Study on the Nutritional, Functional, Textural, and Cooking Properties for Multi‐Millet Extruded Instant Noodles

ABSTRACT Rising consumption of instant foods has necessitated the development of nutritionally balanced and sustainable food products. Extruded snacks are commonly made from cereals with good expansion properties but are low in essential nutrients like protein, fiber, and minerals. This study aimed to develop and optimize extruded instant puffed noodles using a composite millet flour (CMF) (finger millet, barnyard millet, and pearl millet) which is partially substituted for rice flour (RF). Instant noodle formulations with proportionate blending of CMF:RF (0:100, 100:0, 25:75, 50:50, and 75:25) were prepared using single‐screw hot extrusion technology. The compositional, physical, techno‐functional, cooking, phytochemical, textural, and sensory characteristics of the instant noodles were then evaluated. Addition of CMF among the formulations resulted in significant increase ( p < 0.05) in the composition (protein 7.36%–8.35%; fiber 0.03%–0.76%; ash 0.46%–1.81%) and mineral content, but reduced porosity (68.37%–51.15%) and expansion index, resulting in denser (bulk density 0.43 g/cm 3 –0.84 g/cm 3 ) and harder (454.67–695.33 g). Techno‐functional properties: water absorption index ranged from 5.42 g/g to 6.74 g/g, and water activity from 0.50 a w to 0.58 a w remained stable across formulations. Phytochemical analysis revealed enhanced antioxidant activity in multi‐millet incorporated noodles. Sensory evaluation and texture analysis showed that noodles with 25% CMF had favorable firmness, mouthfeel, and overall acceptability compared to instant rice noodles. Thereby, the developed instant puffed noodles with multi‐millet CMF flour using extrusion technology have substantial potential as a diversified millet product.