Are Chinese Noodles Healthy? (5 Tips For Weight Loss) 

As a fellow Chinese American, one of the staple foods I ate growing up (which I am sure many of you guys can relate to) is noodles!

Sometimes they were stir-fried and other times they were in some flavorful soup, but regardless of the way they were cooked or prepared, noodles are without a doubt one of the most delicious carb sources ever existing!

Noodles are super tasty but are they the best type of food to incorporate when you are trying to lose weight?

Noodles are not the best to eat when aiming for a healthy diet as they are dense in calories coming from carbs and, sometimes, fat. However, it is totally possible to eat within a healthy diet while eating noodles by understanding how many calories go into your favorite dishes and how many calories you must consume in a day.

In this article, we will cover the five most common Chinese noodles: 

1. Vermicelli (米粉)

2. Cellophane Noodles (粉絲)

3. Egg Noodles (伊麵)

4. La Mian - Hand-pulled Noodles (拉面)

5. Lo Mein (撈麵)

Not only will we discuss what these noodles are, but what goes into these noodles, whether they are ideal for weight loss, and some healthy alternatives!

Since all noodles are carbohydrate sources, we will also cover what different types of foods (protein and fat sources) that we recommend you eat with these noodles! (because no one likes just plain noodles) 

This article is perfect for you to reference when you are thinking about preparing a healthy noodle meal and have trouble figuring out which type of noodle or dish works best for you.

5. Rice Vermicelli (米粉)

Chinese Rice Vermicelli, also known as mǐfěn (米粉), is a thin opaque noodle traditionally made with rice grains and may contain other types of grains.

Sometimes confused with Cellophane noodles, (which we will be going into more detail later on) vermicelli is much thinner and uses a totally different main ingredient.

Vermicelli has no cholesterol or fat as well as being extremely low in sodium.

Vermicelli is used in a variety of Asian dishes that can range from soups, dishes, and even some type of salad.

Some common rice vermicelli dishes you have probably heard of or eaten before would be either the Fried Rice Vermicelli or Stir-Fried Vermicelli.

Let’s take a closer look at the nutritional information of one serving of plain vermicelli noodles:

One serving of vermicelli noodles, which is around 50 grams of dried noodle, has about 190 calories with 0 grams of fat, 1 gram of protein, and 43 grams of carbohydrates.

When you are trying to lose weight, ideally you do want to be aware of the amount of carbohydrates you’re eating since we tend to overeat when it comes to things like rice, bread, and noodles.

You can easily incorporate 43 grams of carbohydrates into one of your meals, but this is when the extra ingredients and sauces matter. 

Let’s say you want to make a Stir-Fried Vermicelli dish.

Here is a great recipe by Cat Moore that is not only tasty but an ideal way to hit your target macronutrients for the day:

https://nobullnutrition.co/2018/08/22/iifym-recipe-stir-fry/

This Stir-Fried Vermicelli recipe has a total of 8 grams of fat, 48 grams of carbs, and 41 grams of protein!

That’s a whole lot of protein and it’s only 460 calories for one whole meal!

Not only is it very low in fat, after adding all the additional ingredients, but the relative carbohydrate count also is not much higher than the nutritional information we saw earlier for plain rice vermicelli noodles.

What makes this Stir-Fried Vermicelli recipe ideal for weight loss is how it is packed with vegetables like broccoli, bok choy, and mushrooms making it a fulfilling and fiber-rich meal.

By adding in the chicken breast, this will help give the dish more flavor and make it really easy to hit your daily protein.

When making a noodle dish it is always important to incorporate some source of lean protein like chicken breast or lean flank steak into the dish to hit your daily protein goals and to keep you well satiated so you don’t overeat. 

However, when going out to eat, not all Stir-Fried Vermicelli might be the same.

Sometimes restaurants use a lot more oil in their recipe and may add additional heavy fat sauces. If eating out, try to be aware of how oily or salty the dish looks!

If it comes down to choosing between eating out or making your own, might as well save some money and make your own delicious healthy meal since this recipe calls for typical and easy ingredients.

This recipe also yields several servings making it ideal if you either have a family or you are someone who likes to meal prep and save time throughout the week! 

4. Cellophane noodles (粉絲)

Cellophane noodles, famously known as glass noodles or fěnsī (粉絲), looks exactly like what the name entails.

Like glass, cellophane noodles are flat or round transparent noodles that are famously used in several popular Chinese dishes. Unlike most noodles, glass noodles use starch, usually mung bean or potato starch, as the main ingredient.

Quite often, in China cellophane noodles are either served stir-fried or put into hot pots.

Plenty of other Asian countries like Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and Indonesia use cellophane noodles to create their own culturally unique dish.

These noodles cook super fast so it is the perfect ingredient to use when you want to whip up a super quick homemade meal. 

This is the nutritional information of one serving of the typical plain cellophane noodles: 

One serving of cellophane noodles, which is around 54 grams of dried noodle or ½ a cup of dried noodle has about 200 calories with 0 grams of fat, 1 gram of protein, and 50 grams of carbohydrates. 

When the cellophane noodles are cooked, they expand to around 1 cup of noodles, so it is somewhat comparable to white rice.

With just a bit more carbohydrates than the rice vermicelli we saw earlier it has pretty much the same nutritional information as most Chinese noodles.

What are some healthy and delicious recipes you can look at if you’re craving some glass noodles?

This is BY FAR one of my favorite ways to eat glass noodles and you will definitely come across one of these dishes whenever you go out to either a Korean Tofu house or Korean BBQ. 

Commonly a side dish, Japchae is a popular Korean dish that highlights the glass noodle as the main ingredient and incorporates a few extra proteins or vegetables and is typically served cold or at room temperature.

Here is a common Japchae recipe: 

https://www.cookincanuck.com/asian-sweet-potato-noodles-recipe-with-chicken-vegetables/

Let’s take a look in detail at the macronutrients of a typical Japchae dish: 

Japchae has around 280 calories with 3 grams of fat, 11 grams of protein, and 54 grams of carbohydrates.

Being relatively high in carbohydrates while being low in protein it’s best to eat less of Japchae and pair it with some vegetables and a lean source of meat.

Since you usually see Japchae as a side dish, it should be eaten as a side dish as well rather than the main meal.

When trying to get lean, it is important that you try your best to get a balance of the three macronutrients.

Japchae is heavily carbohydrate-based and has little protein and even less fat so it might not be a very satiating meal. 

I would recommend that when you eat Japchae whether homemade or when you’re eating out at Korean BBQ to watch your portion size on this dish while pairing it with all the other delicious meats and vegetables available on the table.

There are plenty of other glass noodle dishes that you can make with a higher source of protein whether it is soup based or stir-fried.

Glass noodles are super delicious but like most carbohydrate sources, it is pretty easy to overeat so be sure to add in other vegetables and meats to make sure you do not over consume!

3. La Mian - Hand-pulled Noodles (拉面)

La Mian is definitely one of my favorite types of noodles of all time because of it’s indescribable and incomparable texture.

The reason why La Mian has such great consistency is that they are hand made! Using a hand pulling technique, experienced chefs take a chunk of dough and constantly pull, twist, and stretch the dough until eventually, they separate the dough into even long pieces of noodle.

(Wow! What a workout!)

Served differently and hand-pulled differently in each country, La Mian is usually used in the famous beef noodle soup or stir-fried into another very famous Chinese Chow Mein dish.

Different countries also utilize this hand-pulling technique to make their own dishes such as the Philippines’ Pancit Canton or Singaporian Lamian.

Since Lamian’s nutritional information depends on the size that they are cut or the overall thickness of the noodle, there is no set or definitive count on plain La Mian noodles.

However, most people don’t eat La Mian plain anyways, so let us look at the overall nutrition of the famous Beef Noodle Soup.

A typical bowl of Beef Noodle Soup has around 410 calories with 20 grams of fat, 19 grams of protein, and 37 grams of carbohydrates.

This dish definitely leans more towards the higher fat foods so eating Beef Noodle Soup for one of your meals may call for other higher protein, lower fat dishes throughout your day.

You might be thinking why Beef Noodle Soup would be classified as a higher fat dish when it has around the same amount of grams as the protein and even less than the carbohydrates.

The reason why is because every gram of fat contains around 9 calories whereas protein and carbohydrates only contain 4 calories for every gram.

This means that our body does not call for as many grams of fat compared to the other two macronutrients. 

For example, the typical  hypothetical 120 pound female may ideally consume around 110 grams of protein and 160 grams of carbohydrates daily, but is recommended to probably eat only 50 grams of fat.

(Keep in mind that this is a general statement and this count does not apply to every 120 pound female trying to lose weight!)

So should you eat Beef Noodle Soup when you are trying to lose weight?

There are definitely other healthier options out there, but it isn’t super detrimental if you are craving some noodle soup!

If you feel as though you won’t be satiated by just a bowl of Beef Noodle Soup, a general tip is to have a small bowl or serving and pair it with some lean sources of protein and plenty of vegetables!

If you are making your own homemade Beef Noodle Soup, you can always replace the beef with a leaner source of beef to reduce the amount of fat and up the protein intake which may give you an overall lower calorie dish.

Don’t be afraid to add some extra bok choy or some of your other favorite vegetables into your soup to sneak in some extra fibers!

Personally, I love to cook my own foods rather than eating out because I know exactly what type of ingredients I am using. (Sometimes it even tastes better!)

Beef Noodle Soup may be a dish that takes a bit longer to make than most, but is definitely a great meal you can incorporate every once in a while.

I know I especially want to eat this whenever I begin to reminisce about the best Beef Noodle Soup I ever had in a small shop in Taiwan. 

2. Egg Noodles (伊麵)

Chinese Egg Noodles use wheat flour and eggs to make these perfectly chewy, soft, and perfectly sized noodles.

Unlike the complexity of the Lamein we saw earlier, Egg Noodles are pretty easy and quick to make so you might want to give it a shot! Here is a homemade Chinese Egg Noodle recipe:

https://gingerandscotch.com/homemade-chinese-egg-noodles-from-scratch/

This homemade Chinese Egg Noodles has around 250 calories per serving with 2 grams of fat, 8 grams of protein, and 45 grams of carbohydrates.

Unlike all the previous noodles we saw earlier, Egg Noodles actually have a little bit of protein in them (from the eggs).

Obviously 8 grams of protein isn’t enough protein for Egg Noodles to be your main source of protein!

Chinese Egg Noodles are typically used in Wonton soups or stir fried with soy sauce into dry noodle dishes paired with meats and vegetables. Another extremely popular Chinese noodle dish is Lo mein, lāo miàn (撈麵), which uses egg noodles as the main ingredients.

Let’s take a look at the nutritional information of Lo Mein!

This is a typical recipe for Chinese Chicken Lo Mein: 

https://dinnerthendessert.com/chicken-lo-mein/

One serving of Chinese Chicken Lo Mein has around 280 calories per serving with 14 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbohydrates, and 26 grams of protein.

Wow! That’s a whole lot of protein and barely any carbohydrates!

However, it’s important to look deeper into the overall serving and portion size. 

This recipe calls for around 4 servings in total.

The heavy amount of protein comes mainly from the chicken breast in the recipe and the overall dish is low in carbs because besides the noodles, Chinese Chicken Lo Mein only has vegetables as another ingredient.

In total the recipe calls for 10 ounces of noodles which means one serving is 2.5 ounces of egg noodles.

That is not a whole lot of noodles which means you can easily overeat and end up consuming around two to three servings of Lo Mein. 

Since Lo Mein has chicken breast this is a great protein source and will keep you well satiated!

Personally, I would recommend this recipe if you are trying to lose weight because one serving is pretty low in calories and also super delicious.

If you feel that one serving of Lo Mein does not help you stay full, pack the rest of your meals with voluminous vegetables.

Since Lo Mein is pretty low in fiber, adding fiber rich vegetables will keep you more satiated for a longer period of time and prevent you from overeating. 

1. Yi Mein (伊麵)

Last, but most definitely not least, is Yi Mein, yī mihn (伊麵), which is a Cantonese flat noodle that looks pretty similar to the Italian fettuccine noodles.

Yi Mein is made of eggs and wheat flour, similar to egg noodles and has the same yellow color.

As a child, on birthdays it was a Chinese tradition to eat Yi Mein for dinner because eating noodles represents living a long life, thus Yi Mein is also famously known as Long Life Noodles.

Like all the previous noodles we have seen so far, Yi Mein can be served in a soup or stir fried and they typically include seafoods like shrimp or lobster into the dish.

Since this is the last noodle, let’s take a look at a celebratory and fancy dish that is usually eaten in parties or promotional dinners. 

Lobster Yi Mein is a delicious seafood noodle dish, but is it healthy?

Let’s take a look at Lobster Yi Mein’s nutritional information!

Here is a recipe: 

https://rasamalaysia.com/lobster-yee-mein-lobster-noodles-recipe/

This recipe has around 4 servings and is 240 calories per serving with 11 grams of fat, 25 grams of carbohydrates, and 10 grams of protein.

That’s not too bad! You can easily eat Lobster Yi Mein and incorporate it into your daily caloric intake. 

Lobster is one of the BEST sources of protein out there. One cup of cooked lobster, which is around 150 grams, has only 130 calories with 1 gram of fat, 0 grams of carbohydrates, and 27.5 grams of protein.

That’s just as good as pure chicken breast! (In my opinion it tastes better too!)

Yes, lobster is not a daily food to eat and can be rather expensive, but if you are being served some Lobster Yi Mein grab some more of that seafood!

Final Takeaway

In this article we covered five popular Chinese noodles, from Rice Vermicelli to YI Mein, as well as some popular dishes that utilize these different types of noodles.

By going over the nutritional information of these very common Chinese dishes you now know exactly how to incorporate these foods into your dieting plan and what type of foods you should pair along with these different types of noodles. 

Noodles are such a delicious food that is a key staple in many Chinese households and understanding the nutrition, macronutrients, and calories behind these dishes are key to successfully losing weight!

I hope this article helped further your understanding of Chinese noodles and its nutrition and you are inspired to cook some of your own, delicious healthy Chinese noodle dish! 

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