The Simple Way To Turn Potatoes Into Big Chewy Noodles

If you've spent any time on the recipe side of social media, you've almost certainly come across the viral potato noodles. These things are as thick as your thumb, impossibly bouncy, yet surprisingly easy to make at home. Whether or not you're interested in jumping on the latest TikTok and Instagram trends, this is actually a great trick to have up your sleeve for creating a hot meal out of simple pantry ingredients.

All you need is potatoes, potato starch (not potato flour), and water. As Instagram account @playful.recipes notes, start by boiling the potatoes until they're very soft, then drain and mash them well — you don't want any lumps. To these mashed potatoes, add enough potato starch and warm water until you can form a dough. The idea here is that it's more about going by feel rather than exact amounts, as every potato is going to vary in size and water content. But as a starting point, you might need one and a half to two cups of potato starch for every two potatoes — around one pound.

Knead the dough until it's soft and pliable and doesn't leave any residue on your hands. Cut it into sections, then roll these out into thick noodles. They should be cooked immediately and added to a pot of water at a rolling boil. The noodles need plenty of room to cook, so you might need to do this in batches. The noodles will float to the surface when they are cooked, which should be around five minutes. Remove the noodles from the pot as they rise and add them directly into a bowl of cold water to prevent overcooking. Drain well, and they're ready to eat with your favorite sauce.

These chewy potato noodles can really be used as you would like any other noodle, but they're commonly eaten with a spicy sauce. This could be as simple as heating the noodles through with a mix of soy sauce and store-bought chili crisp, or turning them into a more gourmet option by incorporating fresh ingredients such as chopped garlic and chili, and garnishing with sesame seeds, coriander, or spring onions.

In Chinese cuisine, you'll find noodles made from potato starch (but without the mashed potato), and although they are much thinner, you could take inspiration from the traditional dishes they're used in. Try them with sesame sauce and vegetables, or as part of the hot and sour soup, suan la fen.

The thick, chewy texture of the potato noodles is more reminiscent of Korean rice cakes known as tteok, so it would make sense to use them in some of the same dishes — particularly if you make shorter noodles. They hold up well in soups and stir fries, or can be combined with a gochujang sauce for a potato-y twist on the classic spicy tteokbokki.