Prevent Sticky Cooked Rice Noodles With One Magic Ingredient

The ultimate rule for whipping up a speedy stir fry is to chop your vegetables and protein first. Unlike other forgiving dishes, such as hearty stews, where you can get on with chopping veggies while the beef sears, each element needs to be prepped in advance because the cooking technique is so fast and furious. And the same goes for the rice noodles; soaking them in hot water softens them slightly and primes them to meet the searing heat of a smoky wok. The problem? Cooked rice noodles like to stick together in an unwieldy lump, which can make it tricky to separate them without breaking their tender strands. Fortunately, you can prevent sticky rice noodles with a slick of one magic ingredient — rice bran oil.

As you'd expect, rice noodles are primarily made of rice and water, which means they contain lots of starch. This starch is awesome for lending the noodles their characteristic texture and slippery, almost-translucent softness. However, as the rice noodles cook, the starch leeches out, which can make their surface sticky and gummy when set aside. Tossing your noodles with a drizzle of rice bran oil creates a barrier on their surface that prevents them from clumping. You can also rinse the noodles in cold water first to remove some of the excess starch and stop them cooking in their residual heat before coating them with a light sheen of oil.

Rice bran oil has a high smoke point, which means it won't burn when your noodles are tossed in the fierce heat of a hot wok. Moreover, as it's made from rice, it has a mild, nutty flavor that complements the natural taste of the noodles — the oil won't overpower the other flavors in your dish, unlike a grassy extra virgin olive oil or smoky sesame oil that would overwhelm their mellow character. Rice bran oil is one of the better oils to use to season a wok, so it's worthwhile to have on hand for more than just these noodles.

If you've got access to an Asian grocer or supermarket, you can purchase fresh rice noodles that don't need to be soaked in hot water or boiled before use. The flat and wide variety of these noodles, known as ho fun, can be tossed straight into your wok and heated through as they are. However, if your fridge-cold fresh noodles have stuck together in a lump and you haven't got the time to allow them to reach room temperature, you can remove them from the packaging and give them a quick spin in the microwave to make it easier to separate them before adding to your wok. Bear in mind that they will soften at speed so try to keep them moving to prevent them overcooking and turning gummy.