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The 50+ Best Noodles: #5 Carbonara, #4 Japchae, #3 Lasagna, #2 Bolognese, #1 Soba (1 Viewer)

#9 Pasta alla marinara
Origin: Naples

Marinara is a 16th century invention of the old world employing the tomatoes newly brought back from the new world. It’s a vegetarian sauce made from tomatoes, garlic, onion and herbs. It’s like the mother of all Italian tomato-based dishes; other sauces in this list started life as marinara before running off with other ingredients. In spite of her motherly appearance, marinara has also been known to sometimes hang around in jars.

Marinara had to be ranked in the top ten because it’s the classic spaghetti sauce but it’s also too basic to slot in any higher. It’s consistent rather than exciting but no pasta lover can say a good marinara isn’t delicious.
 
No other dish better represents the difference between what I ate growing up (Prego served over the noodles) and what I think is pretty standard now. There are some decent (but expensive!) jarred marinaras out there. Rao's. Victoria. Pretty much any one with just tomatoes and olive oil and not much else. But there's also no easier dish to master than a truly great weekday sauce. Just have to be picky with your canned tomatoes (I miss Bianco di Napoli, but Cento is fine). Then it's just olive oil and garlic and fresh basil. You can do onions or oregano or even a parmesan rind if that's your jam, but I stick with just the four ingredients.

Finish the noodles in the sauce with the pasta water to get the consistency right. You're not going to do better in 30 minutes.
 
Woo hoo … Top 10!

Love making home made pasta and ravioli is one of our staples. Usual combos are: ricotta and butternut squash, ricotta and spinach, and Italian sausage with a spicy, onion, pepper blend. Each is better with different sauces, marinara, white sauce or brown butter … man, I’m getting hungry!
 
#37.5 Pasta pomodoro
Origin: Naples

I knew I couldn’t make it through this countdown without a major mishap. My ranking sheet had pomodoro in an adjacent cell to marinara. The overflow text from marinara hid the pomodoro entry until I reformatted it over the weekend in order to update post #2. Once I discovered my error, I had three options: (1) omit pomodoro altogether and hope nobody noticed (2) combine it with marinara and die on the hill that they’re both just tomato sauces or (3) rank it ex post facto. I reluctantly went with option (3) and slotted it in between #37 Pad See Ew (where the consensus was that I ranked it too low) and #38 TikTok Feta & Cherry Tomatoes (because I couldn’t put above a classic like pomodoro)

Pomodoro is at least an hour older than marinara. It took the same new world tomatoes (which were yellow in color thus the “oro” in the name) along with other similar ingredients from marinara but didn’t cook them down to a smooth sauce. Pomodoro retains more of the shape of the tomato and has a fresher taste. It’s a great dish if you have great tomatoes in-season but can be lackluster with regular ones from the supermarket.
 
Eephus said:
#10 Ravioli
Origin: Italy

I had to make ravioli a top ten dish after I changed the rules to allow them. It’s a pasta/dumpling that needs no introduction. They’re terrific filled with meat, cheese,spinach or mushroom. Whatever you got, it’ll probably taste great if it’s stuffed in ravioli. Many cultures have their own variations of meat filled dumplings; they’re with us in spirit even though I’m going to write about ravioli.

My first exposure to ravioli was via Chef Boyardee. I don’t think I ate proper ravioli until after I moved to the Mission district of SF. I lived about five blocks from the Lucca Ravioli Company and Delicatessen on Valencia Street. It was a local institution for 94 years although it was only about 60 when I lived nearby. They made and sold fresh ravioli in flat cardboard boxes that the counter guy would tie with twine. The little pillows were unlike anything I’d eaten before; it was pure joy to see them bobbing in the pot. I’m afraid my saucier skills at the time weren’t worthy of the pasta but they were still delicious. Lucca closed its doors in 2019; the family cashed out at the peak of the SF real estate market. Good for them but bad for us. There are lots of places in the City to buy fresh pasta but none have the authenticity that Lucca did.

I prefer my ravioli in a more neutral/minimal sauce so the flavor of the filling isn’t masked but however you order ravioli, they’ll probably be good.
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@Beef Ravioli Part 2
 
#8 Pasta alla Boscaiola
Origin: Italy

Boscaiola means “woodsman’s wife” in Italian but the dish is commonly known as the hunter’s pasta because that sounds better.. Pasta all boscaiola at #8 seems like a bracket buster, especially after the intern who did the 41-50 rankings placed pasta al funghi so low but I like its flavors and adaptability enough to put it in the top ten.

Boscaiola is another mushroom forward recipe but the fungus is joined on the plate by pancetta or some other smoked meat. This makes a huge difference for me; the smokiness complements the mushroom flavors and the additional fat makes the dish come together. There are regional variations of boscaiola; southern Italian recipes add tomatoes while the north prefers cream. I’ve seen American recipes that include both and some that throw in a handful of peas. I celebrate them all.

As with al funghi, the mushrooms are important. Porcini are the best but because of the pancetta and other ingredients, you can get away with a cheaper variety like cremini for texture along with some porcini powder. I’ve even made it substituting bacon for the pancetta and it was wonderful.
 
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#7 Pho
Origin: Vietnam

Pho is a Vietnamese soup of rice noodles in a complex bone broth seasoned with ginger and other spices. It usually is served with a protein like chicken or a wide variety of beef products such as steak, brisket, tendon and meatballs. Pho is served with a plateful of garnishes that usually includes bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, hoisin sauce, peppers and lime wedges.

Pho is truly a top tier soup but the noodles take a backseat to the broth. The rice noodles are still an essential element and even the best broth benefits from the noodles, meat and toppings. A good pho brings a lot of different qualities in perfect balance.

It’s not really a make-at-home dish because of the bones, time and effort required to make a proper broth. I think it suffers as a takeout item too because there’s not a good way to keep the components separate in transit. It’s best by far when a steaming hot bowl comes straight from the kitchen of a Vietnamese restaurant that serves pho alone and not a full menu. It’s been too long since I’ve gone out for some; I’d like to slurp some right now.
 
#6 Singapore Mei Fun
Origin: Hong Kong

Despite its name, Singapore mei fun is a Cantonese creation consisting of thin rice vermicelli (aka rice stick noodles) stir-fried with curry powder, scrambled egg, meat and vegetables. It’s an early example of Asian fusion cuisine. It dates back to the post-WWII era when Hong Kong chefs prepared the dish for British colonists who’d developed a taste for the spice blend in other parts of the empire. It’s unusual that it’s named after Singapore because it’s supposedly seen on menus there but the city-state is a melting pot of cultures with large Indian and Chinese immigrant communities.

You have to like curry to enjoy Singapore noodles. The thin noodles get coated in spice so it has a strong taste and fragrance. The add-ins can vary but it’s usually bits of BBQ pork and shrimp and a crunchy vegetable mix of bean sprouts, green onion and julienned bell peppers. I used to frequent a lunch spot that served a similar dish made with chow fun noodles. It was a great dish too with a different texture and slightly less spice.
 
Eephus said:
It’s not really a make-at-home dish because of the bones, time and effort required to make a proper broth. I think it suffers as a takeout item too because there’s not a good way to keep the components separate in transit.
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OH made it at home once and realized he'd spent several hours on something he could buy for $8.50 down the street. Just not worth it. Why can't you keep the components separate for take-out? When we get it, everything is separate.
 
krista4 said:
Eephus said:
It’s not really a make-at-home dish because of the bones, time and effort required to make a proper broth. I think it suffers as a takeout item too because there’s not a good way to keep the components separate in transit.
Click to expand...

OH made it at home once and realized he'd spent several hours on something he could buy for $8.50 down the street. Just not worth it. Why can't you keep the components separate for take-out? When we get it, everything is separate.
Click to expand...
Yes, I’ve had takeout where they separate everything.
 
Pho carryout is normally packaged separately, but I do think it suffers a bit because of it. The noodles have already been cooked and are being revived in the broth instead of coming straight from a boiling pot of water. If you're lucky, you're getting your meat still raw and still able to warm it up shabu shabu style, but the packaged broth is not at peak temperature for that. And that really works best for the sirloin cuts. It isn't great if you're going for tripe.

I tend to go for whatever weird meat they offer in pho in an attempt to not be a white boy cliche. But I still have baby mouth, so I can't hang with the truly insane amounts of sriracha that natives put in their broth. And it's not just my baby mouth that causes me not to get that. Pho broth is so flavorful, I don't understand making it so nuclear that you can't taste anything else.
 
higgins said:
krista4 said:
Eephus said:
It’s not really a make-at-home dish because of the bones, time and effort required to make a proper broth. I think it suffers as a takeout item too because there’s not a good way to keep the components separate in transit.
Click to expand...

OH made it at home once and realized he'd spent several hours on something he could buy for $8.50 down the street. Just not worth it. Why can't you keep the components separate for take-out? When we get it, everything is separate.
Click to expand...
Yes, I’ve had takeout where they separate everything.
Click to expand...

You have to reheat the broth and blanch the noodles to separate them. They aren't quite the same after that.

Takeout pho is OK I guess but the point I was trying to make it's that it's just not as good as at the restaurant.
 
I've always considered Mei Fun a guilty pleasure because I tend to enjoy it most when it has an Exxon Valdez level oil slick at the bottom of the container. It is addictive. Another dish on the menu of piquant noodle dishes at my imaginary Tiki Bar.
 
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
I've always considered Mei Fun a guilty pleasure because I tend to enjoy it most when it has an Exxon Valdez level oil slick at the bottom of the container. It is addictive. Another dish on the menu of piquant noodle dishes at my imaginary Tiki Bar.
Click to expand...

Like Pad Thai, Sing Chow is a dish that's great as part of a multi-dish Cantonese dinner served family style. It's a change of pace in taste and color from other items on the turntable. Unlike Pad Thai though, I'm usually the one who orders the Sing Chow.
 
Eephus said:
#6 Singapore Mei Fun
Origin: Hong Kong

Despite its name, Singapore mei fun is a Cantonese creation consisting of thin rice vermicelli (aka rice stick noodles) stir-fried with curry powder, scrambled egg, meat and vegetables. It’s an early example of Asian fusion cuisine. It dates back to the post-WWII era when Hong Kong chefs prepared the dish for British colonists who’d developed a taste for the spice blend in other parts of the empire. It’s unusual that it’s named after Singapore because it’s supposedly seen on menus there but the city-state is a melting pot of cultures with large Indian and Chinese immigrant communities.

You have to like curry to enjoy Singapore noodles. The thin noodles get coated in spice so it has a strong taste and fragrance. The add-ins can vary but it’s usually bits of BBQ pork and shrimp and a crunchy vegetable mix of bean sprouts, green onion and julienned bell peppers. I used to frequent a lunch spot that served a similar dish made with chow fun noodles. It was a great dish too with a different texture and slightly less spice.
Click to expand...

I love this and order it wherever available. However, I often seem to permanently stain clothing, napkins, cats, passersby, etc when I eat it.
 
Eephus said:
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
I've always considered Mei Fun a guilty pleasure because I tend to enjoy it most when it has an Exxon Valdez level oil slick at the bottom of the container. It is addictive. Another dish on the menu of piquant noodle dishes at my imaginary Tiki Bar.
Click to expand...

Like Pad Thai, Sing Chow is a dish that's great as part of a multi-dish Cantonese dinner served family style. It's a change of pace in taste and color from other items on the turntable. Unlike Pad Thai though, I'm usually the one who orders the Sing Chow.
Click to expand...
It’s very much my “at least I’m getting all I want of this one” order.
 
Eephus said:
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
Telling my neighbors that I don’t think chicken riggies are making the top 5.
Click to expand...

Never heard of it but the reciped doesn't seem terrible. :oldunsure:

I'm still unclear about what type of peppers we're talking about.
Click to expand...
Cherry peppers are usually found n the Italian food section of a grocery store. They come in jars.

Riggies are fine, but very much #3 among signature Central New York dishes behind Utica greens and salt potatoes. Kind of a penne alla vodka with vinegar-y spice.
 
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
Eephus said:
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
Telling my neighbors that I don’t think chicken riggies are making the top 5.
Click to expand...

Never heard of it but the reciped doesn't seem terrible. :oldunsure:

I'm still unclear about what type of peppers we're talking about.
Click to expand...
Cherry peppers are usually found n the Italian food section of a grocery store. They come in jars.

Riggies are fine, but very much #3 among signature Central New York dishes behind Utica greens and salt potatoes. Kind of a penne alla vodka with vinegar-y spice.
Click to expand...

The pickled ones like you put on cheesesteaks?
 
Eephus said:
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
Eephus said:
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
Telling my neighbors that I don’t think chicken riggies are making the top 5.
Click to expand...

Never heard of it but the reciped doesn't seem terrible. :oldunsure:

I'm still unclear about what type of peppers we're talking about.
Click to expand...
Cherry peppers are usually found n the Italian food section of a grocery store. They come in jars.

Riggies are fine, but very much #3 among signature Central New York dishes behind Utica greens and salt potatoes. Kind of a penne alla vodka with vinegar-y spice.
Click to expand...

The pickled ones like you put on cheesesteaks?
Click to expand...
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#5 Pasta alla Carbonara
Origin: Rome

Carbonara is the classic Roman pasta with eggs, cheese and cured pig parts. It’s a 20th century synthesis of two earlier recipes: pasta alla gricia (pork w/out eggs) and pasta cacio e uova (eggs w/out pork). Carbonara’s name is derived from the Italian word for coal for reasons that aren’t entirely clear but it doesn’t matter because it’s a great dish.

Egg and smoked meat is a natural combination that’s fueled many breakfasts. It’s especially good as pasta coated with fresh eggs and cheese that’s barely been cooked with residual heat to a luscious creamy consistency. Italian cured pork cheek (guanciale) is the traditional meat option but pancetta is a substitute that’s more readily available. I wouldn’t turn down a carbonara that uses bacon or leftover ham as long as the egg is prepared correctly.

2025 is probably not the best time to recommend a dish with a bunch of egg yolks but they’re still cheaper than porcini.
 
#4 Japchae
Origin: Korea

Japchae is a compound word that means mixed vegetable in Korean. It originated as a non-noodle dish served to royalty and aristocracy. Noodles didn’t enter the picture until about a hundred years ago. By that time, the dish had moved downmarket and was popular among all classes of Koreans. Chinese traders introduced the clear cellophane noodles that characterize the dish today. Koreans used sweet potato starch to manufacture their version of glass noodles called dangmyeon.

Japchae incorporates chopped meats, mushrooms and other vegetables with the noodles. The toppings are typically cooked separately from each other and added to the noodles just before service along with a savory and slightly sweet soy and sesame sauce. It’s a very flexible dish that can be served hot or cold. I love the contrasts in texture, the springiness of the dangmyeon noodles and the crunch of the vegetables. I think the mushroom and sesame oil flavors work perfectly together and the slithery transparent noodles are cool.
 
Eephus said:
#5 Pasta alla Carbonara
Origin: Rome

Carbonara is the classic Roman pasta with eggs, cheese and cured pig parts. It’s a 20th century synthesis of two earlier recipes: pasta alla gricia (pork w/out eggs) and pasta cacio e uova (eggs w/out pork). Carbonara’s name is derived from the Italian word for coal for reasons that aren’t entirely clear but it doesn’t matter because it’s a great dish.

Egg and smoked meat is a natural combination that’s fueled many breakfasts. It’s especially good as pasta coated with fresh eggs and cheese that’s barely been cooked with residual heat to a luscious creamy consistency. Italian cured pork cheek (guanciale) is the traditional meat option but pancetta is a substitute that’s more readily available. I wouldn’t turn down a carbonara that uses bacon or leftover ham as long as the egg is prepared correctly.

2025 is probably not the best time to recommend a dish with a bunch of egg yolks but they’re still cheaper than porcini.
Click to expand...
1. Wonderful.
2. Super hard to make.
3. Best with guanciale.
 
#3 Lasagna
Origin: Italy

The wide,flat sheets of pasta used for lasagna are among the oldest noodles in recorded history. A Roman dish known as lasanum dates back to the time of Christ. There are numerous references to layered pasta baked en casserole from late medieval and early renaissance times but the lasagna that’s recognizable today didn’t appear until the tomato arrived from the Americas.

There are many ways to cook lasagna but the prep I’m going to talk about is the common version with pasta layered with a red sauce, a white sauce made from either ricotta cheese or a bechamel and a topping of more cheese. Magic happens in the oven as the cheeses melt and flavors meld while in the oven.

I honestly prefer a good homemade lasagna. I’m usually disappointed by restaurant versions, partially because of unreasonably high expectations going in but also because the lasagna has probably been sitting parbaked in a sheet pan since before the restaurant opened.
 
Given the plentiful offerings of Asian cuisine represented, there's a pretty well-known dish (though not a cliched one) that I'm surprised hasn't yet made an appearance. Or else I'm slightly surprised that it's top two.
 
Doug B said:
Given the plentiful offerings of Asian cuisine represented, there's a pretty well-known dish (though not a cliched one) that I'm surprised hasn't yet made an appearance. Or else I'm slightly surprised that it's top two.
Click to expand...
There is a very specific dish that might be my #1. But I am not sure it will make it
 
Eephus said:
#56 - Chef Boyardee Canned Pasta
Origin: A Can

Gummy noodles in a bland tomato sauce. Beefaroni is probably the best of the varieties because of a better pasta to sauce ratio but it's been a while since I've "enjoyed" pasta from a can. If I have to eat an entree hobo style, I'll opt for canned chili, pork and beans or beef stew over Chef Boyardee every time.
Click to expand...

I mean nobody wants to admit they ate 9 cans of ravioli, but I did and I'm ashamed of myself. The first can doesn't count and then you get to the second, and the third. The fourth and fifth I think I burned with the blowtorch and I just kept eating.​

 
#2 Pasta alla Bolognese
Origin: Bologna

Pasta alla Bolognese is the classic recipe that incorporates slow cooked meat and sauteed aromatics in a tomato-based sauce. @Scoresman and others will probably object to me lumping a traditional ragu of pork, beef or lamb with the tomato-heavy meat sauce that’s an American standard. I understand that argument because a true Bolognese is a wonderful thing that combines the richness of the meat, the fragrant notes of the soffritto and the acidity of the tomatoes in perfect harmony. But I’ve made similarly sweeping generalizations with other lower ranked noodles and it’s hard to be outraged when it’s still highly ranked.

You might think the typical Ital-American red sauce is the big beneficiary of combining it with a Bolognese but it’s deserving in its own right. There are differences from Bolognese in the consistency of the meat, the blend of herbal seasonings and the ratio of tomatoes to meat, but spaghetti in red sauce is wonderful comfort food that we’ve all enjoyed hundreds of times.
 
Eephus said:
#2 Pasta alla Bolognese
Origin: Bologna

Pasta alla Bolognese is the classic recipe that incorporates slow cooked meat and sauteed aromatics in a tomato-based sauce. @Scoresman and others will probably object to me lumping a traditional ragu of pork, beef or lamb with the tomato-heavy meat sauce that’s an American standard. I understand that argument because a true Bolognese is a wonderful thing that combines the richness of the meat, the fragrant notes of the soffritto and the acidity of the tomatoes in perfect harmony. But I’ve made similarly sweeping generalizations with other lower ranked noodles and it’s hard to be outraged when it’s still highly ranked.

You might think the typical Ital-American red sauce is the big beneficiary of combining it with a Bolognese but it’s deserving in its own right. There are differences from Bolognese in the consistency of the meat, the blend of herbal seasonings and the ratio of tomatoes to meat, but spaghetti in red sauce is wonderful comfort food that we’ve all enjoyed hundreds of times.
Click to expand...

This was the dish I was referring to when I said that OH loves soup dumplings only slightly less than one other "noodle" that I was sure would appear later. :wub:
 
#1 Soba
Origin: Japan

El Floppo anticipated this way back at #50 with his post expressing his love for his mother’s tortellini salad. I said upfront that this is a personal ranking and soba is the noodle dish that I’ll always associate with my mom. They’re a brown-gray Japanese buckwheat noodles with a distinctive flavor and slightly grainy texture. You can eat them hot or cold (zaru soba) with a variety of choices for broth or dipping sauce. But I’m sticking with the hot dashi based broth that takes me back to my childhood.

My mom was born in San Francisco but was displaced and ended up in Milwaukee after her family was let out of the internment camps. Asian ingredients were very hard to find when I was growing up in the 60s. She could get essentials like soy sauce at international groceries in town but they was primarily stocked with European specialties because there was no local demand for Japanese food. To have soba, we had to rely on the occasional care package that my Grandma Fumi sent us from Los Angeles. They were a big favorite that my mom rationed carefully, usually saving them for special occasions or when somebody in the house was sick.

Soba is readily available where I live now so I always keep some on hand. My mom used to make the broth using shaved bonito flakes. I have a bag of shaved fish in the pantry but I usually use the granulated hondashi instead because it’s quicker. Restaurant soba is served with toppings like restaurant ramen but I prefer mine unadorned so I can taste the noodles and the nostalgia.
 
Welp -- Drunken Knight and I did our best 80s Dave Kingman impression and whiffed three times in PMs trying to guess the top two.

- Fried soup (new to me, ask DK. Coulda been lumped in with chow fun?)
- Pancit (the Pinoy classic -- might be too close to one of the Korean dishes?)
- Thai drunken noodles (too close to something else?)
 
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