Pancit Bihon Guisado with rice noodles, meat, shrimp, and vegetables is sure to be a family favorite. Perfect for everyday meals and special occasions!
Pancit bihon guisado is a Filipino noodle stir-fry popular for everyday meals as well as for special occasions. The dish is often served on birthdays as the long noodle strands signify long life in Asian culture.
A delicious hodge-podge of rice noodles, meat, shrimp, and vegetables, it's a one-pot meal that's a guaranteed crowd pleaser!
There are so many ways to make this dish, every cook or household have their own delicious spin. Check out my ingredient suggestion list below and swap or add your choice mix-ins.
Pancit ingredients
- Sweet sausage hamonado or lap chong (Chinese sausage)
- Chicken
- Diced pork
- Shrimp
- Chicken, pork or beef liver
- Fishballs, squid balls, meatballs, kikiam, fish cakes
- Carrots
- Cabbage, napa cabbage
- Celery or kinchay
- Spring beans, snow peas
- Bean sprouts
- Shitake or ear wood mushrooms (tenga ng daga)
- Bell peppers
Cooking tips
- While most recipes suggest soaking the rice noodles in warm water to soften before cooking, I like to parboil the noodles in broth instead. This simple trick of submerging and BRIEFLY cooking the noodles in stock adds more depth of flavor. Please note that this is a very quick step and is only to loosen and slightly soften the strands as the noodles will finish cooking during the stir-fry process.
- The secret of a successful stir-fry is how the ingredients are prepped and sliced. Cut your meat and veggies into uniform bite sizes so they'll cook fast and evenly.
- Another important component of a successful stir-fry is the cookware you use. A wok, of course, is the best for the job but any wide skillet with slanted sides will work as well. You might have to cook in batches if you don't have a big enough cookware to prevent spills (tossing all the ingredients can get pretty messy) and to ensure good distribution of ingredients.
- Use tongs to stir-fry to help keep the noodles intact and lessen breakage.
- Nothing ruins a good platter of pancit bihon in my opinion than mushy noodles and limp vegetables! Slightly undercook the vegetables during the initial stir-fry as they will continue to cook when the noodles are finished off.
- Stir-fry on high heat so everything sears nicely and won't overcook in the steam.
How to serve
- Pancit Bihon is traditionally served for special occasions, especially for birthdays as long noodles signify long life. It's also common to enjoy it as a midday snack or the main entree with pandesal or tasty bread as well as steamed rice.
- Filipino-style stir-fried noodle dishes are often enjoyed with a spritz of freshly-squeezed calamansi (or citrus such as lime or lemon) juice to brighten flavors.
- To store leftovers, allow to completely and transfer to a container with a tight-fitting lid. Refrigerate for up 3 days.
- Reheat in the microwave at 1 to 2-minute intervals until completely heated through, stirring well between intervals.
For more pancit favorites, try my Lomi Guisado, Pancit Upo. and Pancit Palabok. Enjoy!
Pancit Bihon Guisado
Ingredients
- 4 cups chicken stock
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 8 ounces rice noodles
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 16 ounces pork hamonado, cut thinly on a bias
- 1 onion, peeled and sliced thinly
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- ½ pound boneless, skinless chicken breast or thigh meat, sliced thinly
- 2 large carrots, peeled and sliced thinly on a bias
- 2 stalks celery, sliced thinly on a bias
- 1 small cabbage, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- green onions, chopped
- calamansi or lemon, cut into wedges
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, combine chicken stock and soy sauce. Bring to a boil.
- Submerge noodles into the liquid and cook, using tongs to loosen strands, for about 1 to 2 minutes or just until softened. Drain noodles and reserve about 1 ½ to 2 cups of the liquid.
- In a wok or wide skillet over medium heat, heat about 1 tablespoon oil. Add shrimps and cook for about 1 to 2 minutes or until color changes to pink. Remove from heat and drain on paper towels.
- Add pork hamonado and cook, stirring regularly, until they start to brown.
- Wipe down wok or skillet as needed and heat another tablespoon of oil. Add onions and garlic and cook until softened.
- Add chicken and cook, stirring regularly, for about 3 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Add carrots and celery and cook for about 30 to 40 seconds.
- Add cabbage and cook for about 30 to 40 seconds. Continue to cook until vegetables are tender yet crisp.
- Return shrimps and hamonado to the wok.
- Add noodles and reserved liquid in ½ cup increments. Gently toss and stir, adding more liquid as needed, until noodles are cooked yet firm to bite, vegetables are tender-crisp, and liquid is absorbed.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to serving platter and garnish with chopped green onions. Serve with calamansi wedges.
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I really love this recipe! Before I don’t know how to cook pansit every time I tried, it didn’t turn good but with your recipe I can make it perfectly 😋 Thanks for sharing.
I'm happy to hear that, Angie!
May I ask, if putting in the pork hamonado do I prepare it like the recipe link you shared and then add it to the pancit? Pineapple and all? Just not sure how to prepare the pork and add it to the pancit. Thank you for your help.
Hello Fern,
The pork hamonado I use in this recipe are pork sausages, kind of like sweet longanisa. Please don't use the pork hamonado recipe I have, it's different. I know it's confusing but I guess in the Philippines we call food hamonado when they're sweet. Here is the link to the sausages I use http://martinpurefoods.com/mpmain/332m-mp-ss-pork-hamonado/
If I don't have access to hamonado or the Chinese sausage, what else can I substitute?
I like to use the sausages to add a touch of sweet, savory flavors and I think some chopped up barbecue pork or even cooked pork tocino will be good substitutes. If not available, you can just omit 🙂