I grew up enjoying Pancit Canton or Filipino stir-fried noodles at home. It’s a very easy noodle dish to prepare and is very popular in the Philippines.
This version is of course vegan!
This is vegan pancit canton version is cooked with lots of veggies and soy chunks, that’s still packed with flavour!
What is Pancit Canton?
Pancit actually directly translates to noodles in Filipino and there are many different types of noodle (or pancit) dishes here such as Pancit Bihon (using thin starch-based noodles), Pancit Palabok, Pancit Luglug, and many more.
Noodles Used
Note: there are lots of different brands of flour stick noodles and some have egg so be sure to get those without egg.
The type of noodles used for this Filipino Pancit Canton or stir-fried noodles are flour stick noodles.
Note: there are lots of different brands of flour stick noodles and some have egg so be sure to get those without egg.
The noodles are cooked in a broth with lots of veggies, meat, and other ingredients. It’s very similar to Chinese Lo Mein (‘mein’ meaning noodles) since noodles were first introduced by Chinese merchants in the country.
Growing up Filipino-Chinese, noodles were always served during family gatherings and birthday celebrations.
They symbolise long life and good health, and I remember learning early on that they shouldn’t be cut—giving all the more reason to slurp the noodles! Though of course some noodles are easier to slurp than some, but you get the picture.
One of the staple noodle dishes here at home
This Pancit Canton is staple at home even if there occasions or not. It’s a great dish to prepare when you have guests coming over or to share as a family because you’ll just need 1 large pan or wok and you can easily feed a family of 4 with leftovers.
So whenever we have guests of friends coming over, my mom would always take out a pack of noodles from the pantry and just cook them down.
We’ve always got some flour stick noodle packs in our pantry since they store really well, too.
How To Cook Pancit Canton
I’ve gotten a lot of requests over the years to make a vegan pancit canton recipe and only finally got around to sharing one now.
It’s a very simple process and if you follow these step-by-step, you’ll be able to come out with delicious Pancit Canton or Filipino Stir-Fried Noodles.
Let’s start!
Noodles: There’s actually nothing to prepare since you’ll just need to open the pack of noodles. They don’t need to be pre-cooked like other types of noodles. We’ll just throw them in the wok later one.
Prepare the Ingredients
Protein:
If you’re using soy chunks like I am, soak them in boiling hot water until rehydrated before you slice them. You can also of course just use some more mushrooms or even some tofu, if you’d like.
Veggies:
Slice the carrots, mushrooms, and green beans into thin pieces. For the green beans, I sliced them at an angle to achieve these pieces.
Cabbage: Slice the cabbage into large squares.
Onion and garlic: Crush and roughly chop the garlic and slice the onions.
Now let’s cook the noodles!
Here’s what you’ll need to do:
- Heat a large pan or wok over high heat.
- Add in the neutral oil.
- Sauté the onion and garlic over high heat.
- Add in the carrots and green beans then cook down for 2 to 3 minutes over high heat.
- Then now add in the protein you’re using.
- Season with the vegetarian mushroom ‘oyster’ sauce or stir-fry sauce.
- Mix everything well and leave to cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour in the vegetable broth. You can start with 4 cups first then add another 1/2 to 1 cup later on if needed.
- Leave the broth to boil over medium high heat. When the broth starts to boil, add in the cabbage. I like to add the cabbage a little late because I want to still have that bite even after cooking.
- Add some soy sauce to the broth. Feel free to adjust to your taste. You can also add in some vegetarian mushroom ‘oyster’ sauce or stir-fry sauce.
- Once the carrots are tender, lower the heat to medium. Add in the flour stick noodles. It will seem overflowing at first but once the noodles cook down, it’ll just be enough to fit the pan.
- Carefully mix the noodles form bottom to top to soak the top part in the broth as well.
- If you think your broth isn’t enough, you can pour in another 1/2 to 1 cup.
- Leave the noodles to cook for 2 to 3 minutes until completely coated in the sauce. By this time the noodles will have cooked down and is chewy.
- Season the noodles with more vegetarian mushroom ‘oyster’ sauce or stir-fry sauce and black pepper, to taste. Mix the noodles and taste. Feel free to season more as needed.
- When the noodles are chewy, turn off the heat. These noodles will continue to absorb the sauce so you wouldn’t want them to get too soggy.
- Serve the noodles immediately and garnish with some chopped scallions, if you’d like, and a side of sliced calamansi (Philippine lime) or lime.
- Chili sauce goes really well with these noodles too, especially if you like spice. Enjoy!
For this other batch of pancit canton I cooked, I used a different brand of pancit canton that was a bit thicker so the noodles turned out looking a bit different compared to the photos above!
You’ll find the recipe for this pancit canton below. Hope you enjoy!
If you try out this recipe, I’d appreciate if you leave a rating or simply click on the stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ on my recipe card!
You can also check out my other vegan noodle recipes:
- Mie Goreng (Indonesian Fried Noodles)
- Jjajangmyeon (Noodles in Black Bean Sauce)
- Thai Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao)
- Easy Spicy Miso Noodles
- Ginger and Scallion Noodles
- Chili Garlic Oil Noodles
- Chili Garlic and Black Bean Eggplant Noodles
Vegan Pancit Canton (Filipino Stir-Fried Noodles)
Ingredients
Protein
- 50 g dry soy chunks , makes 1/2 lb rehydrated soy chunks (you can opt to use more mushrooms or extra firm tofu)
Veggies and Broth
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 medium onion thinly sliced
- 5 cloves garlic crushed and roughly chopped
- 1 medium carrot thinly sliced
- 15 pieces green beans thinly sliced (you can also use snow peas)
- 1 tbsp vegetarian mushroom ‘oyster’ sauce or stir-fry sauce (to season the protein)
- 5 shiitake mushrooms fresh or rehydrated (sliced)
- 4 cups vegetable broth plus more if needed
- 1/2 small head cabbage chopped (around 1 lb)
Noodles
- 1 pack dry flour stick noodles , 450 g or 1 lb (see notes)
- 1/2 to 1 cup vegetable broth if needed
- 3 tbsp vegetarian mushroom ‘oyster’ sauce or stir-fry sauce, or to taste
- Ground pepper to taste
For Serving
- Chopped scallions or spring onion
- Sliced calamansi Philippine Lime, lime, or lemon for squeezing
- Chili garlic sauce or other hot sauce if you want some spice
Instructions
You can see the images above for a step-by-step.
Protein
- Rehydrate the soy chunks by soaking them in boiling hot water for at least 15 minutes until completely rehydrated. Squeeze out the liquid. You can also leave these to soak in room temp water overnight.
- If not using soy chunks, you can opt to use some sliced mushrooms or extra firm tofu. If using extra firm tofu, make sure to press the tofu before slicing them into small cubes or strips.. You can pan-fry the tofu until lightly brown and crisp before mixing it in with the noodles later on.
Noodles
- You can see complete step-by-step images on how to cook these noodles in the post above.
- Heat a large pan or wok over high heat.
- Add in the neutral oil.
- Sauté the onion and garlic over high heat.
- Add in the carrots and green beans then cook down for 2 to 3 minutes over high heat.
- Then now add in the protein you’re using.
- Season with the vegetarian mushroom ‘oyster’ sauce or stir-fry sauce.
- Mix everything well and leave to cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour in the vegetable broth. You can start with 4 cups first then add another 1/2 to 1 cup later on if needed.
- Leave the broth to boil over medium high heat.
- When the broth starts to boil, add in the cabbage. I like to add the cabbage a little late because I want to still have that bite even after cooking.
- Leave the broth to boil.
- Add some soy sauce to the broth. Feel free to adjust to your taste. You can also add in some vegetarian mushroom ‘oyster’ sauce or stir-fry sauce.
- Once the carrots are tender, lower the heat to medium.
- Add in the flour stick noodles. It will seem overflowing at first but once the noodles cook down, it’ll just be enough to fit the pan.
- Carefully mix the noodles form bottom to top to soak the top part in the broth as well.
- If you think your broth isn’t enough, you can pour in another 1/2 to 1 cup.
- Leave the noodles to cook for 2 to 3 minutes until completely coated in the sauce. By this time the noodles will have cooked down and is chewy.
- Season the noodles with more vegetarian mushroom ‘oyster’ sauce or stir-fry sauce and black pepper, to taste. Mix the noodles and taste. Feel free to season more as needed.
- When the noodles are chewy, turn off the heat. These noodles will continue to absorb the sauce so you wouldn’t want them to get too soggy.
- Serve the noodles immediately and garnish with some chopped scallions, if you’d like, and a side of sliced calamansi (Philippine lime) or lime. Chili sauce goes really well with these noodles too, especially if you like spice. Enjoy!
Notes
NOODLES
FLOUR STICK NOODLES: I use the brand Excellent for flour stick noodles since this brand doesn’t have egg in it. There are lots of different brands of flour stick noodles and some have egg so be sure to get those without egg. If you can’t find flour stick noodles in your local grocery or Asian store, you can use lo mein noodles or other thin wheat noodles. Do note that these take longer to cook so you may need more vegetable broth.NUTRITIONAL INFO
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This Post Has 2 Comments
Super yummy and simple to make. I used 250g thin wheat noodles and 3.5 cups broth and it was perfect.
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