Lucky Me! Chilimansi Pancit Canton Noodles (Vegan)

5 from 8 votes

These Vegan Lucky Me!-Style Chilimansi Instant Pancit Canton Noodles are simply instant ramen noodles cooked down and then coated in a savoury, spicy, slightly sweet sauce with that nice kick of acidity and tang from the calamansi juice (can also be subbed with lemon).

This recipe is my take and a healthier version of the Filipino favourite: Lucky Me! Pancit Canton, that’s the #1 brand of instant noodles in the Philippines.I served mine with some fried extra firm tofu or tokwa and a generous amount of homemade chili garlic sauce or chili garlic crisp, reminiscent of my high school and college days.

Being a big fan or anything calamansi (Philippine lime) or lemon-flavoured in general growing up, I was of course a BIG, BIG fan of the calamansi and chilimansi flavoured ones. Lucky Me! Pancit Canton and other instant noodle variants were always a part of our grocery cart even if it wasn’t the healthiest because it’s become a comfort food here at home.

Print Recipe Pin this Recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 10

Total Time 15

Course Main Course, Snacks

Cuisine Asian, Filipino, Southeast Asian

Servings people

Calories 356 kcal

Ingredients

Sauce

2 tbsp Calamansi juice or lemon juice , 20 ml (see notes if using lemon juice)
2-3 tbsp kecap manis or vegetarian oyster sauce (see homemade kecap manis recipe here ), see notes for sub
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp sriracha or other chill sauce of choice
Crushed black pepper
1/8 tsp salt or more to taste
1 tsp dark soy sauce for colour, optional
1 tbsp neutral oil , I used vegetable oil

Noodles

2 bricks instant ramen noodles , around 70 g each

To serve

Chopped scallions or spring onions
Chili garlic sauce or chili garlic crisp, optional for extra spice
Fried tofu in spicy sauce see homemade recipe here
Chopped sailing labuyo or other red chili optional for extra heat
More calamansi juice or lemon juice optional

Instructions

Mix the sauce together in a bowl or deep plate. You can use a plate/bowl big enough for the cooked noodles so you can immediately just add in the noodles into the sauce.
Meanwhile, heat a small pot of water. Once boiling, add the instant ramen bricks/noodles and then cook until still very chewy and have a good bite. Drain the noodles from the water and immediately transfer to the bowl/plate of sauce.
Mix the noodles and sauce well. Feel free to season with more sweet soy sauce or chili sauce. Enjoy immediately as is or with some fried tofu, chilli garlic sauce or crisp, chopped chili and chopped scallions. You can also squeeze some more calamnsi juice!

Notes

Lemon Juice

Calamansi has a stronger kick compared to lemons so I would recommend using 2.5 tbsp lemon juice for more acidity.

Kecap Manis/Sweet Soy Sauce

I used sweet soy sauce here since it has a thicker and syrupy consistency compared to regular soy sauce. If you don't have kecap manis, you can opt to use 2-3 tbsp of vegetarian stir-fry sauce or vegetarian oyster sauce and 1/2 tbsp sugar or sweetener of choice. Feel free to adjust to your desired sweetness.

IMPORTANT

Make sure the sauce is ready before you cook the noodles because you’ll want to immediately add the noodles to the sauce while it’s still very hot.
Using instant ramen noodles here is an essential (at least for me) because it’s the curly-type of instant ramen noodles that are distinct when it comes to eating Lucky Me! Pancit Canton.
Adding the freshly cooked noodles into the sauce immediately is the best way since the noodles will continue to cook from the heat and absorb the flavours
You can slightly undercook the noodles since these will continue to cook down from the heat. This way you get nice and chewy noodles even after mixing in the sauce

NUTRITIONAL INFO

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?Please leave a rating or comment and share a photo on Instagram, and tag me @thefoodietakesflight or use #thefoodietakesflight :)