. Here she shares her version with tofu. “It’s a middle Thai region dish [made] with bean sprouts, garlic chives and dried shrimp that pulls from all the regions of Southeast Asia,” she says. “It was made not to be spicy so everyone could eat it.” Anderson offers a couple of options for ingredients, depending on what you have in your pantry, one of which is light soy sauce or a gluten-free liquid protein concentrate called Braggs Aminos.

There are few things more restorative than a bowl of soup. Doubly so for a big bowl of chicken soup stacked with noodles and leafy greens. Adelaide chef Emma McCaskill makes this simple recipe once a week for her family. It has an easy hack ingredient – store-bought roast chicken – which means you can have it on the table in 40 minutes. McCaskill uses somen noodles, but you can use egg noodles or sweet potato noodles for a gluten-free option.

Variants of this soupy red curry are popular in Myanmar, Laos and northern Thailand. The northern-Thai version is a thin red chicken curry ladled over fresh egg noodles, sprinkled with crispy egg noodles and topped with pickled mustard greens, chilli oil, diced red onion, coriander leaves and lime wedges. Patty Antico, Thai expat and mother of (now-closed) Automata co-owner Tania Fergusson, shares her version with Broadsheet. Pick up a can of pickled greens from an Asian grocery store, or, if you have time, pickle your own a week before serving.

We know that whenever we tackle a recipe by Nagi Maehashi, aka Recipetin Eats, it’ll be approachable, each step will make perfect sense and, importantly, it’ll work. This dan dan noodle recipe, which Maehashi contributed to social enterprise Two Good Co’s new cookbook, is no exception. Spicy sesame chilli oil sauce is tossed with noodles and pork, resulting in a recipe that’s big on flavour – but will be on the table in just 20 minutes if you prep ahead. The chilli here is designed as a taste enhancer, not to burn a hole in your tongue (but you can cut down on it if chilli isn’t your friend).

The now permanently closed Fukuryu Ramen developed a vegetarian ramen that mimics a typical, meat-based noodle soup with a rich broth. The team shared its recipe for that umami-rich broth with Broadsheet, which includes roasted vegetables, miso, shiitake mushrooms and kombu to accent the flavour. If you don’t have time to make your own miso, you can skip that step and opt for store-bought miso instead. You can also make the broth up to three days in advance.

Lamb mince isn’t as ubiquitous in kitchens as other meats – but if this recipe is anything to go by, maybe it should be. Here it’s stir-fried with a sweet and tangy plum sauce and veggies, and thrown together with soba noodles for a super quick dish that’s just as ideal for midweek meals as it is for dinner parties.

No matter the weather, ramen is an elite comfort food thanks to its warming broth, carb-y noodles, meat and tasty garnishes. The problem? It can take almost a day to make it yourself. This version, by Melbourne’s Tokyo Tina, cuts down on the cooking time, so you can get down to the business of slurping sooner.

Additional reporting by Sarah Norris, Daniela Frangos and Tristan Lutze.

Looking for more cooking inspiration? See Broadsheet’s recipe hub.