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I've already read a related question: How can I keep pasta from sticking to itself?

However, I've found that rice noodles behave very differently than wheat noodles.

I've tried:

  • Adding oil to the water
  • Rinse with cold water
  • Leave in small amount of water while stirring until required
  • Move noodles immediately from pot to strainer to pan with oil and stuff (ala scampi)
  • Undercook the noodles, expecting the final "cooking" to be in the resting or sauté

However, every time, I end up with a blob of noodley stuff that doesn't want to separate and have a nice even coating of sauce and other bits.

What needs to be done differently for rice pasta vs wheat?

Note: This is for ramen/pasta made from rice and/or rice flour. The pho/vermicelli noodles are a completely different food with different prep.

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I have only experience with pho noodles. I don't know if the pasta you are referring to behaves fundamentally different to the noodles that I'm familiar with. The ingredients seem to be almost the same: rice flour. Some kinds of rice pasta are made with brown rice flour but this is basically white rice flour with the bran layer and the germ. I guess rice starch in pasta and pho noodles should behave quite similar.

Regarding the pho noodles which are also very prone to sticking to a noodley blob you have two options:

  1. Soak the rice noodles for about one hour (I don't know the exact time) in (luke)warm water until the noodles are soft. They will not be as soft / chewy as cooked but rather can be bent to a certain extent until they break. When soft, remove the noodles from the water (optional: and store them in a closed container in a cool place until you need the noodles). Reheat your sauce and put the desired amount of noodles in the same pan. The noodles will cook very quickly. Instead of this you can sautée the noodles first and then add the sauce (very tricky, I always end with a ball of noodles; my parents do better). It is almost rather reheating the noodles than cooking.

  2. Cook the noodles and rinse them thoroughly (!) to remove the starch. (Sometimes the noodles did stick after rinsing. Then oiling helps.)

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    If this doesn't apply to the OP's question you could always just post another "how do I deal with pho noodles" question and self-answer. This seems like pretty useful information.
    – Cascabel ♦
    Feb 6, 2016 at 1:43
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    @Jefromi I'll post my answer in a new question. Tomorrow. It's 3 am here :D *yawn*
    – Ching Chong
    Feb 6, 2016 at 2:09
  • Soaking in room temperature water for 10-20 minutes reduces the cooking time of for various 'gluten free' pastas, but it makes an incredible difference in texture. (you can get to al-dente without it turning to mush ... and the leftovers aren't a giant blob like what was described) But you have to test it as you cook, because it'll cook faster than what the package says. If you don't do the cold water soak, you'll want to put the pasta in ice water after you drain it to keep it from over cooking.
    – Joe
    Sep 28, 2019 at 1:57

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