P.F. Chang’s Fried Rice (Actual Restaurant Recipe)
P.F. Chang’s fried rice gets most of its flavor from a sauce that doesn’t appear in any of the online recipes I’ve seen. I tracked down the exact ingredients and…
P.F. Chang’s Singapore Street Noodles taste different from most takeout versions, and the main reason is something you won’t find in any other recipe online: a wet curry sauce. Instead of blooming dry curry powder in oil (which is traditional, but also why most homemade versions end up greasy), they whisk the curry powder into a sauce with soy sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar, sriracha, and ketchup. Every noodle gets an even coating of curry flavor without the oil.
I’ve talked to several former P.F. Chang’s cooks about this dish, and every one of them said the same thing: the noodles are the hardest part. If you’ve made Singapore noodles at home and ended up with a sticky, mushy mess, the preparation method was almost certainly the issue. Thin rice vermicelli goes from properly hydrated to completely overcooked in a matter of seconds. The method that’s worked best in my testing (and the one the restaurant uses) is soaking the noodles in room-temperature water for about 30 minutes, then drying them thoroughly before you finish them in the wok.
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Thin rice vermicelli. This is the most important ingredient to get right, and the most confusing to shop for. You’ll see tons of varieties at Asian grocery stores labeled as rice vermicelli, rice sticks, mei fun, or bún. You want the thinnest ones you can find, slightly thinner than angel hair pasta. Look for loosely packed noodles rather than tightly compressed bricks, which tend to clump together during soaking. And make sure you don’t accidentally grab mung bean thread noodles (also called glass noodles). They look similar but won’t work well for this dish.
S&B Oriental Curry Powder. This is a mild Japanese curry powder that the restaurant uses. If you can’t find it, standard curry powder from the spice aisle at any grocery store will work as a substitute. Madras curry powder will also work but it’s spicier.
Lee Kum Kee Low Sodium Light Soy Sauce (green bottle). This is the soy sauce P.F. Chang’s uses for the curry sauce. The low sodium version gives you better control over the saltiness of the final dish since the sauce calls for a significant amount of soy sauce.
Oyster sauce. A major component of the curry sauce. Lee Kum Kee Panda Brand is what they use at the restaurant.
Baking soda. A small amount dissolved in water creates an alkaline brine that tenderizes the chicken breast and gives the shrimp their signature bouncy texture. Half a teaspoon is all you need for the whole batch of marinade.
Dehydrated minced garlic. P.F. Chang’s uses this instead of fresh garlic in most of their stir-fry dishes. You’ll find it in small containers on the spice aisle. To use it, soak the garlic in warm water for 20-30 minutes, then drain and squeeze out the excess liquid. You can prepare it several days in advance and keep it in the fridge.
1. Soak the noodles. Place 4 ounces of dried thin rice vermicelli in a bowl and cover with room-temperature water. Let them soak for about 30 minutes, or until they’re pliable and mostly translucent when you pick them up. Every brand is a little different, so you may need to adjust the time. After soaking, drain the noodles and dry them thoroughly with kitchen towels. This step matters more than anything else in the recipe. Wet noodles create steam in the wok, and that steam is what turns them into mush. Once they’re dry, snip or tear them into shorter pieces and separate any clumps. You can hydrate the noodles up to a few days in advance and store them in a covered container in the fridge.
2. Make the curry sauce. Whisk together 4 teaspoons of curry powder and 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric in a large bowl. Pour in 1 1/2 tablespoons of white vinegar and 5 1/2 tablespoons of light soy sauce, then whisk until the dry spices are fully dissolved. Add 5 1/2 tablespoons of oyster sauce, 1 1/2 tablespoons of sriracha, and 2 tablespoons of ketchup. Whisk until smooth. The sauce can be refrigerated for several weeks and seems to get better the longer it sits.
3. Brine the proteins. Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in 1 cup of water, then add 1/3 cup of soy sauce and whisk until combined. For the chicken, slice a boneless skinless breast into thin 1/8-inch slivers and submerge them in the marinade for at least 2 hours, or up to 24 hours. For the shrimp, pour the marinade over frozen 41/50 count shrimp and let them thaw in it at room temperature (30 minutes to an hour) or in the fridge (a few hours). Use separate batches of marinade for the chicken and shrimp. Drain and pat both dry before cooking.
4. Prep the cabbage mix and garlic. Combine finely shredded green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrots in a 4:4:1 ratio. Rehydrate the dehydrated garlic by soaking it in warm water for 20-30 minutes, then drain and squeeze dry. Both can be prepared several days ahead and stored in the fridge.
5. Cook the proteins. Heat neutral oil in a wok or large pot to 300°F. Add 3 ounces of the marinated chicken slivers and fry until about 50% done (60-90 seconds), separating the pieces as they cook. Add 3 ounces of the brined shrimp and continue cooking for 1-2 more minutes, or until the shrimp are just done. Remove both from the oil and drain well. If you’d rather not deep-fry at home, stir-frying the chicken and shrimp in a tablespoon or two of oil works fine. The restaurant deep-fries because it’s faster for high-volume service, but the end result is similar either way.
6. Stir-fry everything together. Heat a wok over medium heat until it starts to lightly smoke. Add about a tablespoon of neutral oil, then toss in 1 teaspoon of the rehydrated garlic and stir-fry for a few seconds until fragrant. Add 2 cups of the cabbage mix, 1/3 cup of halved grape tomatoes, and both proteins. Stir-fry for about 10 seconds until everything is heated through. Add the soaked noodles and 6 tablespoons of curry sauce. Toss everything together using tongs until every noodle is golden from the curry sauce with no white noodles remaining. Take your time with this step. If anything sticks, lower the heat. Once the noodles are sauced, add 1/2 cup of green onion sticks and 1/4 cup of rough-chopped cilantro. Toss for 15-20 seconds. Kill the heat and drizzle in 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil, tossing briefly to distribute.
7. Plate and garnish. Pile the noodles high in the center of a plate or bowl. Top with a handful of fried shallots and serve with a lime wedge.
The noodles are the most important part. If you prepare the noodles incorrectly, you will ruin the dish. Soak them in room-temperature water (not hot, not boiling), dry them completely after draining, and cut them shorter before they go into the wok. If you’ve had mushy or clumpy noodles in the past, the problem was almost certainly one of those three steps.
You can prep almost everything in advance. The curry sauce keeps for several weeks in the fridge. The brined chicken and shrimp can sit in the fridge for a couple of days after draining. The cabbage mix lasts about a week. The rehydrated garlic keeps for several days. The soaked and dried noodles can be stored in a covered container in the fridge for a few days. If you do the prep on a weekend, this becomes a 10-minute weeknight dinner.
The sauce seems to get better with time. Like a good lasagna, the curry sauce seems to improve the longer it rests in the fridge. If you can make it a day or two before you plan to cook, you’ll probably notice a more cohesive flavor.
If things stick, lower the heat or switch pans. Thin rice noodles are notoriously difficult to work with in a wok. If sticking is a problem, lower the heat first. If that doesn’t help, a large nonstick pan is a perfectly acceptable alternative. You’ll lose some wok hei, but you’ll keep your noodles intact.
Keep the proteins separate during brining. Don’t brine the chicken and shrimp together. The chicken needs a longer soak (at least 2 hours) while the shrimp only need long enough to thaw and absorb the marinade. Make separate batches of the alkaline soy marinade for each.
This is a full meal on its own, but if you’re serving it as part of a larger spread, P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps or P.F. Chang’s Dynamite Shrimp work well as appetizers beforehand.
Leftover noodles will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. The noodles will absorb some of the sauce overnight, so leftovers may taste slightly less saucy than when first served. Reheat in a wok or large skillet over medium heat with a small splash of water to loosen things up. Microwave reheating works but the noodles tend to dry out and clump. This dish doesn’t freeze well because the rice vermicelli breaks down when thawed.
You can. Angel hair pasta is similar in thickness and avoids the soaking and clumping challenges entirely. The texture will be different (wheat noodles are chewier and heavier than rice noodles), and you’ll lose the light, delicate chew that rice noodles give you. But if rice vermicelli isn’t available near you, angel hair is the closest substitute.
One of three things: the noodles were soaked too long, they weren’t dried well enough after soaking, or both. Rice vermicelli goes from al dente to mush very quickly, especially in hot water. Stick with room-temperature water and check them around the 20-minute mark. After draining, dry them as thoroughly as you can with kitchen towels. Any water left on the noodles turns to steam in the hot wok and overcooks them from the inside.
The dish was most likely invented in Hong Kong, probably in the 1960s when the city was a British colony and a transportation hub between Europe and Southeast Asia. The curry influence probably came from Indian spices that were common in the region at the time. Why it got named after Singapore is a bit of a mystery, but Hong Kong restaurants have a long tradition of naming dishes after places that have nothing to do with the recipe’s origin. It’s similar to how Mongolian Beef has nothing to do with Mongolia.
