Xi'an sliced noodles are served in a savory broth with sliced meat, vegetables, and often a spicy chili oil sauce. People in Shanxi used hand-made wheat noodles that are known for their irregular shape and chewy texture. Xi'an sliced noodles are often enjoyed as a hearty and satisfying meal, particularly during the winter months, and are a popular street food in Xi'an, where vendors showcase their noodle-making skills to passersby.

In Shanxi, there was an old couple. One day, the wife kneaded a lump of dough and asked her husband to borrow a kitchen knife to cut noodles, but unfortunately, the kitchen knife had just been borrowed and was not returned for a while. However, the old man did not return empty-handed. He brought back a piece of iron he picked up on the road and said, "How about we try using this?" The wife said, "How can we use this? There's no handle, it's not easy to cut." The old man looked at it and said, "We can use it to shave, it still looks quite sharp." As a result, they unexpectedly found that the shaved wide noodles had a better texture than the finely cut noodles, so the neighbors followed suit and gradually developed into today's Shanxi knife-cut noodles.