I wish I could say that as a Shanghai native, I grew up eating Shanghai Fried Noodles or (Shanghai cu chao mian- 上海粗炒面). I don’t actually remember eating this when I was young, but in recent years, I’ve noticed that my cousin always orders it for her kids when we eat out at Shanghainese restaurants. The kids would immediately go for those noodles, ignoring everything else on the table.
I also couldn’t stop eating them after getting a taste. These noodles are very addictive. They’re somewhat similar to my Soy Scallion Shanghai Noodles (葱油拌面), which I love. The difference is that Shanghai Fried Noodles are often made with thicker, chewier noodles
Shanghai Fried Noodles is a super easy dish to make, with only a few ingredients. It’ll be done and on the table within 15-20 minutes. I assure you that everyone in your family will love it. If you’re a vegetarian/vegan, simply leave out the meat and replace it with more mushrooms!
Other popular Chinese noodles recipes include Cantonese Chicken Hong Kong pan fried noodles, and a Beijing favorite Chinese noodle recipe we picked up while we lived there, Zha Jiang Mian.
Shanghai Fried Noodles: Recipe Instructions
Mix together the pork, cornstarch, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, shaoxing wine, and sugar. Set aside for 5-10 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok over high heat. Add the pork stir-fry until browned.
Turn down the heat, remove the pork from the wok and set aside. Add a couple more tablespoons of oil to the wok and sauté the shiitake mushrooms for about 2 minutes using medium heat.
Break up the Udon noodles gently with your hands and add them to the wok. The noodles (shown in the photo) I use for this recipe are pre-cooked noodles.
If you use any other noodles, please follow the package instruction to prepare the noodle and have it cooked and ready before start cooking. Just remember to mix in a splash of vegetable oil to prevent cooked noodles from sticking together.
Add the dark soy sauce, soy sauce and sugar. Stir-fry everything together until the noodles get an even, deep brown color. If you’re not seeing the color you want, add a little more dark soy sauce.
Add the leafy greens (choy sum and baby bok choy both work well), along with the pork. Mix in with the noodles until wilted.
Serve these Shanghai Fried Noodles hot!
Some people like to add a few drops of black vinegar right before eating—totally up to you.
Shanghai Fried Noodles (Cu Chao Mian)
Ingredients
For the pork & marinade (omit if you want the dish to be vegetarian):
- 6 oz. lean pork (170g, sliced into ¼” strips)
- 3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon light soy sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon shaoxing wine
- 1/8 teaspoon sugar
For the rest of the dish:
- 3 tablespoons oil (divided)
- 8 shiitake mushrooms (fresh or dry; you have to soak them first if they’re dried, thinly sliced)
- 1 pound Japanese-style udon noodles (450g)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
- 2 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 1 bunch choy sum or baby bok choy (washed and trimmed)
Instructions
- Mix together the pork and marinade ingredients and set aside for 5-10 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok over high heat. Add the pork stir-fry until browned. Turn down the heat, remove the pork from the wok and set aside. Add a couple more tablespoons of oil to the wok and sautee the mushrooms for about 2 minutes using medium heat. Break up the noodles gently with your hands and add them to the wok.
- Add the soy sauces and sugar. Stir-fry everything together until the noodles get an even, deep brown color. If you’re not seeing the color you want, add a little more dark soy sauce.
- Add the leafy greens now and mix in with the noodles until wilted. Serve hot! Some people like to add a few drops of Chinese black vinegar right before eating—totally up to you.
Made this tonight and the flavor was good, but my noodles got soft and mushy in texture after adding them to the wok. Do I need to have lots of oil in the pan before adding the noodles? Help!
Hi Sue, not sure if you used cooked or uncooked udon noodles, because it sounds like the udon noodles were overcooked even before they were added to the wok.
Adding oil shouldn’t have much effect on the noodle texture. We have now found that our local market sells thick Shanghai noodles, so this dish is actually best made with them rather than the Japanese udon noodles. If all you can find is udon, however, go for the frozen udon, as they have the best texture.
I made this tonight with dried tofu shreds substituted for the pork, so it was vegan. It was delicious! I marinated the tofu just like the pork, except that I increased the amount of marinade, and I also added a little bit of the soaking liquid from the dried shiitake to the marinade. Add a little chili oil and black vinegar, and YUM! Quick and easy.
I’ll probably try making this with pork sometime too, and I may also try adding sesame seeds or a little chopped scallion next time.
Hi Marmen, your vegan version sounds delicious!
Followup: last night I made this again (the vegan version) and added one of those small packages of zhacai when I added the greens. It worked beautifully and boosted the flavor.
Oh, I neglected to mention that I used 5-spice pressed tofu, not tofu shreds, this time.
Nice, Marnen. I like it :-)
This was fantastic and super quick to make. I added some hot chili oil to my bowl before eating it & it *really* elevated it.
Thank you, WoL!
That’s love, Keena!
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As a British born chinese mega fan of chinese food (but with a mother who cannot articulate the quantities needed of each ingredient “just add enough until it tastes right”…?!) I am a huge fan of your site. So far I’ve made the Hong Shao Rou, the coconut curry noodle soup, the HK fried noodles, the stir fried cabbage and just tried this for a quick dinner tonight. All of the recipes I’ve tried so far have turned out wonderfully. I especially appreciate how they are so simple yet incredibly delicious and authentic tasting. Thank you so much for sharing, I look forward to trying your other recipes!
All sounds great, Teresa, happy wokking :-)
Just made this for our dinner in Tottenham, London. YUM, YUM, YUM! Your blog along with Fuscia Dunlop’s books (and our local Chinese ‘South and North’ supermarket) have revolutionised how we eat! Thank you Woks of Life!
So glad to hear that, Sophie! Thank you for your lovely comment.
I came to love Chinese cuisine while living in NYC and, having moved away, miss the availability. So what to do? Make it at home of course! This type of recipe is sadly lacking online which usually has TOO MANY options. This recipe is great and I’m making it again tmrw. Now if only the woksoflife could guide me through soup dumplings, all would be at rest in the world!
Hi Ed, we do have soup dumpling recipe, go for it :-)
This dish was amazing! I made a couple of changes out of necessity: Our local stores were out of bok choi, so I substituted the tops of a bunch of broccoli rabe, and ground pork (which I had in the fridge and needed to use). I could only find dried udon. The trick to keeping it from sticking is to stir constantly and gently, so it doesn’t break up. And using the dark soy sauce is the key to giving the dish the proper, dark color that is in the pictures. My husband liked it so much he offered to make it again the next day. Thank you!
Awesome, Camille, so glad you liked it.