Crispy bacon, hearty noodles soaked in a rich sauce, sweet and tender cabbage, and caramelized onion make this quick one-bowl meal irresistible!
Finding ingredients is the biggest challenge for most of my readers when it comes to Chinese cooking (except for those lucky few who live in New York or in big cities on the West Coast). I feel the same way. Austin is not a small city, but getting fresh and authentic Chinese ingredients isn’t easy. It makes me a little sad to say this, but shopping at our local Asian market had been a depressing experience for me. Compared to the vibrant produce and organized shelves in other local supermarkets, our Asian market is full of chaos, withered vegetables, and not-so-fresh meat. In such an environment, crafting authentic Chinese flavors using common ingredients that I can find in “normal” supermarkets has become second nature. I am constantly trying out different combinations of sauce and cooking technique, so I can help people who do not have a local Asian market, a wok, or a gas stove, to create great dishes that are even better than Chinese takeout.
Today I’m happy to share a fried noodle recipe I just developed. You can get all the ingredients at Walmart and cook it in a normal skillet on an electric stove. The finished noodles will surprise you. And you’ll learn how easy it is to create perfectly crispy noodles that are extra rich in flavor, with the equipment in your kitchen. Ready to start? Here we go.
The secrets to perfect pan fried noodles
Choose egg noodles for this dish. If you go to an Asian market, you can find yellow-colored dried noodles called “Chinese noodles”, “Egg noodles”, or “Hong Kong style noodles”. If you cannot get any of these, regular spaghetti works just as well. I used spaghetti in my char siu lo mein recipe and the dish turned out great.
Some of the best Chinese noodle dishes I’ve ever had were cooked with lard. To create an extra flavorful dish, Chinese chefs marinate pork belly and cook it in a wok to render the extra oil. The pork belly and the grease become the foundation of the dish, and impart a rich and smoky flavor to the noodles that are stir-fried in the wok. You can achieve the same goal with bacon, and get even better results.
In this recipe, I used Jimmy Dean® Applewood Smoked Bacon. It’s a premium bacon that you can find at Walmart. It has a heavenly smokiness and crisps up very well. Here we cook the bacon in a flat skillet at low heat, just like you’d cook bacon for breakfast. We only need 5 pieces for the recipe, but I always cook more because half the pieces are mysteriously gone before I have a chance to add them into the fried noodles! Instead of throwing away the bacon grease, we reserve a tiny bit to add back into the noodles. Then we mix the crispy bacon back into the stir-fry at the end. A small amount of bacon fat goes a long way. You’ll get the same rich and smoky noodles that you would if you were cooking in a proper wok. Right now Jimmy Dean is offering a $1 off coupon for both their applewood and hickory smoked bacons. Click HERE to grab the coupon!
Since the bacon and the bacon grease build the foundation of the flavor, we need just a simple sauce to go with it. I used dark soy sauce just to impart a darker color to the noodles. You can use normal soy sauce as well, without any problem. Dry sherry is the best alternative to the recommended Shaoxing wine. Some Walmart stores carry dry sherry (depending where you are) and you can use the website to locate a store with it. If your nearby store does not carry it, simply replace it with chicken stock.
A large skillet is all you need in order to cook the best pan fried noodles. Here is a trick to get extra crispy and perfectly charred noodles without a wok: before making the stir fry, take an extra step to pan fry the noodles with a bit of oil. This process allows the noodles to dehydrate a bit and crisp up. When you add the sauce during the final step, you simply need to toss the noodles a few times with a pair of tongs, to get perfectly seasoned noodles with the desired texture. Either a stainless steel, carbon steel, or a nonstick skillet will work. A nonstick skillet requires less oil. The other two types of skillets require a bit more oil to prevent the noodles from sticking to the pan, but they also crisp the noodles better. See? You can get everything you need to create this scrumptious noodle dish with the equipment you already have in your kitchen and one trip to Walmart.
I learned the technique to create the crispy noodles from the Cantonese soy sauce pan fried noodles from the Woks of Life. The blog is run by a Chinese family of four and they post very authentic Chinese recipes. Definitely check out their website if you’re into Chinese cooking.
For more quick and delicious noodle recipes, check out my 15-minute fried noodles, Char Siu pork lo mein, soy sauce noodle soup, and authentic sesame noodles. Happy cooking! If you cooked this recipe, don’t forget to share your picture, and tag #JimmyDeanBacon and #OmnivoresCookbook on Instagram! We’d love to see your work! . .
