PURPOSE: To produce hot-air dried instant noodles, good in reconstituting properties and compatibility with a soup, having a soft texture after reconstitution and capable of providing a voluminous feeling after the reconstitution without being satiated with eating.
CONSTITUTION: This noodle strip M good in reconstituting properties is obtained by forming one or plural rows of recessed parts 7 in the shape of a quadrangular pyramid at a desired interval continuously in the slitting direction of the noodle strip M on one or both surfaces thereof with the slit sides of the noodle strip M placed therebetween in the noodle strip M slit according to a conventional method. The noodle strip is produced by forming protruding parts 6 in the shape of the quadrangular pyramid on the whole surfaces of both bodies of a pair of forming rolls 3 at the desired interval, regulating the spacing between the rolls so as to narrow from at least the thickness of a noodle belt, passing the noodle belt through the forming rolls 3, then passing the noodle belt through cutting blades 4 and slitting each noodle strip M. Thereby, hot-air dried instant noodles having a circular, a square or a rounded off corner type cross-sectional shape can be produced without heavily investing in equipment.