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These flavor-packed Garlic Peanut Noodles are an easy, weeknight-friendly meal you’ll have on repeat. Tossed in a super garlicky, creamy peanut sauce and loaded with plenty of crisp and colorful veggies, these noodles can be served hot or cold, making them perfect for any season. This is the kind of meal that feels indulgent but is actually quite simple and nourishing!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Flavor-packed: Fresh garlic and ginger, lime, soy, and toasted sesame oil make this peanut sauce super addictive.
- Quick & easy: A great option for busy weeknights when you need to throw something together with mostly pantry staples.
- Customizable: Use any noodles or veggies you like. If you’re out of peanut butter, sub almond butter, cashew butter, or even tahini. Add edamame or pan-fried tofu to boost the protein.
- Meal prep-friendly: Leftovers would be great both cold or reheated.
Ingredients for Garlic Peanut Noodles
For the Sauce
- Peanut butter: I recommend a good natural peanut butter with a runny texture, but any kind should work just fine.
- Peanut oil: Or any kind of neutral vegetable oil, to sauté our aromatics.
- Garlic, scallions, and ginger: Fresh aromatics add a lot to this recipe!
- Red pepper flakes: Optional, for spice. I like to use gochugaru (Korean red pepper) flakes. You can also add something like sambal chili paste or even sriracha.
- Soy sauce, rice vinegar, maple syrup: To add umami and round it out with a little sour and a little sweet. Sub brown sugar or agave for the maple syrup if you prefer.
- Toasted sesame oil: For an addictive toasted nutty flavor.
- Lime juice: Adds freshness and brightness.
- Water: To thin out the consistency of the sauce as needed.
For the Noodles
- Noodles: You can use pretty much any kind of noodle you have in your pantry. I love to use ramen, udon, or rice noodles. In a pinch you can even use good old spaghetti noodles.
- Fresh veggies of choice: Some of my favorites are thinly sliced bell peppers, julienned cucumber, shredded carrot and fresh cabbage.
- Fresh cilantro: An optional garnished, but highly recommended. One of my favorite flavor pairings with peanut sauces!
- Roasted peanuts: Another optional garnish. I love adding a little extra crunch to my peanut noodles.
- Crispy tofu: I love whipping up a quick pan-fried tofu to this dish.
- Edamame: Another crunchy, protein-packed topper.
- Sesame seeds: For a mild nutty flavor.
How to Make the Best Vegan Peanut Noodles
Step 1 – Cook noodles: Boil your noodles of choice according to package directions.
Step 2 – Drain noodles: You can serve the dish hot or cold. If serving cold, rinse with cool water after draining. If serving hot, reserve a little of the starchy cooking water when draining.
Step 3 – Sizzle the aromatics: Stir together peanut oil, fresh garlic, scallion whites, fresh ginger, and chili flakes. Sizzle over medium heat for 2-3 minutes to infuse the oil and mellow out the raw bite of the garlic.
Step 4 – Mix the sauce ingredients: Whisk remaining sauce ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add water as needed to achieve a pourable, smooth consistency.
Step 5 – Toss the noodles together: Add the drained noodles (chilled or hot) to the sauce and toss well to coat. If needed, add a splash of reserved cooking water from the noodles.
Step 6 – Finishing touches: Add your favorite fresh veggies into the mix, such as carrots, bell pepper, cucumber, or shredded cabbage. I also love to add edamame or pan fried tofu.
👩🍳 Sarah’s Recipe Notes 📝
- Reserve some starchy noodle water: Save a few tablespoons when draining your noodles. You can use it to loosen the sauce to the perfect consistency after you add your noodles.
- Don’t burn the aromatics: Resist the urge to cook on high heat! The aromatics are delicate and can burn easily. Go for medium or lower temperature and sizzle them gently to extract the flavor without bringing out any bitter flavors.
- Adjust sauce to your taste! Want the sauce spicier? Add extra chili flakes, sriracha, or chili sauce. Craving a little extra tang? Add extra lime juice. The sauce is super flexible and very forgiving, so tinker away as you please.
FAQ
Most noodles would taste great in this recipe! I love using rice noodles (like the kind you use in pad thai) or ramen noodles. You can also buy udon noodles (the kind that come precooked) if you like a slightly chewy texture. Even long pasta like spaghetti, linguine or bucatini will work just fine.
You can make the recipe with almond butter, cashew butter, or tahini! You’ll just need to adjust the amount of water you add to achieve the right consistency.
Yes, just substitute in tamari or gluten-free soy sauce! (Or liquid aminos if you don’t mind a slightly less traditional flavor.) Then use your favorite gluten-free noodles. Rice noodles are a great option, and I also love the gluten-free ramen noodles from Lotus Foods. They have a brown rice and a millet ramen I love.
Skip the red pepper flakes altogether for zero spice. Add more pepper flakes to increase the spice. You can also add in things like sambal (chili paste) or sriracha. Or, for max spice, dice up one (or a few) spicy peppers like serranos, jalapeños or bird’s eye chilis and sizzle them with the other aromatics in the recipe.
Personally I think this recipe is best enjoyed the day it’s made, or the next day. Noodles tossed with sauce don’t always freeze and defrost well; they can tend to break apart or become very soggy when reheated. If you really want to prep this ahead of time, I would recommend freezing just the sauce on its own in an airtight container. Defrost it and toss with a fresh batch ofnoodles.
I make this sauce all the time, not just for noodles! It’s great as a dipping sauce for spring rolls, and as a stir fry sauce for tofu and veggies. Note that you can make this sauce ahead of time for meal prep! It keeps for about 4 days in the fridge. It will thicken a little in the fridge; just add a splash of water to loosen it up as needed.
Garlic Peanut Noodles
Video
Ingredients
Garlic Peanut Noodles
- 8 ounces dry noodles of choice such as ramen or rice noodles; see notes for options
- 1 batch garlic peanut sauce recipe follows
- 1-2 medium carrots peeled and julienned/shredded
- 1 red bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup julienned cucumber
- 1/3 cup roasted peanuts chopped or crushed
Garlic Peanut Sauce
- 1/3 cup natural peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil or other neutral vegetable oil
- 4-6 cloves garlic minced
- 2 green onions (scallions) thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger optional
- 1-3 teaspoons red pepper flakes I like to use gochugaru
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce sub tamari for gluten-free
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice from about 1/2 a lime
- 4-6 tablespoons warm water to thin sauce as needed
Optional Toppings (use as many as you like)
- ½ cup edamame for added protein
- 1 cup pan-fried tofu for added protein
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- lime wedges
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Boil water: Bring a pot of water to a boil in order to prepare your noodles according to package directions.
- Sizzle the aromatics: Take the smallest pan you own and stir together peanut oil, the white parts of the scallions, minced garlic, minced ginger, and chili flakes. Heat over medium. Let the aromatics sizzle for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. This will remove the raw bite of the garlic and onion, and extract flavor from the chili flakes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Make the garlic peanut sauce: To a mixing bowl, add peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, (optional) maple syrup, the sizzled aromatic mixture, fresh lime juice, toasted sesame oil, and about 3 tablespoons water. Whisk together to form a sauce. Whisk in extra water 1 tablespoon at a time to achieve a smooth and pourable texture. Taste and adjust to preference.
- Cook the noodles: Cook the noodles according to package directions, then drain them. Reserve a few tablespoons of the cooking water in case you need to thin out the sauce. You can serve this noodles hot or cold. For cold noodles, rinse the noodles thoroughly with cool water.
- Toss together: Add the cooked noodles to the mixing bowl with the garlic peanut sauce and toss to coat. Add reserved cooking liquid as needed to achieve a velvety texture.
- Serve: Plate the noodles and top with fresh carrots, cucumber, and red bell pepper. (Or you can toss these with the noodles and sauce in the bowl.) Top with the green parts of the scallions, crushed peanuts, and any additional toppings you like. I always like to serve with Simple Pan-Fried Tofu to boost the protein.
Notes
- Noodle options: Whatever you have in your pantry should work just fine! Rice noodles are a favorite of mine (like the kind you buy for pad thai). Udon noodles are great when I want something with a little chew. Ramen noodles never disappoint, and in a pinch you can even use pasta (like spaghetti, bucatini, or linguine). Just cook according to package directions.
- Weeknight quick tips: Sub minced garlic or ginger from a jar to save a few minutes of prep time. Similarly, you can use pre-shredded carrots or a coleslaw mix for your veggies.
- Gluten-free: Sub gluten-free soy sauce or tamari in the sauce. Use your favorite gluten-free noodles. Rice noodles are a good choice. I also love the millet and brown rice ramen noodles from Lotus Foods.
- Adjust spice: Add more or less red pepper flakes to adjust the spice level. You can also try adding in some chili paste or sriracha for extra heat and flavor. For max spice, try adding some a few diced chilis into the aromatic mix when sizzling (like bird’s eye chilis or serranos).
- Note on peanut butter: Good natural peanut butter is usually a little drippy/runny, especially when it’s a fresh jar. This texture is ideal for peanut sauce. If you only have conventional peanut butter (like JIF), you can still use it, but you may need to whisk in a little extra water to get the texture just right.
- Peanut-free option: The sauce can be made with almond butter, cashew butter, or even tahini. Depending on the texture of the nut/seed butter, you’ll need to add more or less water to achieve the right consistency.
Saw this on Sarah’s channel last night and had to make them! Sooo delicious! I’m making them again for tea 😊
Excellent! I watched the video on @SarahsVeganKitchen and knew I had all the ingredients so yay! 😉 I will be making so many of her recipes this year.
Absolutely loved these noodles! I ate them cold with silken tofu. I liked them so much i made them two days in a row. Thank you Sarah!
I made this recipe last night and loved it! The peanut sauce was perfect. I will have to try it again with some tofu next time.
I made this last night because it is so hot this summer. It was filling, refreshing and hot so many flavors! It is a little prep heavy, but all the chopping is easy. I used Fresno chilies instead of bell peppers since I have bell peppers and love spicy. The sauce is great. Another great recipe for regular summer meals.
Amazing! I was nervous to make this but I’m so glad that I did! Sarah’s video looked like she grated more than one teaspoon of ginger so that’s what I did (I grated about a tablespoon) and OMG it was so delicious!! Because the ginger and garlic were cooked down, it was not harsh at all. This is definitely being added into the rotation. I love how the gochugaru, garlic, scallions, and ginger all come together and meld beautifully with the sauce! This time I used rice ramen noodles and maybe next time I’ll try it with linguine!
Really easy and the peanut sauce is superb. I used soba noodles, which in hindsight may have been a little too finicky for my liking. Next time I’ll use a regular flour-based noodle, but in either case it was still very tasty.