Abstract:Exogenous proteins are commonly used as nutritional fortifiers in food processing, and their incorporation into flour products can improve the texture and mouthfeel of the final products. Given the adverse effects of high-level chickpea flour on the quality of non-fried instant noodles, this study investigated the effects of different blending ratios of egg white protein (EWP) and soy protein isolate (SPI) on the eating quality and digestive properties of chickpea-based non-fried instant noodles, with a fixed total protein addition level of 8%. The results showed that the addition of exogenous proteins significantly increased the proportion of ordered structures in the secondary structure of gluten protein and elevated the disulfide bond content, thereby enhancing the stability of the gluten network in the noodles. The incorporation of the two blended proteins both improved the hardness and chewiness of the instant noodles. Furthermore, while reducing the glycemic index (GI) of the noodles, the exogenous proteins also increased the polyphenol content, protein content, essential amino acid content and protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS). At an EWP-to-SPI ratio of 6:2, compared with the control group, the protein content, essential amino acid content and PDCAAS of the sample increased by 136.24%, 56.85% and 72.09% respectively, while the GI value decreased by 20.28%. The non-fried instant noodles achieved the optimal overall quality under this formulation.