Even if you’re unfamiliar with the name, vermicelli is a type of noodle you probably already know and love. Long and thin like angel hair pasta, vermicelli hails from Italy (in fact, vermicelli means “little worms” in Italian). Italian vermicelli is made from durum wheat semolina, water, and sometimes eggs, but outside of Italy, most consumers are probably more familiar with the bright white rice noodle version popular in Southeastern Asian cuisine. You’ll find the mild-flavored, sauce-absorbing noodles in shrimp summer rolls, lettuce wraps, noodle bowls, stir-fries, and soups, both hot and cold, usually alongside fresh herbs and more flavorful accompaniments. But despite vermicelli’s presence as a take-out and restaurant staple, we don’t often reach for it to make at home. That’s because the thin noodle, which cooks quickly and has a tendency to fall apart, can be challenging to cook correctly at home.
To solve our mistrust of making vermicelli at home, Chowhound spoke exclusively to Kevin Tien, the executive chef and owner of the Vietnamese restaurant Moon Rabbit in Washington, D.C. He shared three key insights to cook this noodle type perfectly.
First, after your water has reached a rolling boil, turn down the temperature. “The rolling boil can be too harsh on the noodles and break them,” says Tien. Secondly, vermicelli noodles don’t take more than a minute or two to cook, so Tien recommends checking them quickly and frequently for doneness.
Third, remove the noodles from the heat before they’re perfect. “Strain them into a colander about 30 seconds before you think they are done cooking as the heat will continue cooking the noodles,” Tien shares.
A few more tips for perfectly cooked vermicelli
Once your noodles are out of the pot, your work is not yet finished. If overcooking is the biggest issue for vermicelli, unpalatable clumping is the second. To combat this issue, Moon Rabbit’s Kevin Tien has a few suggestions. “Once the noodles are done cooking, I recommend rinsing them in cold water to wash away the excess starches and make sure to drain them thoroughly,” he shares. “Also lightly stirring/separating them during the cooking process will keep it from clumping as well.” Vermicelli takes no time to cook at all, so while these steps might seem excessively fiddly, you’ll be eating perfectly cooked noodles in no time.
Finally, while you can make pasta dough from scratch, Tien doesn’t recommend home cooks go that route. “I grew up with the store bought kind,” he said, sharing that Golden Swallow and Three Ladies are his favorite store-bought brands. “If it’s your first time cooking vermicelli, I recommend the Golden Swallow brand more because they are more forgiving when being cooked,” he adds.
