How to cook Pancit Canton (Easy Recipe)

A delicious and easy way to make the Philippines’ favorite noodle dish – Pancit Canton. Whether for dinner, snack or as party food, you can be sure this delicious Pancit Canton would always be a huge hit!

Pancit, pancit, pancit! We don’t need any excuse to make delicious pancit (Filipino Noodle Stir-fry) in the Philippines. It’s so popular that you can find it everywhere, literally – from street vendors, to wet markets, food stalls, office or school cafeteria, mall food courts – it’s everywhere. It is everyone’s favorite noodles, indeed!

It comes in many varieties too and each family has their own secret seasoning ingredient to make their pancit the tastiest of all!

Here are some common varieties of Pancit, and if you are familiar with Filipino cuisine at all, you may have tasted one or some of them! This is not an exhaustive list as many regions in the Philippines have their own style of making pancit, too with varying names at that.

• PANCIT CANTON – Perhaps the most common noodle dish found in Filipino homes and restaurants. This dish uses egg noodles that are stir-fried usually with vegetables like carrots, green beans, shitake mushrooms and cabbage, together with slices of pork.
• PANCIT BIHON GUISADO – Similarly, cooked as Pancit Canton but uses a different type of noodles usually made with rice (so it’s great for those looking for a gluten-free option) or cornstarch (yes, you read that right!). The meat most commonly used with this pancit is chicken.

• PANCIT PALABOK or LUGLUG – This rice noodle dish is distinct for its rich, shrimp-flavored thick sauce colored with atsuete (annatto seeds) which results in its bright orange tint. My favorite of all pancit versions. It may take some effort to make this compared to other pancit varieties but it is so worth it! It uses either rice or cornstarch-based noodles.
• PANCIT LOMI – Lomi features thick and roundish egg noodles (looks like Japanese udon noodles but made with egg)  braised in a thick soup with carrots, cabbage and mushrooms, usually with slices of pork, shrimp and kikiam (pork and taro wrapped in tofu skin).

The above are just a sampling of the many varieties of pancit you can find and there’s so much more. Perhaps I will do a part 2 when I make another pancit!

NOTES ON INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING PANCIT CANTON 

• pancit canton/dried egg noodles (find the Filipino variety labeled as such, if possible)
• pork belly or pork tenderloin (pork is the common meat used with pancit canton but you can use chicken or shrimp or a combo of each)
• soy sauce  (regular seasoning soy sauce)
• oyster sauce (you may use the mushroom version if you want to make this meatless)
• brown sugar (just a little to help enhance the flavor of the seasoning sauce)
• cooking oil
• shallots (traditional) or onion
• garlic
• chicken broth or chicken stock (water may also be used as replacement)
• carrots
• cabbage
• green beans (you may use other vegetables, too)
• salt and pepper (to taste)

4.6 from 15 votes

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How to Make Pancit Canton (Easy Recipe)

A delicious and easy way to make Philippine's favorite noodle dish – Pancit Canton. Whether for dinner, snack or as party food, you can be sure this delicious Pancit Canton would always be a huge hit!

Course Dinner, Side Dish

Cuisine Asian, Asian Cuisine, Philippines, Southeast Asian

Keyword How to Make Pancit Canton

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Servings 6

Author Manila Spoon

Ingredients

• 2 cups chicken broth or chicken stock
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 lb pork belly or pork tenderloin sliced into small strips
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 shallot, or onion, peeled and diced
• 1 cup carrots, julienned
• 1 cup green beans, sliced diagonally
• 1 cup cabbage, chopped
• 8 oz pancit canton dried egg noodles

Instructions

1. In a bowl, mix together the chicken broth, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar. Set aside.

2. Heat a little oil (about 1 tablespoon) in a wok or large skillet. If using pork belly, which has some fat, no need to add any oil as it would render its own fat so simply heat them up in the wok or skillet. Season with a little salt and pepper. Cook until the meat has turned nicely browned and released some fat (I cook until they are a bit crispy for more flavor).

3. Add the garlic and shallot and saute until shallots have browned a little. Add the rest of the vegetables – carrots, green beans, cabbage. etc. and saute for another 2-3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Pour in the seasoned broth and bring to a boil.

4. When it begins to boil add the egg noodles. Press and fold the noodles a few times to ensure it gets soaked in the sauce. Continue to stir and fold the noodles while trying to soak them in the sauce until all the liquid has dried up and the noodles are tender.

5. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

TIPS & TRICKS

You can choose the vegetables you want to use for the pancit. The usual ones are – carrots, cabbage, green beans, snow peas or snap peas, mushrooms and even baby corn. Choose between 2-3 vegetables.

If you’re able, buy and use the Philippine pancit canton (labeled as such) which may be found at any Asian store.