Chicken Hakka Noodles

Chicken Hakka Noodles are so good! Egg noodles, shredded chicken, and vegetables come together in this Indo-Chinese stir fry for a tasty brunch or dinner.

Do try this chicken shashlik also if you like Indo-Chinese recipes. It's hot, sweet, and spicy!

Chicken Hakka Noodles is a very popular item in most Indian restaurant menus. I've always enjoyed it tremendously it but for the nagging feeling that it's not very healthy! The restaurant version has alarming amounts of oil and spice and heavens knows what else, something I can't control if I'm eating out. That is why I decided to recreate this dish at home and eat these delicious noodles with chicken guilt-free.

This is a pretty basic recipe for chicken hakka noodles, but the beauty of this dish is that it's very adaptable. You can add and subtract veggies to your heart's content.

🥘 Ingredients

Note: exact amounts are mentioned in the recipe card further down.

• Boneless chicken breasts
• Egg noodles
• Cooking oil
• Onions, sliced
• Garlic, chopped fine
• Bell peppers, any color, sliced
• Spring onions, chopped
• Soy sauce
• Vinegar
• Chilli garlic sauce
• Sesame oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

🔪 Instructions

Chicken hakka is made very quickly and speedily if you have all the ingredients prepped and ready to go. The most time consuming part of the recipe, if you can call it that, is slicing the vegetables. The rest is a breeze.

Here's a breakdown of the steps you need to follow.

Step 1: Cook the chicken

• If you have whole boneless breasts, cut them into small bite-sized pieces first, so they'll cook faster.
• Season with salt and pepper and fry the chicken in a little oil in a frypan for 3-4 minutes. Boneless chicken, especially if cut into small pieces cooks very fast. In fact, take care not to overcook it as it also dries out pretty quickly. The chicken should be cooked through (no pink), tender, and moist. Add a a couple of tablespoons water if needed.
• Once cool, shred the chicken further if you want or leave as is.

Step 2: Cook the egg noodles

• Cook the noodles according to package instructions. This is how I do it. Pour 8-10 cups of water in a large pot and bring it to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt (about 2 tsp) and a few drops of cooking oil.
• Add the noodles and separate them with a large spoon so they don't stick together. Let them cook in the boiling water for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently until al dente (90% cooked). The way to check this is to take a few noodles out and press them between your fingers. They should still be firm and retain their shape.
• Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse with cold tap water to stop further cooking. Keep aside.

Step 3: Bring it all together

• In a large wok, heat the cooking oil on high and add the onions and garlic. Toss the veggies in the wok for a minute. Now, add the bell peppers and spring onions and toss again for a minute. Reserve a few spring onions for garnishing later.
• Add the chicken and the drippings from the pan in which you cooked it and toss.
• Add the soy sauce, vinegar, chilli garlic sauce, sesame oil, salt, pepper.
• Follow immediately with the noodles and stir to mix with the sauce. Cook for about 2 minutes on high heat. Garnish with the reserved spring onions and serve hot.

💭 Top tips

• Indo-Chinese cooking always happens in a wok on high heat. Basically, the ingredients are stir fried quickly since the idea is to not let anything get even slightly over-cooked or soggy. The veggies need to lose their rawness but retain their colour and crunch, and the noodles shouldn't be mushy either. So, do be prepared with your ingredients and let everything sizzle and pop once it hits the wok!
• Go easy on the salt as soy sauce is quite salty. Taste the noodles before serving and add more salt if needed.
• If you already have some cooked and shredded chicken lying in your fridge, great! Just use this and you'll be saved a step.

Prepping chicken in the instant pot

• If you have an instant pot or any other pressure cooker, you can cook whole chicken breasts in it and shred them later. You have the option of using fresh or frozen breasts to get tender chicken without much effort! Here's how to do it:
• Fresh chicken breasts: Pour 1 cup water in the steel insert and place the chicken breasts on it. Close the lid making sure the pressure release vent is sealed and push the pressure cooking button on high. Set the timer to 12 minutes and walk away. Release the pressure once the timer beeps and open the pot. Remove the chicken and shred when cool enough to handle.
• Frozen chicken breasts: place the breasts directly in the steel insert (no need for the trivet) and pour ½ cup water. Make sure the breasts are not overlapping or they will not cook properly. Pressure cook at high pressure for 12 minutes and once the timer beeps, do a release after 10 minutes.

📖 Substitutions and Variations

• Not a fan of soy sauce? Use tamari instead, a Japanese sauce made of fermented soybeans and healthier than regular soy sauce.
• Add eggs for even more taste. As you're sautéing the vegetables, push them to one side in the wok and break two eggs. Scramble them quickly with a spoon and mix them in with the veggies. Some additional protein right there!
• Add more vegetables if you want a more colorful stir fry. Sliced mushrooms, sugar snap peas, julienned carrots, green beans, shredded cabbage (I especially like cabbage)... they all work very well in this dish. You can basically clean out your fridge with this recipe:)

More Indo-Chinese recipes

• Chilli chicken with gravy
• Vegetable lo mein
• Gobi Manchurian
• Vegetable spring rolls
• Chilli paneer