Glass Noodles with Pork & Napa Cabbage (2024)

FAQs

Are glass noodles healthy for you? ›

Glass noodles are fat-free and great for weight-loss diets. Reducing fats in your meal will combat obesity, cardiovascular disease, and several other metabolic disorders. Cellophane noodles are also a great source of iron. Getting enough iron in your diet ensures that oxygen is transported through the body.

A popular dish called sapasui (transliteration of the Cantonese chop suey) is common fare at social gatherings. Sapasui, a soupy dish of boiled glass noodles mixed with braised pork, beef, or chicken and chopped vegetables, is akin to Hawaiian "long rice".

Glass noodles are sugar-free

If you're watching your sugar intake, glass noodles are a great option. By reducing sugar in your diet, you can help lower your cholesterol, blood pressure, chronic inflammation, and more. Because of this, glass noodles are often recommended to those with diabetes.

How To Cook Glass Noodles. Some brands require soaking the noodles overnight, and others can be cooked immediately. The label will usually indicate best practices.

Glass noodles are lower in calories and GI.

This is because they can absorb a lot more water than rice and wheat noodles; so a plate of cooked glass noodles actually contains less carbs because there's more water in it. They are also lower in glycemic index than rice or wheat noodles.

Despite not being made with flour, glass noodles are nutritionally similar to white flour–based pastas. (Each 1 cup serving of cooked glass noodles has 160 calories and 39 grams of carbohydrates, whereas the same amount of cooked spaghetti has 200 calories and only 24 grams of carbs.)

Glass noodles are easy to make and cook quickly. They can be soaked in warm water for about 10 minutes or boiled like regular noodles, like here in our Japchae recipe. They don't take long to boil, so be careful not to overcook them. Only cook them until they are soft, which should take about five minutes.

Both are Chinese-style noodles, but they differ in what they are made out of. As the name suggests, rice noodles are made out of rice flour and water, while cellophane noodles are made out of mung bean flour and water, and are variously known as transparent noodles, glass noodles or bean thread noodles.

The best pasta for diabetics to eat is pasta made from whole grains or wheat. Pasta made from whole grains is less likely to cause spikes in blood sugar, making this kind of pasta ideal for diabetics.

Glass noodles have a low glycemic index, which means they are digested more slowly, resulting in a slow and steady release of glucose into the bloodstream. This can help maintain stable blood sugar levels and prevent spikes and crashes in energy.

What noodles are best for blood sugar? ›

Choose Whole-Grain Pasta

“Whole-grain pasta can be a great option because it offers more fiber, which can help blunt blood sugar spikes,” Smithson says.

The cool temperatures of the fridge can keep the glass noodles fresh for up to two days, though you'll want to eat them sooner rather than later to ensure you're getting the best taste and texture. Of course, you'll want to store the noodles in an airtight container.

But if you don't soak it, you can just go ahead and boil it for 10 minutes or as instructed in the package. One thing to remember is to never overcook the noodles otherwise they will become “buruhsuh” or mushy. After boiling, wash the noodles in cold water, then leave them to drain.

Made from sweet potato starch, dangmyeon is also known as the glass noodle. Turning transparent after being cooked, dangmyeon doesn't taste like sweet potato, because it is made from its starch. The noodles are most commonly used in japchae, a popular Korean noodle dish stir-fried with vegetables and meat.

Glass noodles are not a great source of fiber, protein, or vitamins, but they do offer a gluten-free alternative to flour-based pastas (again, be sure to check your package labels).

The most common variety comes from China and is made of mung bean starch. Korean and Japanese glass noodles are typically made from sweet potato starch. Some other starches, like arrowroot or tapioca can be used as well, but mung bean and sweet potato are the most common.

Though it seems like the healthier option because glass noodles taste very light and springy, one cup of it has the same amount of calories to other noodles. It does not contain much nutrients too except carbohydrates [13].

Glass noodles are made by making a slurry with processed mung bean or other flour and water, which gets mixed, pulled, washed, and eventually stretched. To make the long slender noodle, the mixture gets pressed through what looks like a giant sieve. Then the strands are draped over dowels and dried.