Homemade Rice Noodles (瀨粉/老鼠粉)

This recipe for Homemade Rice Noodles features a round, slippery, smooth rice noodle with a slightly chewy texture that pairs well with soups or with toppings.

What are rice noodles?

Rice noodles are a type of noodle made predominantly of rice flour and water. 

Like Chinese egg noodles, there are many different types of rice noodles. 

They can range from wide (cheong fun) or thin (mei fun - rice vermicelli), round (lai fun) or flat (shahe fen/ho fun/kway teow).

7 types of rice noodles

Cheong fun 腸粉

Cheong fun is a wide rice noodle made from a batter that is steamed and rolled up, sometimes with a BBQ pork, beef or shrimp filling.

It is commonly found at Cantonese dim sum and has a slippery, silky texture.

Banh pho

Banh pho is a Vietnamese-style flat rice noodle with semi-transparent texture that is also a little thick, usually sold dried and used in Vietnamese pho noodle soups.

It has a slightly chewy, slippery texture, and becomes white in color when cooked.

Banh hoi

Banh hoi is a thinly woven noodle bundle, originating from Southern Vietnam.

It is typically served cold or at room temperature, with scallion drizzled on top, accompanied with roast meats.

Ho fun/kway teow 河粉/粿條

Ho fun, also known as shahe fen or kway teow in Hokkien refers to wide, cut rice strips (noodle sheets), which are traditionally used in char kway teow and Cantonese-style beef chow fun. 

The flat rice noodles can range from stiff and dense to thin and slippery.

Lo shi fun 老鼠粉

Lo shi fun (rat noodles, mouse tail noodles) is known by many different names such as silver needle noodles, silver pin noodles.

Lo shi fun is short, white in color with a tapered, pointed end, approximately 5 cm in length and is slightly translucent when cooked.

Lai fun 瀨粉

Lai fun is a short, thick round noodle made with rice flour and tapioca starch. 

The ends of lai fun noodles are cut bluntly rather than tapered like silver pin noodles, used in Vietnamese Bun Bo Hue.

Mei fun 米粉

Mei fun is also known as beehoon and is a thin rice vermicelli.

It is round and thin, requiring a very short cooking time, used commonly in Singapore Noodles, or Malaysian Sarawak laksa.

Why you'll love this recipe

This recipe for Homemade Rice Noodles from scratch is a hybrid between lo shi fun and lai fun.

Traditionally, lo shi fun is rolled by hand, which can be very tedious and time consuming to make.

Streamlined: Using a potato ricer, streamlines this process and makes it more efficient, which technically makes them similar in appearance to lai fun noodles.

Versatile: enjoy these homemade rice noodles in soup broths, with a little seasoning (such as chili oil), or dry-style with various toppings such as BBQ pork, ground pork, dumplings or wontons.

Easy to make: mix the dough together, squeeze it through a ricer, and you're more than halfway through to fresh homemade rice noodles.

Gluten-free: this recipe for fresh rice noodles is naturally gluten-free which makes it suitable for those with dietary restrictions.

Special equipment you'll need

• potato ricer: for squeezing the noodles
• large basin: for chilling the noodles
• strainer/colander

Ingredients you'll need for homemade rice noodles

• rice flour (米粉): a flour made from milling rice; is different than glutinous rice flour
• tapioca starch (菱粉): is a starch from the cassava plant; gives the noodles a little chewy texture
• wheat starch (小麥澱粉): a white starch extracted from wheat; gives the noodles a smooth texture
• hot boiling water (沸水): gelatinizes the dough and par-cooks it, setting its structure
• cold water (冷水): balances the temperature of the dough
• vegetable oil (菜油): for greasing the potato ricer

How to make rice noodles from scratch

Make the dough:

In a bowl, combine rice flour, tapioca starch and wheat starch.

Divide the dry mixture into two portions and pour hot boiling water into one side of the flour mixture.

Stir the mixture with wooden chopsticks, and mix well.

Pour cold water into the other portion of the flour mixture.

Stir the mixture and mix well.

Combine the two portions of dough together and knead together, until the dough is not sticky.

Cover dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes at room temperature.

Make the rice noodles:

Prepare a large basin of ice cold water for chilling the noodles. 

Bring a large pot of water up to a rolling boil.

Grease a potato ricer with sesame oil, using a pastry brush.

Place a small portion of dough into the potato ricer.

Give the hot boiling water a swirl and push the dough through the potato ricer into the hot water. Touch the press into the hot water to release the noodles.

Cook the noodles until they all float to the surface, a few minutes.

Scoop out the noodles with a slotted spoon or spider and place into a colander or strainer in the basin of cold ice water. Rinse any excess starch off the noodles.

Repeat with the remainder of the dough.

Serve the rice noodles as desired, with soup, soy sauce and/or toppings.

How to serve

Serve the freshly made rice noodles in soup or broth, seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil, or with toppings such as ground pork and vegetables, or in Vietnamese bun bo hue.

Pair the noodles with side dishes such as yu choy, roasted BBQ pork (char siu), steamed chicken, roast duck, fish cakes/fish balls, or pork dumplings.

You can also use the noodles for Malaysian laksa or other delicious noodle soups.

How to store & reheat

Store the rice noodles in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.

The fresh rice noodles will harden when chilled. This is normal.

Do not freeze the homemade rice flour noodles, as the texture will break and change. 

To reheat, boil the noodles in hot water for 1-2 minutes, until warmed through, and serve as desired.

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