Southeast Asia

Khao Piak Sen: Laos's Hand-Cut Rice Noodle Soup

Name: Khao Piak Sen: Laos's Hand-Cut Rice Noodle Soup
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 1 h 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Lao
Ingredients: 200 g Rice flour; 100 g Tapioca starch; 1/4 tsp Salt; 200 ml Boiling water; 600 g Chicken thighs (bone-in); 2 L Water; 2 stalks Lemongrass; 3 slices Galangal; 4 cloves (crushed) Garlic; 3 tbsp Fish sauce; 1 tsp Salt; 1/2 tsp White pepper; as needed Cilantro; as needed Dill; 3 Scallions; 6 cloves Garlic (for frying); 2 Limes; as needed Chili flakes; 100 g Bean sprouts

A full recipe for khao piak sen, the Lao breakfast classic: thick hand-cut rice and tapioca noodles simmered directly in chicken broth until the soup turns silky. Covers making the noodles, the broth, toppings, and variations.

Published: October 25, 2026Total: 1 hr 40 minLevel: Intermediate

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 6

Make the noodle dough

10 min

Kneading the rice flour dough into a smooth white mass — Kneading the rice flour and tapioca dough. Boiling water gelatinizes the starch and makes the dough cohere. Aim for the firmness of an earlobe

Put 200 g rice flour, 100 g tapioca starch, and 1/4 tsp salt in a large bowl and stir for about 30 seconds until the color is even. Add 200 ml boiling water in 3–4 portions, stirring from the bottom in circles with chopsticks. At first it will be crumbly. When the dry white patches are gone and the mixture holds together when squeezed, bring it together with your hands.

Careful of the heat, and knead the dough about 5 minutes. Press with the heel of your hand and fold, over and over, until the surface cracks disappear and the dough springs back slowly when pressed, a little firmer than an earlobe. Shape it into a flat disk about 3 cm thick, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap so it doesn't dry out, and rest it 20 minutes.

If the dough cracks

If the dough is dry and cracks, it needs more water. Add boiling water 1 tsp at a time. If it is sticky, sprinkle in a little rice flour and knead again. The water amount in the recipe is only a guide, since absorption differs by brand and type of tapioca starch.

STEP 22 / 6

Cut the noodles

15 min

Cutting the dough into thick rice noodles, uneven white noodles on a cutting board — Roll the dough to 5 mm and cut it 1 cm wide. The uneven thickness is part of the charm of khao piak sen; thin and thick parts give different textures

On a surface dusted with rice flour, roll the rested dough to 5 mm thick. If you don't have a rolling pin, a wine bottle or a plastic wrap tube will do.

Roll the dough up loosely from the near edge and cut it into 1 cm widths with a knife. Shake the noodles loose and toss with dusting flour so they don't stick. The noodles can be uneven. Lao hand-cut noodles are supposed to vary in thickness.

STEP 33 / 6

Make the chicken broth

40 min

Simmering chicken and lemongrass in a pot to make the broth — Simmer the bone-in chicken with lemongrass and galangal. A gentle 30-minute simmer gives a clear golden broth

Put 2 L water in a pot with the bone-in chicken thighs, the lemongrass (bruise the base with the flat of a knife until fragrant), galangal, and coarsely crushed garlic, and bring to a boil over high heat. Don't mash the garlic into a paste; cracking it until it smells is enough. When it boils, carefully skim the white scum with a ladle, turn the heat down low so the surface barely trembles, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. A hard boil clouds the soup, so keep it at a few small bubbles.

When a skewer pushed into the chicken releases clear juices, it is cooked. Remove the chicken, let it cool slightly, take the meat off the bones and shred it along the grain into 1–2 cm pieces. Large chunks are hard to eat, so keep them to a size you can scoop with a spoon. Also remove the lemongrass and galangal.

Season the broth with 3 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tsp salt, and white pepper.

STEP 44 / 6

Simmer the noodles in the broth

5 min

Simmering rice noodles in broth, the soup turning thick — Cooking the hand-cut noodles directly in the broth. Their starch dissolves into the soup and gives it its characteristic body. This step is the life of the dish

Bring the broth back to a boil and put the hand-cut noodles directly into it. This is the defining feature of khao piak sen: you don't boil the noodles in a separate pot, you simmer them right in the broth.

The tapioca in the noodles dissolves and gives the soup a natural body, the heart of the dish. Cook over medium heat for 3–5 minutes, until the noodles turn translucent and chewy. Overcooked noodles dissolve, so check the texture and turn off the heat.

STEP 55 / 6

Fry the garlic

3 min

Frying garlic in a skillet into golden chips — Fried garlic is the essential finishing topping. Its toasty crunch is the accent in the soup

Put 3 tbsp neutral oil in a small skillet and fry 6 cloves of thinly sliced garlic slowly over low heat. Remove it right away when it turns golden. It keeps darkening from residual heat, so pulling it out a little early is the trick. Save the garlic oil too.

STEP 66 / 6

Assemble

3 min

STEP 6

Reheat the soup and noodles over low heat until steaming, ladle generously into bowls, and top with the shredded chicken. The noodles should be plump and the soup should still have body. Drizzle with the fried garlic and garlic oil and scatter cilantro, dill, and scallions. Serve lime, bean sprouts, and chili flakes on a separate plate.

To eat, squeeze in lime for acidity and enjoy the crisp bean sprouts.

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Ingredients

1 / 3

Hand-cut noodles

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Rice flour	200 g	Rice flour sold for baking also works
Tapioca starch	100 g	80 g potato starch can substitute (slightly less chew)
Salt	1/4 tsp	—
Boiling water	200 ml	Used to bring the dough together

What the two flours do

Rice flour gives structure; tapioca starch gives chew. The ratio of the two creates the distinctive texture of khao piak sen. More tapioca makes the noodles more translucent and chewier. Less makes them break more easily but gives a smoother, slippery bite. 2:1 (rice flour to tapioca starch) is the traditional balance.

Rice flour and tapioca starch in small bowls side by side — Rice flour on the left, tapioca starch on the right. A blend of the two gives khao piak sen noodles their spring

Allergy notes

This dish contains chicken. The condiments include fish (fish sauce). If you have a fish allergy, replace the fish sauce with light soy sauce. The noodles are made from rice flour and tapioca starch with no wheat, so the dish is gluten-free (also with potato starch in place of tapioca). Check that your fish sauce and soy sauce are gluten-free if that matters to you.

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Soup (chicken broth)

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Chicken thighs (bone-in)	600 g	8 drumettes also work
Water	2 L	—
Lemongrass	2 stalks	Bruise the base before using
Galangal	3 slices	2 slices of ginger can substitute
Garlic	4 cloves (crushed)	—
Fish sauce	3 tbsp	Adjust to taste
Salt	1 tsp	—
White pepper	1/2 tsp	—

3 / 3

Toppings and garnishes

Ingredient	Amount	Notes
Cilantro	as needed	Chopped
Dill	as needed	A herb characteristic of Lao cooking
Scallions	3	Sliced thin
Garlic (for frying)	6 cloves	Sliced thin and fried
Limes	2	Cut into wedges
Chili flakes	as needed	To taste
Bean sprouts	100 g	Served raw

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A Lao morning starts with a bowl of noodles

Laos is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, stretching north to south along the Mekong River and sandwiched between Thailand and Vietnam. The steam that hangs over its early-morning markets comes from khao piak sen (ເຂົ້າປຽກເສັ້ນ).

Khao piak sen is a noodle soup of thick hand-cut rice and tapioca noodles simmered in chicken broth. Unlike the clear broth of Vietnamese pho, the starch from the noodles dissolves into the soup and makes it silky and slightly translucent. That body is the identity of khao piak sen and sets it apart from pho and from Thai kuaitiao.

Laotians eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, but the picture that stands for the Lao food scene is a bowl steaming at a street stall in an early-morning market.

What is khao piak sen?

In Lao, "khao" (ເຂົ້າ) means rice, "piak" (ປຽກ) means wet or soft, and "sen" (ເສັ້ນ) means noodles. Literally, "soft rice noodles." The use of fresh hand-cut noodles is what sets it apart from dishes built on dried noodles. It is eaten all over Laos, and the area around Vientiane is especially known for it.

Khao piak sen is still little known beyond Laos and its diaspora, but home-cooking bloggers and Lao-American food writers have published full recipes for what they call Lao comfort food. Like Thai pad thai and Vietnamese banh xeo (in Japanese), khao piak sen is a Southeast Asian classic worth knowing. This article walks through the whole dish in a home kitchen, from cutting the noodles by hand to making the broth.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Fresh herbs and condiments: cilantro, lime, bean sprouts, chili flakes — The condiment set for khao piak sen: lime, bean sprouts, cilantro, and chili flakes. Each person adjusts the bowl to taste, the Lao way to eat it

Cooking tips

The rule: simmer the noodles in the broth

What sets khao piak sen apart from other noodle dishes is cooking the noodles directly in the broth. Boil them separately and the soup never gets its body, so you have a plain chicken noodle soup, not khao piak sen.

Don't skip the dill

One characteristic of Lao cooking is its frequent use of dill. Adding dill to khao piak sen brings out the Lao flavor at once. If you can't find dill, it is better to leave it out than to swap in a different herb; the balance holds.

Substituting for galangal: ginger plus lemon zest

Galangal and lemongrass are basic aromatics of Southeast Asian cooking, but galangal can be hard to find. 2 slices of ginger plus a little lemon zest partly reproduces its citrusy fragrance. Asian grocers often carry frozen galangal.

Adjusting the thickness of the soup

Simmering the noodles can make the soup too thick. If so, add 100–200 ml hot water to taste. If it lacks body, add 2 tsp tapioca starch dissolved in 2 tbsp water. Unlike a rich soup such as Malaysian laksa, the soup of khao piak sen is ideally "just a little silky."

Variations

Khao piak kai (with egg)

After serving the soup, drop 1 raw egg into the bowl. It sets to soft-cooked in the residual heat and melts into the soup, adding richness. At Lao stalls this is a standard customization, ordered by asking for an egg added.

Khao piak mu (with pork)

Instead of chicken, simmer 300 g pork belly in the broth. The pork fat dissolves into the soup for a stronger flavor. Top with thin slices of the pork at the end. Like Malaysian bak kut teh, pork soups are loved across the Chinese-influenced food cultures of Southeast Asia.

Vegetarian version

Leave out the chicken and make it with 200 g mushrooms, 1 block of tofu, and 2 L kombu or vegetable stock. In place of fish sauce use 2 tbsp light soy sauce plus 1 tsp kombu tea powder. The savoriness of mushrooms gives depth to stand up to chicken broth.

Quick version with store-bought rice noodles (for beginners)

If you don't have time to cut noodles, use 200 g dried wide rice noodles (pho type). Dried noodles must be boiled separately and then added to the soup. To make up for the body, add 1 tbsp tapioca starch dissolved in 2 tbsp water to the soup. It won't match the chew of hand-cut noodles, but it gives you the feel of khao piak sen with little effort.

Background

The Mekong and Lao noodle culture

Laos is a landlocked country on the Indochinese peninsula, and the Mekong and its tributaries are its lifeline. Rice is grown on the fertile lowlands along the river, and Laos is among the world's biggest consumers of glutinous rice. In an ordinary meal, glutinous rice (khao niao) is the staple, while noodle dishes use rice flour from non-glutinous rice.

The origin of khao piak sen is not clear.

Why hand-cut matters

Khao piak sen is traditionally made from dough, by hand, at each home and each stall. That is what sets it apart from noodle soups built on bought noodles.

Nutrition (per serving, from 4 servings)

A balanced breakfast bowl

Chicken broth gives 28 g protein and rice noodles give good carbohydrates, a balanced bowl.

Nutrient	Amount
Calories	420 kcal
Protein	28 g
Fat	12 g
Carbohydrates	48 g
Fiber	2 g
Sodium	850 mg

The sodium from the fish sauce is a little high. The combination of chicken protein and rice-noodle carbohydrates gives lasting energy, which suits breakfast.

Dishes to make next

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How to make amok - Reuse ingredients and aromas from the same region.
Indonesian cuisine overview (in Japanese) - Reuse ingredients and aromas from the same region.
How to make bubur ayam - Reuse ingredients and aromas from the same region.

FAQ

FAQ: five common questions

Questions that first-time cooks of khao piak sen often ask, from making the noodles to substitutions and storage.

Q1. I don't have time to make hand-cut noodles. Can I substitute?

The closest substitute is dried wide rice noodles (pho type). Boil them separately and add to the soup; since they won't thicken it, dissolve 2 tsp tapioca starch in 2 tbsp water and stir it in. Another option is fresh wide, flat noodles. Their shape resembles khao piak sen noodles, and 3 minutes in the broth is enough to release starch and thicken it.

Q2. I can't find lemongrass or galangal.

Lemongrass can be replaced with the zest of 1 lemon plus 1 slice of ginger. For galangal, 2 slices of ginger plus a little lemon zest gives a similar scent. Both are often available frozen or dried at Asian grocers.

Q3. What if the soup is too thick?

Add 100–200 ml hot water to taste. If it is too thick, the noodles may have simmered too long. Next time cut the time to about 3 minutes and turn off the heat while checking the texture.

Q4. Can I store the soup and noodles?

You can store them separately. The soup keeps 3 days refrigerated and 1 month frozen. But noodles left in the soup soak it up and turn mushy. Add the noodles just before eating. Hand-cut noodles tossed with dusting flour keep 1 day in the refrigerator.

Q5. I don't like fish sauce. Can I use something else?

You can use 2 tbsp light soy sauce plus 1 tsp granulated stock. Soy sauce and stock stand in for the savory depth of fish sauce. The flavor differs, but the soup is still delicious. Fish sauce is central to Southeast Asian cooking, as in Thai som tam, but you don't have to force it.

Other Southeast Asian noodle dishes

Compare Southeast Asian noodles

If khao piak sen has caught your interest, try other noodle dishes of Southeast Asia too, and taste how each country's noodle culture differs.

Laksa: Malaysia's coconut curry noodles. Their rich soup makes an interesting contrast
Pad thai: Thailand's stir-fried noodles. The same rice noodles, a completely different approach
Mohinga: Myanmar's fish-broth noodles. Shared as a breakfast noodle dish
Banh mi: Vietnamese food culture, a way into how it relates to pho and khao piak sen

Sources

Duguid, N. (2000). Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia. Artisan Books.
Van Esterik, P. (2008). Food Culture in Southeast Asia. Greenwood Press.