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!
Pin this now to find it later!
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,
1/4 cups seems too little to fry the amount of spring onions in the recipe. Should i add more oil?
Thanks
1/4 cup is enough as the scallions will shrink a lot when fried (as shown in the process images). Happy cooking!
Hi Wei! If you premake the sauce (scallion oil + seasoning) and keep it in the fridge, do you have to heat the sauce up before mixing it with the noodles?
No, Vanessa. The freshly cooked, hot noodles will bring out the fragrance of the sauce.
Thanks Wei! I was hoping that would be the case as I’m pretty lazy and prefer to use it directly! 😛 I can’t wait to give this a try this week! I’ve really been craving this…I was last in Shanghai at the beginning of January and it reminded me how much I love the food there. Thanks again.
I made it for breakfast! The sauce seemed like too little so I was worried but it all worked and tasted great, especially after I opened my yolky boiled eggs for extra egg yolk liquid to cover the my rice noodles. 😀
With a silky egg yolk? I can imagine how nice it tastes! Glad you enjoyed my recipe.
My go to with my homemade pasta noodle, so good, one question, when you say ” soy sauce” you dont mean soya sauce right, you do mean soy sauce? just making sure. I love it, simple, quick lunch just for me.
I forgot to mention sometimes I throw in cabbage or carrot with the onion before adding in noodles and I use honey for sweetner instead of sugar
Soy sauce and soya sauce refer to the same thing (The difference is just in the spelling). Glad you enjoyed the dish!
Very good recipe keep updating tks
The noodle dish is absolutely delicious. Any salad side dishes that you would recommend to have along with spring onion oil noodles (as the main dish).
Hi Shriya! For salad dishes, have a look at my recipe for Smashed Cucumber, Wood Ear Mushroom Salad, or Cold Silken Tofu.
So i tried this sauce with eggless noodles and rice noodles but it didn’t quite hit the mark. Felt like it was missing something. I then used the sauce over stir-fried pak choy (less than 1tbspn for one medium head) and served with rice and chilli oil and it was delicious! Hence the 5 stars 🙂 Quick Q: how long can i store the sauce in the fridge? It makes for a super-quick midweek meal 🙂
You can store it in the fridge for a month or so.
Perfect! Thank you 🙂
I made this for dinner last night. It was super easy and quick. I used fresh egg noodles because that’s what I have in my fridge, and I served this with crispy airfried boneless skin-on chicken thigh… so good! The kids enjoy them all and asked for more! Thank you so much for sharing this noodle recipe.
That sounds like a delicious meal! Glad you’ve enjoyed my recipe.
Simple but definitely worth it
This was so simple and absolutely delicious. Served with steamed ginger and greens, chilli oil and a fried egg for a hearty meal in minutes
Sounds like a very tasty meal Jade. Glad you’ve enjoyed!