Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Khao Piak Sen
A comforting Lao chicken noodle soup with soft, chewy hand-cut rice-tapioca noodles.
Lao · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 40 min
~696 cal · 65g protein · 67g carbs · 15g fat · 3g fiber · 1g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Khao piak sen is a comforting Lao chicken noodle soup, soft, chewy hand-cut rice-and-tapioca noodles in a fragrant chicken broth, topped with fried garlic, scallion, and herbs. Its name means 'wet rice strands,' describing the tender, slightly sticky noodles.
The noodles are made fresh, giving them a distinctive soft, almost udon-like chew that sets the dish apart, while the broth is gently aromatic with ginger and garlic. It is soothing, homey food, a Lao answer to comforting noodle soups across Asia.
Eaten for breakfast or anytime across Laos, khao piak sen is dressed at the table with lime, chili, and herbs.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 lb chicken (for broth and meat)
2 cups rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca starch (for noodles)
2 in piece ginger
2 stalks
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp
3 scallion
2 tbsp fried garlic
2 tbsp fried shallots
a handful cilantro
1 lime
to taste salt
to taste white pepper
Instructions
1
Simmer the chicken (or mushrooms and kombu) with the ginger and lemongrass into a fragrant broth, then shred the meat.
2
Knead the rice flour and tapioca starch with hot water into a dough, roll it out, and cut into thick noodles.
3
Cook the fresh noodles right in the broth.
✎ Chef’s note
Cooking the noodles directly in the broth is what makes khao piak sen silky: the starch they shed thickens the soup into its signature velvety body.
4
Season with fish sauce, salt, and white pepper and return the shredded chicken.
5
Ladle into bowls and top with fried garlic, fried shallots, cilantro, scallion, and lime.
Luang Prabang tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Luang Prabang. The town's own dishes are far more particular than Lao food in general: aor lam, a stew given a numbing edge by sakhan pepperwood; jaew bong, a chilli paste made with dried buffalo skin; and khai pen, weed lifted from the Mekong, pressed into sheets with sesame and garlic and dried, gathered only a few weeks a year.
🗺️
Laos. Laos eats more sticky rice than anywhere on earth, rolled by hand and dipped into fiery jaew sauces, larb salads, and grilled river fish. Fresh herbs, fermented fish, and bitter-hot flavors define an intensely regional cuisine.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Laos
Tam Mak Hoong (Lao Green Papaya Salad)Shredded green papaya pounded in a mortar with padaek, lime, chili, garlic, and tomato, the dark, funky, fiery Lao papaya salad.
Larb (Lao Herb & Meat Salad)Warm minced pork tossed with lime, fish sauce, chili flakes, toasted rice powder, and a garden of herbs.
Or LamA Luang Prabang herb stew of meat and vegetables thickened with sticky rice and buzzed with peppery sakhan vine.
Browse all Laos recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Khao Piak Sen?
A comforting Lao chicken noodle soup with soft, chewy hand-cut rice-tapioca noodles.
Where does Khao Piak Sen come from?
Khao Piak Sen is a Lao dish from Luang Prabang, Laos.
Can Khao Piak Sen be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Khao Piak Sen recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Khao Piak Sen safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Khao Piak Sen take to make?
About 70 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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