A classic dish from Shanghai, scallion oil noodles are among the simplest dishes to make. Though you’ll be surprised by how delicious they are!
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Pin ItNote: This recipe was originally published in June 2017. This revised version includes more tips, process photos and a video tutorial.
Table of Contents
What are scallion oil noodles
Scallion oil noodles (Cōng yóu Bàn Miàn, 葱油拌面) are a humble dish originating in Shanghai. In appearance, it’s as simple as can be: boiled noodles coated with a shiny, brown sauce, and topped with fried scallions.
Yet, this dish can effortlessly excite your taste buds, a true example to prove the concept of “Less is more”. When I was on my Culinary Tours of China with my blog readers, I always made sure to order it for our dinner parties in Shanghai.
The key flavors of the dish come from scallions and soy sauce. These two basic ingredients play star roles in many popular Chinese recipes, such as Scallion Oil Chicken, Scallion Pork Chops, Scallion Ginger Salmon, Scallion Tofu, and more.
Thanks to a short list of ingredients and simple preparation, this dish makes an incredibly beginner-friendly dish that I encourage everyone to try.
🌟 NOTE: I also have a recipe for Scallion Oil. Much like Chinese chili oil, I keep it as a kitchen staple and use it for a variety of dishes.
Ingredients
Here are all the ingredients you need for this recipe:
- Scallions, aka spring onion, green onion
- Oil. This refers to neutral-flavored cooking oil, such as sunflower, vegetable, canola oil, etc. Since this recipe only involves pan-frying over medium-low heat, olive oil would work too although it’s not a traditional choice for Chinese cooking.
- Light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. The former provides an umami-rich saltiness, while the latter adds a brown shine and caramelized aroma to the dish.
- Sugar. Both white and brown sugar work.
- Noodles
🌟 Noodle choices: The traditional version uses thin, round wheat noodles as shown in the images. Please feel free to opt for other varieties. such as rice noodles, soba noodles, scissor-cut noodles, hand-cut noodles, or even Italian spaghetti. All worked well as the sauce would make everything tasty.
Cooking workflow
Step 1: cut the scallions
Rinse the scallions thoroughly and dry them with kitchen paper. Remove the root ends and slice them into long sections, then split each piece lengthways.
🌟 TIP: There is no need to chop the scallion too finely, as this can cause them to burn quickly in the oil.
Step 2: infuse the oil
Add oil to a wok or a skillet, then put in the scallions. Fry them on a gentle medium-low heat.
When the white part of the scallions turns a golden brown shade, remove them and set aside. Leave the infused oil in the wok.
🌟 TIP: During this process, pay close attention not to burn the scallions.
Step 3: make the sauce
Turn off the heat and let the scallion-infused oil cool for a minute. Then add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar. Stir to combine. The remaining heat of the oil should be sufficient to make the sauce bubble and fully dissolve the sugar.
🌟 TIP: If the oil has become too cold, turn on the heat for a short period of time to simmer the sauce.
Step 4: cook the noodles
To save time, boil the noodles simultaneously on another burner as you prepare the sauce. Follow the recommended cooking time on the package, or give them a taste if unsure about the doneness.
🌟 TIP: If you’d like to add some leafy greens to the dish (e.g. bok choy, spinach), put them into the same pot to cook right before the noodles are done.
Step 5: assemble the dish
Transfer the drained noodles to the wok, mixing them thoroughly with the sauce to ensure an even coating.
Dish out the sauced noodles to individual serving bowls or a large plate for sharing. Then garnish with the golden-brown fried scallions.
Make ahead
The sauce recipe can be easily scaled up for large batches by proportionally increasing the ingredient quantity. Once prepared, it can be stored in the fridge for about 1 month. However, it’s better to use up the fried scallions within 3 days.
Whenever you crave a bowl of scallion oil noodles, simply boil some noodles then toss them with the pre-made sauce. There is no need to reheat the sauce, as the heat from the freshly cooked noodles will warm it up and enhance its aroma.
Serving ideas
Shanghai scallion oil noodles make a wonderful meal, together with some proteins and/or a vegetable dish on the side. Here are some pairing ideas you may find helpful:
PROTEINS (all of the following can be made in advance):
VEGETABLES (all of the following require a short prep time):
- Smashed Cucumber
- Eggplant with Garlic Dressing
- Tiger Skin Pepper
- Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce
- Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts
Additionally, I like taking this dish to potlucks because it can be easily made in a big batch and tastes good at room temperature.
Other noodle dishes
Looking for more classic Chinese noodle recipes? Check out these popular ones:
📋 Recipe card
Love this recipe? Please leave a 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating and a comment. Thank you!
Scallion Oil Noodles (葱油拌面)
Video
Ingredients
- 6 stalk scallions, aka spring onion, green onion
- ¼ cup neutral cooking oil
- 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- 12 oz dried noodles, see note 1
Instructions
Prepare the scallions
- Wash scallions, then pat dry with paper towels thoroughly. Trim off the ends. Cut them into long sections, then halve each piece lengthways.
Infuse the oil
- Pour oil into a wok/skillet, and add the scallions. Leave to fry over medium-low heat. Once the white part of scallions becomes golden brown, take them out with chopsticks leaving the oil in the wok.
Make the sauce
- Turn off the heat and allow the oil to cool for about a minute. Then, carefully pour in the mixture of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar. Mix and let the remaining heat of the oil dissolve the sugar completely (see note 2 & 3).
Cook the noodles
- Bring plenty of water to a full boil. Add noodles and leave to boil until they’re cooked through.
Assemble the dish
- Transfer the drained noodles to the wok. Stir and toss to evenly coat each strand with the sauce.
- Portion out the noodles into 4 serving bowls, or put them on a large plate for sharing. Garnish with the fried scallions.
Notes
Your Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Wei, I made the scallion oil noodles and with such a friendly recipe, the came out amazing, I also used regular pasta and it worked well. Thank you so much for such detail and the easy to food up recipe. I look forward to new ones. Actually, how do you make combination fried rice? Because I have tried to make it, and it just doesn’t taste right.
Thank you for trying the recipe. I’m glad it worked well with pasta too. I have quite a few fried rice recipes on the blog you might find helpful, such as Yangzhou fried rice, egg fried rice, shrimp fried rice, and chicken fried rice. They all share similar principles that you can mix and match.
Fácil, barato y rápido de preparar. Yo uso spaghetti normal. Gusta a pequeños y a mayores. Gracias por tus recetas.
So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Candi! Yes, it’s nice with spaghetti too.
I got a box of dried noodle from Costco and thought I’d try to make the Scallion noodles with it. I did end up adding some frozen stir fried veggies, also from Costco. The dish was a big hit, easy to make a delicious. Thank you so much for your easy to follow recipes that are very tasty.
That sounds wonderful! I’m so glad it worked out. Love the Costco veggie add-in too. Thanks for trying it and for the kind words!
Hi Wei,
I made your recipe Taiwan Lu Rou Fan and it was a huge hit! Everyone loved it and asked for extra rice 😁. I have some leftover shallots oil from that recipe and was wondering:
Can I use the shallots oil that’s been stored for a couple of days to make the sauce in this recipe? Would reheating it and following the remaining steps work?
So happy to hear the Lu Rou Fan was a hit! 😄 Yes, you can definitely use the leftover shallot oil for this recipe. Yes, just reheat it and follow the other steps. Hope you’ll enjoy it!
This was so simple and so delicious. I thought I would need to add garlic and other things to make it taste good, but it’s perfect as is!
So happy you enjoyed it! Sometimes simplicity is the secret to the best flavors.
Oh so delicious and incredibly simple to make. So, so satisfying.
So happy to hear your positive feedback Melissa!
Simple and delicious
Hi! I tried making this dish but failed on my sauce. The soy sauce mixture couldn’t get properly mixed with the oil (it was bubbling but not as much as in your video). I tried to turn on the heat again but ended up burning my sauce mixture (it became a very thick paste). Any troubleshoot? Was my oil not hot in the first place and then became too hot? I love this dish in restaurants so keen to make it at home (successfully)
Thanks for trying my recipe, Cahya! I’m sorry to hear about the trouble with the sauce. It’s important to note that intense bubbling isn’t compulsory when mixing the soy sauce mixture with the oil; the goal is just to dissolve the sugar with the residual heat. If the oil cools down too much, it’s okay to gently reheat it, but make sure to keep the heat low to avoid burning the sauce. I hope this helps, and I’m looking forward to hearing how it goes on your next try!