Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles
Hungry but don’t have time to cook?! These spicy peanut butter noodles are just for you. They’re vegan, gluten free, easy to whip up, ready in just about 20 minutes and packed with delicious peanut flavor.
I didn’t think I could love a noodle recipe more than I love my sesame noodles, yet here I am, loving these spicy peanut butter noodles more than ever.
When a recipe involves both noodles AND peanut butter (I see you Pad Thai), I feel like it just has to be good. And this one is good. Like really good.
It starts with perfectly cooked rice noodles (like my creamy curry noodles) that are chewy yet still have a sliiiiight crunch that’s just barely detectable, but still there so you know you’re eating noodles and not a pile of mush.
Then, they’re smothered in THE MOST luscious peanut sauce I have ever made. Plus, rice noodles are egg free so this recipe is safe for vegans or anyone with an egg allergy. However, you don’t have to use rice noodles, virtually any noodle or pasta works well!
It’s spicy (not quite as spicy as my chili garlic noodles, but spicy), it’s savory, it has a mild hint of sweet, and the rice noodles soak it all up so perfectly you’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven.
Did I mention it all comes together in only 15 minutes? Sounds too good to be true, but it’s not. Try my chicken crunch salad, miso noodles or a recipe from my roundup of the best asian noodle recipes next!
How to make peanut noodles
Cook noodles. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook noodles according to package instructions.
You can use any type and shape for these peanut butter noodles, I used brown rice fettuccine to give it a Pad Thai feel. Anything goes!
Saute garlic. To start making the sauce, you’ll want to finely mince the garlic and add to a saute pan with 1 tbsp of oil. Any oil will work here, I used olive. Coconut, avocado, etc. all work well too.
Saute the garlic over low heat for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown and very fragrant.
Add all sauce ingredients. Add in all remaining sauce ingredients and whisk together until smooth.
Combine with noodles. Add about 1/2 of the sauce to cooked pasta and mix together. I intentionally made extra sauce in case you want to add some chicken, tofu, veggies etc.
I don’t recommend adding all of the sauce at once because it may be too much, so start with 1/2 and add more depending on your preference.
Serve. Serve exactly as is or top it off with chopped cilantro, red pepper flakes, scallions or crushed peanuts for some crunch.
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Serving Suggestions
You can have this recipe so many different ways. With veggies, with chicken, tofu, no veggies, in a salad and more.
One of my favorite ways to have it is warm with a side of steamed broccoli and either salmon or grilled chicken.
You can turn it into a stir fry by adding some tofu and sauteed veggies like cabbage, carrots and bell peppers. Or, just eat the noodles as is for a lazy (but deliciously satisfying) meal. I fully support you. Plus, there’s plenty of protein in the sauce thanks to the peanut butter, so it’s still totally filling just as is.
Serve hot or cold!
Peanut noodles can be eaten hot or cold! This makes it the perfect meal prep recipe since you can keep it in a container and just grab and go for lunch!
Add in some freshly chopped veggies for a cold noodle salad (or just try my Thai noodle salad), or serve alongside some steamed broccoli and grilled chicken (or the chicken from my kung pao chicken noodles) for an easy weeknight meal.
Flavor tips
The peanut sauce can get too salty very easily if you’re not careful! I recommend using unsalted peanut butter and low sodium soy sauce so the salt isn’t overpowering.
Even low sodium soy sauces carries plenty of salt, so don’t worry about the flavor if that’s what you use.
How to store
Once prepared, this recipe will store in the fridge for 5 days stored in an air tight container.
The sauce tends to dry up as it sits, so if you want to get it saucey again, add the noodles to a pan with a splash of water, broth, or soy sauce and heat until warm.
Rice noodles tend to stick together a lot when they sit, so this may happen, but the flavor will still be delicious.
They usually fall apart a bit when they cook as well, so just keep this in mind! Rinsing right after cooking can help prevent some of this.
You may also like..
- Teriyaki Tofu
- Sesame Chickpeas
- Spicy Ramen Noodles
- Sesame Cauliflower
- Vegetable Lo Mein
- Korean Gochujang Noodles
- General Tso’s Chickpeas
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Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles
by: claire cary
Ingredients
- 16 ounces brown rice noodles
- 3 large cloves garlic or 4-5 small
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ⅔ cup creamy peanut butter low/no salt*
- 4 tablespoons low sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 1/3-1 cup hot water hot water mixes with peanut butter more easily than cold
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1-2 tablespoons sriracha
- 1-2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes can omit for less spice
- Optional: 2 tsp chili garlic sauce
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook noodles according to package instructions.
- Finely mince the garlic and add to a saute pan with 1 tbsp of oil. Any oil will work here, I used olive.
- Saute over low heat for about 2 minutes or until golden brown. Add in the grated ginger and saute for 1 more minute.
- Remove from heat and add in all remaining sauce ingredients (start with 1/3 cup of water) and whisk together until smooth, adding more water as needed to reach your desired consistency.
- How much you need will depend on the brand of peanut butter you used as well as your personal preference.
- Taste and add more soy sauce, sriracha, or any other seasonings as desired. I usually add more soy sauce because I like it saltier.
- Add about 1/2 of the sauce to cooked pasta and mix together. I intentionally made extra sauce in case you want to add some chicken, tofu, veggies etc.
- I don’t recommend adding all of the sauce at once because it may be too much depending on your preference, so start with 1/2 and add more depending on your needs. I usually end up adding all of it because I like it saucey, but up to you!
- Serve with crushed peanuts, scallions, red pepper flakes and enjoy! Delicious alongside veggies and protein of choice.
Notes
Comments
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Sooooo delicious!!!!!
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I was starving and remembered pinning this recipe. I subbed sweet potato glass noodles and used tahini instead of peanut butter and it was delicious! Hit the spot. Thank you. Repeat for sure. Just a splash of Dry Sherry In the sauce was really good also.
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Oh yum! Love those substitutions!
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This was SO good!!! Totally satisfied my craving for Thai takeaway. Would be great as a side or with veggies and chicken to round it out. Thank you for the recipe!!
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Thank you Erryn! It’s so good with chicken and broccoli🙌🏻
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Is there any substitute for rice vinegar? Could you omit it or use a different type of vinegar? Love how simple this is!
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I’d just do without! You can add some lime juice if you like, but it should be just fine without it 🙂
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Hi Claire!
I ended up getting rice vinegar and trying this recipe but for some reason it wasn’t turning out right, we ended up with a lumpy and oily sauce, almost as if the oil was separating from the mixture, We tried it twice and couldn’t get it to work, we used skippy peanut butter and we did use chicken broth. Any ideas on where we went wrong?-
Hi! So sorry it didn’t work out! My guess would be the peanut butter. Skippy has all sorts of additives and certain oils that keep the peanut butter from separating, but then when you mix it with other ingredients, it can create a weird consistency. I always recommend a low salt natural peanut butter that’s made from just peanuts! Let me know if you give it another try, I can’t think of another reason why this would happen.
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I had the same thing happen initially. Once I removed it from the burner and it cooled, I restirred and it was totally fine! So I think before you add the rest of the ingredients, remove from heat and see if that helps!
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Do you happen to have an idea of how well the recipe would turn out if I substituted the noodles? I was thinking about making this but only have spaghetti in the pantry 🙂 (Also, a suggestion: I could see this being an *awesome* Instapot recipe! It’d be so convenient!)
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Spaghetti will work just as well! And good idea, I will keep that in mind 🙂
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just found my new favorite! was so good i couldn’t stop eating haha!! Thank you for the recipe!
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Haha I know how you feel! So happy you like it 🙂
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Ohh my gosh this was so good!
I’m very weak to spice, so I only put half the sriracha… but it was a bit too spicy for me still.
Totally not the fault of the recipe though, and I managed to still enjoy it (with a glass of cold milk!)
I also opted to add in some blanched broccoli and it really brightened it up.I’m 100% making this again!!
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So glad you still enjoyed it! I’m sensitive to spice too so I get it! Cholula is a much more mild hot sauce compared to sriracha if you want to try that next time!
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Do you by chance just know the nutrition information on just the sauce?
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I don’t know the specifics but the calories for the noodles in a serving would probably be around 300 or so, and most of the carbs would also be coming from the noodles. The protein and fat content would stay about the same. Hope that helps!
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This was good. It was just the thing. I din’t have garlic so I sauteed onions in a little garlic oil. Still awesome.
Thank you so much for the recipe.
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Very tasty sauce! It was very thick, so I ended up adding over 1/2 cup of the pasta water to thin it, which worked well. I added 1 cup of peas when I tossed the sauce and pasta. Served with grilled chicken and homemade spicy Asian plum sauce. Yum! The peanut sauce would be delicious with tofu, so I’ll try that next time. Thank you for sharing the recipe !
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Thanks Bethann! That sounds delicious with the peas and chicken, so happy you enjoyed it and thanks for your feedback!
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Loved this recipe! Would definitely make this again. Great flavor!
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Thanks Lindsey! So happy you enjoyed 🙂
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Hi there,
You should probably take the gluten free tag off just to be safe since soy sauce has gluten. It was yummy otherwise
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The recipe says soy sauce or tamari which is gluten free 🙂 Most people who are gluten free will know to use tamari in place of soy sauce if a recipe calls for that, so it’s not always necessary to state that in the recipe card.
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The family loved this recipe!
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Thanks Chelsea! So happy to hear that 🙂
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Love this dish. So easy to make and delicious!
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Thanks Madison! So glad you enjoyed it.
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This is delicious but very salty, definitely use salt free peanuts and low sodium soy sauce.
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Hi Shirli, I clearly indicated to use low sodium soy sauce and low salt peanut butter in the recipe card. Sorry it didn’t work out for you!
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