Hand pulled noodles, known as Lā Miàn 拉面, are a traditional Chinese noodle made by repeatedly stretching and folding wheat dough into long strands by hand. They are a staple of northern Chinese cuisine and are valued for their chewy texture and simple ingredients. Plus, noodles are one of the core elements of Chinese food culture, and they show up in many of my Authentic Chinese noodle recipes for that reason.
As you might already know, handmade noodles can be hard to find and often expensive outside of China, including here in New York. That is exactly why I decided to share this recipe, along with my expert tips from years of cooking Chinese food at home and developing recipes professionally.
Whether it is a hot bowl of noodles in a restaurant or freshly made noodles cooked at home, I love that this is one of the most affordable ways to prepare a filling and hearty one dish meal. With my recipe, I walk through the dough mixing, resting, and pulling process step by step using only flour, water, and salt, with a little active work once the dough has rested. Let us start.
Why make hand pulled noodles at home
Even though noodles are inexpensive at restaurants, I still enjoy making them from scratch at home. The reasons are simple:
- Easy to make: Once I learned the technique, making hand pulled noodles at home became very simple.
- No additives: I like that homemade noodles use only basic ingredients without added preservatives.
- Better taste: Freshly made noodles taste far better than packaged dried ones.
There are countless types of noodles in China, and here I introduce the hand pulled variety known as 拉面, la mian. It might sound daunting to make this type of noodle at home, especially if you’ve ever watched a noodle dance in China. But the truth is, hand-pulled noodles are one of the easiest handmade noodles for beginners to make.
Hand Pulled Dough Method
There are two main approaches to making hand pulled noodles:
- In professional kitchens, cooks usually knead the dough for a very long time to build strong gluten, then rest it for an extended period so it can be pulled. That method works well in restaurants but is not very practical at home.
- After many test runs, I found that kneading just until the dough is smooth works much better for home cooks. By avoiding excessive gluten development, the dough needs much less resting time and is easier to handle. This approach uses minimal active kneading and produces a soft, springy dough that pulls easily.
How to make
1. Prepare the dough – 1 short rest
To make the dough without developing too much gluten, you don’t need to knead the dough for very long time and it will not be smooth after first kneading. But once the dough rest the first time, it only takes a few kneading to smooth out the dough.
Mix the dough: Slowly drizzle the salt water into the flour while mixing. Continue until the water is fully incorporated and the flour forms shaggy threads.
Knead: Bring the dough together and knead, adding a small amount of water if dry flour remains. Continue kneading for about 2 minutes until a rough ball forms, taking care not to overwork the dough.
Rest: Let the dough rest for 20 minutes before kneading it again, for just 1 to 2 minutes, until the dough becomes smooth.
2. Shape the dough – 2nd resting
Roll out the dough depending on the type of noodles you want to make and let it rest for 2 hours to fully relax the gluten before pulling and cooking.
I’ve included three types of noodle doughs in this recipe, so you can choose the type you prefer:
- Thin noodles: great for noodle soup, fried noodles, or lo mein noodles
- Flat noodles: good for noodle soups or noodles served with a sauce
- Wide noodles: good with a super heavy sauce such as cumin lamb or da pan ji
Note: Oil the dough and cover it to prevent sticking and drying out.
3. Pull the noodles
Cut the dough: Cut the dough into pieces based on the width of noodles you want to make. It’s important to keep the cut noodles covered with plastic wrap so they don’t dry out.
Pull: Pull the dough into a long thin strip in one motion, then continue pulling and bouncing it on the table to stretch it thinner. Fold the strand, then pull and bounce again until it reaches the desired thickness, except for flat or wide noodles, which do not need folding.
Rest: Place the pulled noodles on the work surface without overlapping. If space is limited, lightly dust them with flour so they do not stick when placed close together.
4. Cooking
Boiling: Drop a few strands of noodles into boiling water at a time and cook until they are cooked through and springy, boiling slightly longer if a softer texture is preferred.
Rinse the noodles: Transfer the noodles to a colander and rinse with tap water to stop the cooking.
Recipe update notes
I created this recipe back in 2015 while I was still living in China. It’s a family recipe and I created a short hand pulled noodles video to show the process.
Over the years, I have received many positive comments and questions from readers. After moving to the US, I also realized that all purpose flour here is different from the flour commonly used in China, mainly because it has higher protein content.
That is why I decided to retest the recipe using various types of flour in the US and slightly refine the process, so the results are more consistent and closer to ideal each time.
Serving suggestions
When I serve hand pulled noodles at home, I keep the focus on the noodles by pairing them with simple sauces like my easy peanut nodles or my real deal sesame noodles. When I’m hosting, I enjoy using them in my Dan Dan Noodles recipe or Biang Biang Noodles to create a satisfying noodle focused spread.
Frequently asked questions
Can I store the raw hand-pulled noodles?
Unfortunately, NO. It’s very important to cook the noodles immediately once you’ve pulled them. In fact, the pulled noodles should be dropped directly into boiling water (that’s how they do it at restaurants). If you want to store the raw noodles, you must use starch (or flour) to coat them so they won’t stick together. But the dough will change in texture during this process.
If you want to store raw noodles, check out my rolled noodles recipe.
Can I store the cooked noodles?
YES! This is the best way to store them. You can slightly undercook the noodles if you plan on storing them. So they reach the perfect consistency once they’re reheated. You can see more notes on how to reheat in the recipe card below.
Can I store the noodle dough?
Yes. Once you roll out the dough and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours, you can cover the dough and move it to the fridge. Cut, pull, and boil the noodles when you plan to serve them.
What brand and kind of flour did you use?
I tested with various brands and types of flour and finally achieved a consistent result no matter what brand we were using. In the pictures I used all-purpose flour from the King Author brand (11.7% protein content).
I also tried a mixture of 370 g (3 cups) of cake flour and 30 g (3 tablespoons) of bread flour. This mixture produces a slightly smoother dough (marginally). It’s possible to use different blend to achieve different texture, even 100% bread flour, but I do not recommend using 100% cake flour.
I saw professional hand-pulled noodles use alkaline water. Why don’t you use it?
Using alkaline water in the noodle dough increases the chewiness of the texture and it doesn’t affect the pulling process. I found that even if you skip the alkaline water, you will produce a great result with a chewy texture (without the noodles getting too tough). So I decided to skip this ingredient, which makes the recipes a bit more complicated.
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Hand-Pulled Noodles
Ingredients
- 2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour (*Footnote 1)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water , room temperature
- Vegetable oil to coat the dough
Instructions
Make the dough by hand (Option 1)
- Combine the water and salt in a small bowl. Stir to dissolve the salt.
- Add the flour into a large bowl. Bit by bit, pour the water into the flour, mixing with a pair of chopsticks or a spatula as you go.
- Once all the water is added, the dough should be in shaggy threads with little/no dry flour in the bowl. Begin pressing the dough together. If you find the dough is too dry and there’s still dry flour that’s hard to incorporate into the dough, drizzle more water onto the dry flour and mix it again, until there’s no dry flour left. Knead the dough until a rough, firm ball is formed, about 2 minutes.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes.
- Once the dough is rested, knead it again until it becomes smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.
Make the dough using KitchenAid (Option 2)
- Mix the flour and salt in the bowl of the KitchenAid mixer and add the dough hook. Turn it to the mix setting. Slowly drizzle the water down the side, all along the bowl. This should take about 1 minute. Once the water is incorporated, turn to setting 2 and knead until a rough dough ball is formed, another 2 to 3 minutes.
First rest
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes.
Second kneading
- Either knead in the machine on setting 4 for 30 seconds or by hand for 1 to 2 minutes. Then shape the dough.
- (Optional) If you plan to store/freeze the dough, coat the dough with oil and store it in a sealed plastic bag. Refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Shape the dough
- FOR THIN NOODLES: Divide the dough to halves and roll each dough into a 1/2” (1 cm) thick oval.
- FOR FLAT NOODLES: Divide the dough to halves and roll each and roll each dough into a 1/4” (1/2 cm) thick oval.
- FOR WIDE NOODLES: Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into approximately 3”x5” (8×13 cm) ovals, 1/4” (1/2 cm) high.
Second rest
- Coat the dough(s) generously with oil and cover with plastic. Let rest for 2 hours.
Pull and cook the noodles
- Bring a medium-sized pot of water to a boil.
- FOR THIN NOODLES: Cut long the longer side of the oval, slicing the dough into 1/2” (1 cm) wide strips and rolling each piece slightly to the side with each cut to prevent them from sticking together. Cover the cut pieces with the plastic again to prevent them from drying out. Starting with the first strip you cut off, pick it up on both ends. (*Footnote 2) In one swift motion, tug the noodle about an arm’s length and gently bounce it on the working surface once or twice until it forms a long, thin noodle. Rest the noodle on your working surface as you fold it over, so that both ends are in one hand. Hook the other side with your thumb. Give it a couple light tugs and bounces until the noodles get longer and reach the desired thin shape. Then pull off the thick ends collected in one hand and lay the noodle out on the working surface. Repeat with the rest of your noodles.
- FOR FLAT NOODLES: Cut along the longer side of the oval, slicing the dough into 1 1/2” (3 cm) wide strips. Cover the cut pieces with the plastic again to prevent from drying out. Starting with the first strip you cut off, pick it up on both ends. (*Footnote 2) In one swift motion, tug the noodle to about an arm’s length and gently bounce it on the working surface once or twice. Rest the noodle on your working surface for 10-20 seconds, then give it a couple extra-light tugs and bounces until it forms a flat long noodle. Then pull off the thick ends and lay the noodle out. Repeat with the rest of your noodles. Drop the noodles into the boiling water, a few at a time, and cook for 1 to 1.5 minutes.
- FOR WIDE NOODLES: One at a time, grip the short ends of a strip (*Footnote 2) and pull it apart in one swift motion until the dough feels taut. It should be between 1 to 2 feet. Bounce it on the table a couple times. Pull off the thick ends and lay the noodle out, covering it with plastic to prevent drying out.
Cook the noodles
- Drop the noodles, a few pieces at a time, into the boiling water and cook for 1 to 1.5 minutes, until tender but still with a chewy texture. Do not cook too many noodles at a time! It’s hard to control the texture that way and the noodles might stick together.
Storage
- Store the cooked noodles: If you plan on reheating, you can slightly undercook the noodles (to al dente) to create a better texture once reheated. Store the noodles in an airtight container or a ziplock bag in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- For frozen/refrigerated dough; let the frozen dough thaw in the fridge overnight. Transfer the refrigerated dough to room temperature. Rest for 2 hours. The dough will become super soft and can be gently shaped, rested for another 10 minutes or so, and pulled. Cook according to the instructions above.
Reheating cooked noodles
- To reheat, bring a pot of water to a boil and add the cooked noodles. Separate with a pair of chopsticks and cook until the noodles are just heated through.
- For a quicker and lazier reheating method (for leftovers), reheat the refrigerated noodles in the microwave until heated, then quickly rinse the noodles with tap water in a colander. Drain the water thoroughly before serving.
- If you plan to use the thin noodles for fried noodles, you don’t need to reheat them before using. Thaw them if frozen. Then run the noodles with tap water in a colander and separate gently with chopsticks. Drain thoroughly before using for stir fried noodles.
Notes
- If you do not have all-purpose flour, you can use 370 g (3 cups) cake flour + 30 g (3 tablespoons) bread flour instead.
- If you do not have a lot of space for the pulled noodles or if you’d like to try pulling a few noodles at a time (it takes practice but it’s possible!), you should dust the noodle dough with extra flour to prevent them from sticking together.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
I’d love to hear how it turned out for you! Please take a moment to leave a 5-star rating ⭐️ and share your thoughts in the comments further down the page. It really helps others discover the recipe too.
Lilja Walter is a part of the Omnivore’s Cookbook team and worked closely with Maggie to develop and test this recipe.
Dave B
Made this and it turned out well; thin noodle version. They were thicker than I would have liked, though. If I pulled more, they broke. Any tricks to making them thinner? Maybe cut the strips narrower in the first place, or roll thinner?
Maggie Zhu
You can cut the strips narrower, and let them rest a bit longer. That being said, even the thin noodles won’t be super thin like somen (or angel hair).
Jessica
Is there a video where we can (slowly) see how to do the pulling?
Maggie Zhu
I’m working on a video right now 🙂
AliceK
Hi, Maggie! I am resting my noodle dough right now. My question is, do you throw away the thick ends of the noodles after they are pulled? That seems very wasteful to me. Or can they be put into ball, rested, andcused to make more noodles?
Maggie Zhu
I usually knead them together, rest them, then stretch to small strands of noodles. If you don’t mind the look of them, you can totally use the ends of the dough as well!
Aga
Great recipe! Is there any chance to make noodles that are gluten free? What flour to use, i am at loss and can’t have gluten 🙁
Maggie Zhu
You can make rice noodles that do not contain gluten. I don’t have a recipe yet but you can find them by googling it.
Ali Z.
Thanks so much for this recipe! I have tried a lot of hand pulled noodle recipes to various degrees of success but this one was by far the easiest and simplest with the best results! I do think that pulling noodles does take a bit of practice, and while i can’t quite do what you recommend with stretching them quickly, i can get them quite thin by gradually stretching and bouncing. But I ended up with a great medium thickness noodle that pairs well with soups! I would recommend to other people that can’t pull as thin as you’d like, to salt the boiling water that you boil the noodles in so that the noodles have more flavor since broth can’t necessarily penetrate it deeply.
Scott Wick
i made the extra wide ones. Good to make while you have other things going on because of the wait times. They were amazing! wondering if they could be frozen before the slap and cook.
Maggie Zhu
I’ve never tried freezing these but I think it’s possible. Once fully thawed, the dough should still be very tender and easy to stretch out.
Anouk
Love the attention to detail and the whole overall recipe, thank you so much for sharing your family’s recipe!!
Damarie
This was so awesome! My whole family loved the noodles…even my picky kids 😆 They were so eager to eat that I didn’t stop to take pics, but they’ve already requested an encore so I’ll make sure to take pics next time!
SANDIE
Thank you for such clear instructions. I’ve made these a few times now, and while they look a bit wonky and not as pretty as yours, they are fantastic! I paired these with the homemade chili oil, ma po tofu, dry fried long bean, orange chicken, and beef w/broccoli. All your recipes, all great. What a feast!!
Cynthia S.
Wow! This is a fun recipe that concludes with fresh restaurant-quality noodles! Thank you for creating this recipe. it is flawless!
I tried making hand-pulled noodles yesterday using another recipe that used the same ingredients but a different technique and it was nothing in comparison to this. Kudos!
Paul
I’ve used other recipes that require resting for many hours. This recipe is the one to use! It is faster, easier and pulling is actually fun! THANK YOU!
Paul
Is the third resting after pulling? This is not clear. How long to rest?
Maggie Zhu
Hi Paul, you don’t need the third resting since the noodles are ready to cook as soon as they’re pulled and stretched out. You should cover them with plastic to prevent drying out when you’re pulling the rest noodles. But ideally you can even cook them one at a time when you pull them (restaurant chefs use this practice, but you need to work fast enough).