This work focused on rice-based egg noodles for Western consumers, whose preference for the egg option was corroborated by a survey. A constrained mixture design was used to investigate the effect of functional ingredients (FIs: gum, egg, and modified starch) on noodle quality, adopting egg noodles with 3.2% of guar gum as control. The substitution percentage of rice flour by modified starch was restricted (up to 12.5%) according to dough machinability and noodle extensibility. No differences were found in the Fourier transform infrared spectra of experimental design formulations. The synergistic effects among the FIs evidenced by response surface methodology analysis played a key role in the noodle attributes. Satisfactory values of water absorption (123%) and cooking loss (3.6%) were obtained by combining the minimum amount of gum (50% less than the control) with 10.9% of starch and 13.0% of egg. The extensibility of the optimum noodles was similar to that of the control.

Novelty impact statement

The use of a survey turned out to be an easy and practical tool to satisfactorily know the preference of consumers for egg-noodles. This preliminary survey allowed us to select the proper ingredient, and thereby save time and resources. The incorporation of a novel ingredient such as physically modified rice starch was of great interest. Such ingredient allows for clean labeling and avoids the production of chemical waste. In addition, the gum content could be reduced by half due to the synergy of the starch with the egg and gum.