Here’s an easy version of Singapore Noodles made using chicken and bacon instead of having to hunt down Chinese BBQ Pork and peel fresh prawns. Same sauce, same vermicelli noodles, just as delicious. You can make this tonight!
The finished dish photos in this post were taken by Rob Palmer.
Singapore chicken vermicelli noodles
These noodles are a simpler “I can make this tonight!” version of Singapore Noodles, a firm takeout favourite here in Australia. It’s made with yellow curry flavoured vermicelli noodles stir fried with vegetables, egg ribbons, Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu) and fresh prawns. It’s fast to make – if you happen to have the pork and prawns on hand. Which I never do.
So here’s a version you can make using more regular weekly grocery items. Bacon, chicken, baby spinach and bean sprouts (useful no-chop vegetables I always have). Plus red capsicum strips and egg ribbons (literally just a thin omelette cut into strips), both of which are Singapore Noodle staples, all tossed in the Singapore Noodle curry flavoured sauce.
Ingredients in Singapore vermicelli noodles
This one’s a great versatile recipe you can make with whatever vegetables you’ve got on hand. I think you’ll also like that there’s a good amount of vegetables in it, so it’s a well-rounded complete meal.
The proteins
A mix of chicken, bacon and egg keeps things interesting. Feel free to change the chicken to another protein. But I really urge you to use the bacon. It adds a great flavour pop that replaces the little bits of Chinese BBQ Pork that you get in traditional Singapore Noodles.
Chicken – I like to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs because they are juicier than breast and tenderloin, though they work just fine too. We only use 150g/5 oz, which is around one large thigh. Don’t forget we have bacon and egg too!
Curry powder and salt – To season the chicken. Simple but never boring, because we get flavour from the sauce too! For the curry powder, you just need the regular kind you get from grocery stores, like Clives and Keens (Australian brands). No need to hunt down an obscure Singaporean curry powder! Avoid hot curry powder – unless you want your noodles spicy. 🙂
Bacon – Streaky bacon, for the best flavour. Though lean bacon will work too (we call it “shortcut bacon” here in Australia, the round eye part that’s devoid of flavour – oops, I mean fat 😂).
Eggs – Two eggs which we will use to make a thin omelette crepe which we then slice into ribbons. Signature feature of traditional Singapore Noodles which we’re keeping!
FOR THE STIR-FRIED NOODLES
Vermicelli noodles – The thin white dried “pokey” noodles that are prepared by soaking in hot water. Very common these days, in the noodle or Asian aisle in grocery stores.
Not to be confused with glass noodles / bean thread noodles which are the clear kind (see Glass Noodle Salad recipe for a closer look at these). While you can make this recipe with glass noodles, it is not quite as good because the noodles are so slippery, the sauce doesn’t stick to them very well!
Garlic and onion – Stir fry staples!
Capsicum (bell pepper) – I like the red strips in traditional Singapore Noodles so I kept them for this recipe.
Bean sprouts and baby spinach – “Grab and toss” vegetables that helps make this recipe fast to make while adding more vegetables so it’s a well rounded me. Feel free to use more of either, or substitute with other cook-able leafy greens. Or you could be a real rebel and make the effort to chop some vegetables yourself!
SINGAPORE NOODLE SAUCE
And here’s what you need for the sauce, which is the same as the sauce used in traditional Singapore Noodles.
Soy sauce – Use either light or all purpose soy sauce. But not dark soy sauce – flavour is too strong and the colour is too intense! More on which soy sauce to use when here.
Chinese cooking wine (“Shaoxing wine”) is an essential ingredient for making truly “restaurant standard” Asian noodles. Without, the flavour is missing something. Substitute with Mirin, cooking sake or dry sherry. Non alcoholic substitute – 1/3 cup (80 ml) low sodium chicken stock. Expect to toss the noodles for an extra minute or two as it will require a little extra time for the sauce to reduce.
Curry powder – Just the regular stuff you get from grocery stores, like Clives and Keens (Australian brands). Avoid hot – unless you want the heat!
White pepper rather than black is the standard in Asian cooking. The flavour is a little fresher than black pepper, and you also cannot see it. Whereas if you use black pepper (which you totally can) you will see little black specks on the noodles.
How to make Singapore Chicken Vermicelli Noodles
As with all stir fries, have all the ingredients chopped and ready to toss into the pan. Because once you start cooking, there is no time to stop!
Soak vermicelli noodles
Prepare the vermicelli noodles per the packet directions. Usually it says to soak in warm or boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes, then drain. Nice and easy!
TIP: Don’t soak the noodles until you’re ready to start cooking. The longer the noodles sit around, the more prone they are to breaking. This tip applies to most noodles.
MAKING THE STIR FRIED NOODLES
Once your ingredients are chopped and measured out, it takes around 10 minutes to cook from start to finish. Nice and fast, as most stir fried noodles are!
Toss the chicken in the curry powder and salt, then set aside. There’s no need to let it marinate because the chicken pieces are so small and each piece is coated in the tasty curry powder.
Mix the sauce ingredients in a small jug.
Egg omelette – First up, make the egg ribbons. Heat a tiny amount of oil in the pan – just enough to spread across the base. Then once hot, pour the whisked eggs in and swirl so it covers the base of the pan. Leave it on the stove until the surface sets but is still a bit wet – it literally takes around 30 seconds.
Egg ribbons – Flip or slide the omelette onto a cutting board. Once it’s cool enough to handle, roll it up like a cigar then slice thinly. Voila! Egg ribbons!
Stir fry – The order in which things are added into the pan is very deliberate! First, the bacon. It needs a head start and also I like to get some of the fat melting into the pan so it flavours everything else. After a minute, add the onion and cook until it’s starting to wilt, about 2 minutes. Then add the chicken and cook until the surface is seared (the inside will still be raw).
Capsicum and garlic – Next, the capsicum and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes, by which time the chicken will be cooked through, the onion is translucent and the bacon is golden. Perfect!
Noodles and sauce – Add (in this order) the baby spinach, bean sprouts, noodles then sauce. The idea being that the noodles weigh the fluffy veg down! Then toss for a good 2 minutes until the sauce reduces and stains the noodles a lovely yellow(y) colour. Heads up – there may be some noodle breakage, with some noodle brands breaking more easily than others. And that’s totally ok.
Egg ribbons – And finally, gently toss through the egg ribbons just to disperse. Then serve!
Today’s photos – shot by Rob Palmer!
Before I sign off, I just want to make mention of the photos in today’s post. The finished dish photos were taken by Rob Palmer who is a professional photographer here in Sydney I have worked with on various projects, including my cookbook. These photos were taken at my house in a make-shift studio we set up for the day.
Getting Rob to take the photos for my website is part of my longer term plan to try to get a better work-life balance. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve been struggling in recent years with my workload as my team, business and activities has expanded. And I am determined to fix it! Life is too short, and I am genuinely worried I will burn out.
There will be a transition period. And I’d always like to do some of the photos because I genuinely enjoy it. But I hope to eventually have Rob taking most of the photos for the website. Plus, we can do more photos with Dozer and I in them!
I’d like to do a bit of a RecipeTin-world update soon, because there’s actually a lot that’s been happening which is why I’ve been publishing less than my typical 3 new recipes a week. So I won’t go into more details today, I’ll sign off here.
For now, please enjoy today’s new recipe! I really hope you try it. It’s a terrific complete-meal stir fry that’s simple to make, with adaptable ingredients and just requires a trip to your everyday grocery store. Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Easy Singapore Chicken Vermicelli Noodles
Ingredients
- 100 g/3.5 oz dried vermicelli noodles (not glass noodles)
Singapore noodles sauce:
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce , or all-purpose soy (not dark soy) (Note 1)
- 3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine, Note 2)
- 3 tsp curry powder (Note 3)
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 1/2 tsp white pepper (sub black pepper)
Chicken:
- 150g/ 5 oz skinless boneless chicken thighs (sub breast or tenderloin), cut in half lengthways then finely sliced into 5mm / 1/5″ strips
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp curry powder (Note 3)
Stir fry add-ins:
- 2 tbsp plain oil (canola, veg, peanut)
- 2 eggs , whisked
- 100g/3 oz streaky bacon , chopped into small pieces
- 1/2 brown onion , finely sliced
- 3 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 1 red capsicum (bell pepper), deseeded and finely sliced
- 1 very heaped cup bean sprouts (or more leafy greens)
- 1 very heaped cup baby spinach (or other cook-able leafy greens or more bean sprouts)
Instructions
- Sauce – Mix the sauce in a small bowl or jug.
- Season chicken – Toss the seasoned chicken ingredients in a bowl.
- Prepare noodles per the packet directions then drain in a colander (usually says to soak in boiled water for 3 – 5 minutes).
- Egg ribbons – Heat a small amount of the oil in a large non stick pan over medium high heat. Pour the egg in a swirl to make a thin omelette. Once the surface is set (literally 30 seconds), slide or flip it onto a cutting board. Cool so you can handle it, roll it up into a cigar then cut into 7mm / 1/3" strips. Separate. Voila! Egg ribbons!
- Stir-fry – Heat the remaining oil in the same pan over high heat. Add the bacon and cook for 1 minute. Add the onion and cook until it starts to wilt and the bacon is light golden (about 2 minutes). Add the chicken and cook until the surface is seared. Then add the garlic and capsicum and cook for another 2 minutes until the chicken is cooked.
- Noodles – Add (in this order) the baby spinach, bean sprouts, noodles then sauce. Using 2 spatulas, toss well for 1 1/2 minutes or until the sauce stains the noodles. There will be noodle breakage – that's normal.
- Finish – Toss through the egg ribbons (gently, just to disperse) then serve immediately!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Ahh, poor Dozer! He’s had a rough week. Rough few months, actually!
In the last week, he’s been to the vet 7 times due to what was finally determined to be acute gastro, though at one stage there was a concern it was a much more serious issue (such as megaesophagus). In the almost 12 years I’ve had him, I’ve never seen him in such distress, pain and not to mention the floods of un-controllable💩 (the words “explosion” and “flood gates” come to mind).
There’s been a handful of midnight hospital visits, a couple of all-nighters, and much time spent trying to figure out food he’ll eat that’s laryngeal paralysis* and gastro-friendly.
Let’s just say canned dog food doesn’t make the cut. I know, I know, no one is surprised!
* This is the condition he was diagnosed with earlier this year in which his larynxes are paralysed which means he is at high risk of food getting into his lungs. This causes lung infections which can be deadly. So he is on a special diet these days.
Anyway, in a nutshell, it’s been a rough week for poor Dozer. Well, actually, it’s been 10 days now. He seems to be at the tail end of it now though still not back to his normal self. Right now he’s sitting under the table at my feet, clearly feeling a little nauseous though nowhere near as extreme as it was last week. (He has anti-nausea pills. I skipped this morning thinking he was ok. I’ll be putting him back on them for a while, I think!).
But he is much, much better than he was on the weekend which was pretty horrific. The worst part was seeing him in such pain, finding him curled up in the middle of the night under a bush in the far corner of the garden. I knew something was really wrong. 😢
I’m so thankful he’s feeling better now!
Oh – but finishing with a little fun: here he is in the early stages of his gastro when I resorted to man-buns:
But by the time the weekend rolled around and after the 20th butt wash, we caved and shaved his butt. You don’t need to see a photo of that. 😂
Hope to bring more positive Dozer news in the next post! – Nagi x
Ron/Brisbane says
Made this tonight as per the recipe (well, used a whole onion instead of half a one – but otherwise stuck to instructions!) –
Was really nice and very moorish.
It served three as stated – generously! – but the crestfallen looks on the faces of the other two when told that was it and there was no more left in the pan – was classic!)
Will definitely be making this again. Perfect quick weeknight meal – once you line up the ingredients and finished the chopping etc – it’s really easy. Thanks again Nagi!
Janette Hill says
Sending so much love to you and Dozer. Thinking about both of you a lot.
Pam says
Prayers for Dozer that he feels better real soon. !
Bridget McCormick says
The noodles were fantastic. Thank you!
Nagi, please be strong and listen to your brain and heart equally. It’s so easy to overlook the right time to say goodbye. I know it because we almost did it when we hung on to our 17-year-old pitbull mix. We love them so much and because we do, we have to do the right thing.
Dozer is well known in our home and our dogs are wagging their tails to say “Hello” or they want a treat. 🙂
Sending you and Dozer a hug. You will be in my thoughts and your recipes will be in my pots and pans. 🙂
I hope Dozer and you will have lots of quality time together.
Vanessa Grey says
I will try this next week. But I think you used a little to many ingredients
Sally says
Made this twice this week. Delicious and so easy! Everyone loved it.
Chad Miller says
Thanks for this amazing recipe. As I was making it I thought I have never put these ingredients together in the same dish. Soy sauce and curry and bacon :). It was delicious – our family loved it.
Amy says
Made this tonight for dinner. Kids and hubby loved it. Will definitely make again. Added carrot and celery and it was scrumptious. Thanks for a delicious as always meal nagi. 😘
Linda G says
We all know this recipe will be fabulous but take time with Dozer. Everyone hates you’re going through this & you know everyone is sending you hugs & hoping everything turns out positive. Sending hugs 🤗
Wendy says
Oh girl, you must be exhausted. I wish your family here could do more for you, we will keep sending all our love your way. Please take the time you need, we will always be here waiting with our support. Sending a big bear hug for you guys.
Joann Brown says
I am so sorry for what you and Dozer have been through and are going through. We have a golden also and he is near 10 . We took him as a rescue dog and not really sure of his age. His name is Randle. We also lost our black lab to the the laryngeal spasms. We took him to the vet when he was in the middle of the first one. the vet intubated him and made him comfortable. he gave us the option of the 2000 dollar surgery in which the problem could still come back or simply taking him home, knowing that it would probably happen again where he cannot breathe. We decided on letting him go to spare him and us the agony of seeing him go through not being able to breathe. I applaud you for the care, love and attention you give Dozer and I appreciate your updates. Bless you and Dozer.
Ursula Misangyi says
Nagi, I made this last night with zero alterations. It was delicious and actually quite light. I agree, the bacon is essential!
Thank you for another wonderful, easy recipe!
Claire Champion says
I made this for the first time last night and WOW it was amazing. Even better, it looked exactly like your photos! I used medium strength curry powder and it gave a great zing to it. Another success to add to the growing list!
Birgit says
Yum! I used yellow, wheat based Singapore noodles, carrots instead of capsicum, chicken mince instead of thighs, and lap Chong instead of bacon (!!) – not bc I thought these would be better but bc this is what I had – still so delicious bc the sauce is great,
Everyone in my house took one mouthful and unprompted said, “wow, this is great”.
Big hugs to Dozer, I also have a Goldie that has had health issues recently. Wishing him well xx
Nagi says
That’s so great Birgit!! I’ve seen those thin yellow Singapore noodles, never used them though. Glad it worked!!! I’m sorry to hear your Goldie is having some health challenges too 🙁 HUGS to him/her! – N x
Sharon says
Take care Dozer & Nagi x
Thanks for another incredible recipe. Had this for dinner tonight , I made triple the recipe. Noodles are very flavourful. I used chicken breast instead of thigh, and omitted capsicum and bean sprouts. It was very quick and easy to prepare and cook, and all the ingredients easily found at the local woolies. Would definitely make this again.
Nagi says
TRIPLE! Sharon, you must have a giant wok 😂 I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! N x
Lee Aylward says
This was yummy and easy BUT you could add WAY more vegetables and noodles with the amount of sauce to bulk it up. I’d say you could at least double the recommend noodles and veggies.
It was also surprisingly spicy considering I used one less teaspoon of curry powder.
Nagi says
Oh dear Lee, did you use spicy curry powder??? Glad you enjoyed it though! N x
Lee says
Just trusty ol’ Keens.
I blame the white pepper.
Still delish 😋
Jan Hughes says
Hi Nagi
My heart goes out to you and Dozer, it’s terrifying when your beloved dogs are sick
I wish you both the very best
Evelyn says
Planned the Recipe for dinner tonight, thinking my 2 year old will live it. .. keeping you on my mind and sending healing thoughts to you and Dozer.
Nagi says
Thank you Jan! He had a good day today. 🙂 Made me so happy! N x
Devanne says
I couldn’t wait to try this, and OMG, it delivered 150%! As the recipe only requires 150g of chicken thigh and I had 500g, I tripled the chicken curry and salt, as well as the sauce, so it was a tad spicy, but incredibly tasty. A thousand thank yous Nagi, it was a massive hit
Nagi says
That’s so great to hear Devanne!! Just checking – did you use HOT curry powder?? I use regular mild! N x
Joel says
I made this dish for dinner using 1 pound of extra large shrimp instead of chicken. My family absolutely loved it. This recipe is a real keeper!!
Nagi says
Yuuum!!! So good with shrimp! 🙂 Glad your family enjoyed it Joel! N x
Julie Medbury says
Oh dear Nagi,
How horrendous for both you and Dozer. I love you both to bits and couldn’t imagine what it would be like if you couldn’t continue on with your wonderful dialogue, and stories of that handsome boy Dozer! Not to mention your amazing & tasty recipes. . . . Please look after yourself, ‘cause Dozer loves you so so much and he needs you too. 🥹
I’m sure I speak for all of your devoted fans/followers not just here in Australia but all over the world. (We often forward your recipes to friends everywhere, including O/S)
May a sense of peace be with you through your tumultuous times.
Best wishes,
Julie.
PS. sorry I sound so 🌼🌸🌼 ‘flowery‘, but I’m not very good at expressing my feelings!