Longevity Noodles for Chinese New Year! Longevity noodles symbolize a wish for longevity. These are a popular dish to make for Chinese New Year, along with dumplings, fish, spring rolls, sweet rice balls and more!
During Chinese New Year, long noodles are eaten in all corners of China. “Longevity noodles,” also presented at birthday celebrations, are never cut or broken by the cook, and if they can be eaten without biting through the strands, it’s considered even more lucky.
Happy Chinese New Year!
The Chinese New Year is an opportunity to honor family and friends, and to enjoy some culinary traditions. So, what foods we should have on hand to ensure a prosperous and happy year to come? Here are 10 Good Luck foods for Chinese New Year:
- Tangerines and Oranges
- Long Noodles
- The Tray of Togetherness: a tray filled with things such as preserved kumquats for prosperity, coconut for togetherness and red melon seeds for happiness.
- Nian Gao: a cake
- Pomelo: a large citrus fruit
- Jai: a vegetarian dish
- Long Leafy Greens and long beans
- Whole fish
- Sweets
- Yuanbao (Jiaozi): dumplings
These noodles are traditionally served at Chinese New Year’s feasts. An ancient Chinese belief says that long noodles are the key to a long life so don’t cut the noodles as you eat them. I used what I had in my pantry. These are my go-to brown rice noodles.
You only need to boil these for about 4-5 minutes. After that, simply whisk together the sesame oil, garlic and soy sauce and a pinch of salt, to taste, until combined. Pour the mixture over the noodles and toss well to coat.
This is seriously the FASTEST Asian noodle recipe ever.
Longevity Noodles for Chinese New Year
Ingredients
- 8 ounces very thin long wheat-flour noodles* or any type of rice noodles
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil + more if needed
- 3 small cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced or grated
- 1 to 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce + more if needed
- Sea salt and ground white pepper to taste
- diced green onions for garnish
- sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat and salt it generously. Add the noodles, stir, and cook for about 4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water and set aside in a large serving bowl.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the sesame oil, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and salt and white pepper, to taste, until combined well. Pour the mixture over the noodles and toss well to coat. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt/pepper and/or sesame oil or soy sauce if necessary. Garnish with diced green onions and sesame seeds and serve immediately.
Notes
Recipe from CookingChannelTV.com. Ever since seeing Diane Morrisey add grated ginger, it’s been added and it’s delicious! Here are more Longevity Noodles recipes to try! Anita Lo’s recipe where she adds bok choy, oyster sauce and long hot red chilis. Grace Young’s recipe (NY Times Cooking). The Woks of Life’s recipe.
Here’s to a long and happy life!
Happy new year Alice! I like that list, or most of it… you know, fish and me don’t match, lol! I will take the kumquats (Love them!!), the noodles and the tangerines. Did you know pomelo is simply grapefruit here?
Hey Paula! I had no idea what a pomelo even was until I read this! When I lived in San francisco, this time of the year was always so exciting because there’s such a large Chinese population there. . I love how all the food symbolizes something. . Happy Lunar New Year! 🙂
A Pomello and a grapefruit are not exactly the same. A Pomello has a much much thicker skin and is white or very light pink inside. The fruit is much larger and much more mild in flavor. In choosing a Pomello you need to pick the heaviest one there is, which indicates water content in the fruit. If it’s very light it will be dry and not good
Happy New Year! I love noodles! I just had a bowl of ddukguk a couple of hours ago, and I am hungry again. This looks tempting!
haha, thank you, Aera!
Happy New Year, dearest Alice! I looooooooove noodles so much and your dish looks delicious. You seriously don’t need to douse noodles in a ton of sauce. I like them the simpler the better. Is there any grittiness to these noodles? I tried whole wheat pasta few years ago and I couldn’t get over the texture. I know its better for me but I just can’t bring myself to eat it! I’ve got egg noodles and all the condiments at home. I should make this for dinner tonight!
Hey! Honestly, these taste like regular pasta noodles to me. . that’s why I always buy this brand. Yes, make this with egg noodles and tell me what you think! Paul drenched these noodles with sriracha sauce but me and the girls ate these just the way they are presented here. yes, it’s totally simple! I was really surprised when I saw the recipe! Gung hay fat choy!
I made it that night and it was delicious! I over cooked my noodles so they were a bit soggy (booooo! I hate overly soft noodles) but the dressing was so yummy. Thanks for the recipe, girl!
Oh so happy to hear that!!
What a tasty way to celebrate! I love rice noodles but never make them at home for some reason. Time to change that 🙂
Thank you so much for the visit, Erin! I especially love making rice noodles at home because they are so quick! 🙂
Yay for short-prep-time-long-live-time noodles! 😉 These look delicious. I’ve always been a little nervous about experimenting with rice stick noodles, but I don’t know why — you make it sound so easy and delicious! Love the fresh and bright photos, too. Happy new year, Alice!
Thank you so much, Cynthia!
These look so delicious, and I love that it’s such a quick recipe! I’m adding this to my menu for the week. Noodles are my greatest weakness, but if they’re brown rice noodles I feel pretty good about eating them. 🙂
Hi Joy! Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy them! and yes I was even surprised at how easy and quick these were to make! Have a great week!
I don’t know why I didn’t know that noodles symbolized longevity till today…yours is the second post I’ve read with this info. Loving the look of this recipe…simple, yet delicious!!! Are you tired of winter in Wisconsin yet??? Spring cannot arrive too soon!
Hi Liz! boy, I picked a boozy of a winter to move here didn’t I? 🙂 so ready for Spring.. and yes! so simple!! Thanks for stopping by!
I can’t wait to try these noodles, Alice! Talk about delicious!
Love the tips for Good Luck for Chinese New Year. Great post – thanks for sharing!!!
We are celebrating Chinese New Year in a few weeks. I plan to make this dish. Where can I purchase these noodles? Thanks!!
Hi Christine! The ones I used for this recipe, Annie Chun’s, you can find at most grocery stores in the Asian or ethnic food aisle. Additionally, you should be able to find long wheat-flour noodles at any Asian market (get the fresh ones if you can). Hope this helps! Please let me know if you find them! This is a great side dish to make for Chinese New Year!!
Can I add shrimp to the noodles?
Of course! I would add more seasoning then! Or, add seasoned shrimp to the dish. Let me know how it works out!
Have you tried this without rinsing with cold water and serving it hot instead? Is it still good this way?
Hi Stephanie, yes, it’s great both ways! Season generously with salt/pepper and/or soy sauce. Hope you try it!
Hello,
As a Chinese woman born and raised in North America under a very traditional family. I thought I’d just mention that it is VERY bad to have your chopsticks standing upright like that. I remember being scolded by my parents as kid for doing it because it resembles incense from a funeral and overall death.
Thank you for the recipe though. I’m looking for a longevity noodle recipe for my mom’s 60th birthday!