Do you want to try your hands on homemade lobster noodles? This blog post contains the easiest recipes to make delicious lobster noodles.
Lobster noodles are only not a delicious Chinese dish; it is said that eating lobster noodles on Lunar New Year signifies good luck & long life.
So, to celebrate New year with your family, you can make this recipe at home instead of ordering Lobster Noodles to celebrate.
Are you not curious how easily you can make this noodle that signifies good luck and a long life? Alright, let’s get started. In this blog post, we will discuss the recipe for lobster noodles and sauce base.
What Are Lobster Noodles?
Lobster Noodles are wok-fried with garlic and scallions and served in a rich brown gravy over bouncy, chewy noodles.
It is a Cantonese banquet dish that is considered a Lunar New Year staple, perfect to celebrate with friends and family.
You can make this recipe easily in 15 minutes.
Recipes for Lobster Noodles
For Lobster, you need
- 12-ounce lobster tails
- 1 cup of cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 cup neutral oil or avocado oil for frying
For Sauce Base, get
- 1.5 tablespoons of oyster sauce
- 1.5 tablespoons of soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of white pepper
- 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine ½
- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 teaspoon msg (optional)
Other Ingredients
- 8 scallions of separately chopped greens and whites
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 2-inch ginger sliced
- 16 ounces noodles, fresh or dried (E-Yu, Yi Mein, or Shanghai noodles)
- 1.5 cups chicken broth
For Cornstarch Slurry, you need
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 tablespoon water
Raw ingredients needed for lobster noodles
- Lobster Noodles: Lobster Noodles can be made with different noodles ranging from E-Fu or Yi Mein (flat Cantonese Egg Noodles).
You can use the dried noodles from the Asian grocer’s noodle aisle.
Instructions On How To Make Lobster Noodles
- Use kitchen shears or a cleaver to cut lobster tails into 2-inch pieces, leaving the shell on.
- Premix sauce base recipes by combining oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, white pepper, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, msg, and chicken broth in a bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, add cornstarch and season with salt and white pepper.
- Slightly dust lobster pieces in the seasoned cornstarch and shake off any excess.
- Heat oil in a large wok or pan then fries the lobster at 350F for 1 minute until the lobster is bright red and cooked through.
- Cook noodles in boiling water and drain immediately.
- Then rinse the noodles with cold water to remove starch and stop the cooking process.
- In a large pan or wok, add 1 tablespoon of oil and stir-fry garlic, ginger, and scallion whites for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
- Add the lobster into it and stir-fry for 1 minute.
- Add the premixed sauce base recipe and stir over high heat.
- Add chicken stock and heat until boiling, then simmer for 4-5 minutes to reduce slightly.
- Add scallion greens and mix through.
- Then add the cornstarch slurry and stir until thickened for about 1 minute.
- Pour over noodles in a large bowl, serve, and enjoy!
Substitute for Lobster Ingredients
- They traditionally made the lobster dish with E-Fu or Yi Mein (long life) noodles, which are fried and then dried.
However, you can use fresh Shanghai noodles if you prefer the bounciness and chewiness.
- In this recipe, we used lobster tails; however, you can use a whole lobster if you want.
With this, the cornstarch dredging and frying will be precisely the same method.
- More so, If you cannot or do not want to use Shaoxing wine, you can use sherry, mirin, or chicken stock!
- In any case, you can also substitute the White pepper with black pepper.
However, the white pepper has a milder flavor profile than the black pepper.
- A cornstarch slurry is a mixture of cornstarch and water used in cooking to thicken without powdery lumps or additional flavors/colors.
- However, ensure your cornstarch slurry has not separated before adding it in.
- In this recipe, we used neutral oil or avocado oil, but you can use canola or vegetable oil
However, don’t use olive oil when cooking this Chinese dish because it has a low burning point, and the flavor profile does not usually go with the dish.
Expert Tips for Preparing the Lobster Noodles
To prepare the lobster, cut the lobster into 2″ pieces using a heavy knife or cleaver.
You can use a whole lobster, or lobster tails are fine, but you need around 12 ounces of lobster for this recipe, including the shell.
Dredge the lobster, once cut into pieces, in the seasoned cornstarch mixture.
Then fry them at 350F for about 1-2 minutes until bright red and cooked through.
Cook your noodles until al dente, then add to a bowl.
If you are using fresh noodles, rinse the noodles immediately after boiling them with cold water to stop the cooking.
Shake them dry and then put in a tablespoon of sesame oil to prevent the noodles from sticking while you prepare and cook the other ingredients.
More so, reduce the lobster in the sauce and chicken stock for 4-5 minutes to enhance the lobster flavor and make your dish great!
Final Thoughts on Recipes for Lobster Noodles
Lobster noodles is a Chinese dish that is considered being good for good luck and a long life when taken on new year’s day. To prepare this recipe for your family to celebrate the new year, you need to get the lobster (a whole or lobster tail)
You can use fresh or dry noodles for these recipes. You should also prepare the sauce base recipe and cornstarch slurry recipe.
After then, follow the preparation methods explained in this blog post to make a delicious Chinese dish for your family.
However, you can substitute some of these ingredients like white pepper, Shaoxing wine, lobster tail, and others with other substitutes listed above.
We hope that you have fun making this dish for your family.
What’s your thought? Could you share it with us in the comment section?