Noodle Dishes, Ranked

Built on hours-long tonkotsu, shoyu, miso, or shio broths with alkaline wheat noodles; it spawned dedicated museums and thousands of specialty shops worldwide.

A star-anise-and-charred-onion beef or chicken broth simmered for hours over flat rice noodles; it's Vietnam's unofficial national dish and a global breakfast staple.

Stir-fried rice noodles with tamarind, fish sauce, egg, and peanuts; it was promoted as a national dish of Thailand in the 1930s-40s and is the world's default Thai order.

A Sichuan classic of chili oil, preserved vegetables, and minced pork over wheat noodles, named for the shoulder pole (dan dan) vendors once carried; it delivers signature ma-la numbing spice.

A spicy Peranakan noodle soup in coconut-curry or sour asam broth; CNN's readers have repeatedly ranked it among the world's most delicious foods.

A lemongrass-and-chili beef broth from the imperial city of Huế served with thick round rice noodles; bolder and hotter than pho, it's a Vietnamese connoisseur favorite.

Chewy sweet-potato starch glass noodles stir-fried with vegetables and sesame oil; it originated as a 17th-century Korean royal court dish and is now a party essential.

Wide rice noodles seared with beef and bean sprouts over blistering heat; the smoky wok-hei char is used as a benchmark test of a Cantonese chef's skill.

Thick wheat noodles in a mild dashi broth, eaten hot or cold across Japan; the springy bite is prized but the flavor leans gentle rather than bold.

Wide rice noodles stir-fried with dark soy sauce, egg, and Chinese broccoli; a smoky, savory Thai staple that trades pad thai's tang for pure caramelized depth.

Chewy buckwheat noodles served in a chilled tangy broth, a Korean summer favorite historically eaten in the cold months up north; refreshing but polarizing for the icy, vinegary hit.

Egg and rice noodles braised in rich prawn-and-pork stock, a Singapore and Malaysia hawker mainstay; deeply savory when done right, forgettable when not.

Wheat noodles stir-fried with a sweet Worcestershire-style sauce, cabbage, and pork; a Japanese summer-festival fixture that's crowd-pleasing but sauce-forward and simple.

Soft egg noodles tossed rather than fried in a light sauce; a dependable Chinese-American takeout order that rarely disappoints but rarely amazes.

Thin buckwheat noodles served cold with dipping sauce or in hot broth; nutritious and refined, but the austere earthy flavor wins fewer converts than richer bowls.

Sweet-soy (kecap manis) fried noodles with egg and vegetables; a beloved Indonesian street food whose instant-packet version made it globally famous.

A family of stir-fried Filipino noodle dishes traditionally served at birthdays to symbolize long life; hearty and homey but generally milder in seasoning.

Stir-fried noodles that range from crispy pan-fried to soft; the ubiquitous mall-food-court version is often greasy and under-seasoned compared to the original.

Flash-fried dried noodles with a seasoning packet, invented by Nissin in 1958; cheap, fast, and nostalgic, but loaded with sodium and a texture that never matches the real thing.

Ring-shaped pasta in a sweet, watery canned tomato sauce, launched in 1965; the mushy texture and sugary sauce make it a punchline rather than a meal.