With a perfect balance of crunchy, creamy, salty, and fiery, these Sesame Garlic Ramen Noodles are easily one of my favorite "clean-out-the-fridge" dinners. Made with your choice of noodles, a few pantry staples, and whatever veggies are kicking around in your drawer, these spicy sesame noodles are the ideal rent-week meal!
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Why I Love This Recipe
If my food service philosophy could be summed up in one quick mantra, it’s that I’m here to serve, I’m not here to judge. Craving dessert after breakfast? Get it. Like mayonnaise on your peanut butter sandwich? Do it. Prefer sweet pickles over dill? I disagree wholeheartedly, but you do you.
In that vein, when I have dinner parties, am bringing food to a potluck, or am hosting a holiday cookie or soup exchange, I always make sure to ask my participants if I need to be aware of any food restrictions they might have.
This easy recipe for sesame peanut noodles has become one of my favorites because it is naturally vegan, but can easily be made gluten-free, nut-free, and/or soy-free depending on your company.
As if that weren't enough to love, these peanut noodles are great warm, room temp, or even straight from the fridge, which makes them ideal for packed lunch. Prep a batch on the weekend and enjoy big flavor all week long!
Without further ado, here’s how I do it. Per usual, this recipe includes possible substitutions and allows for your own inner chef to explore flavors in different ratios according to your tastes. Enjoy, and have fun!!
Ingredients & Substitutions
As promised, you don't need a ton of ingredients to make these Asian peanut noodles. Here's what to grab:
- Noodle of Choice - I used 5 packets of instant ramen for this batch, but if you're looking for a gluten-free option, I love Lotus Foods Millet and Brown Rice Ramen! Just make sure to follow the package instructions and rinse them after cooking. You can also use any box of long or short noodles you have kicking around the pantry.
- Hot Sesame Oil - Feel free to swap in regular toasted sesame oil if you're not obsessed with spicy foods like we are.
You'll need the following to make the sesame ginger sauce for your noodles. Please note that there are LOTS of swaps available here, so if you have dietary restrictions, just keep reading!
- Soy Sauce - I used regular soy sauce, but you can also use tamari to make this peanut sauce for noodles gluten-free. Alternatively, if you are soy-free, swap in coconut aminos (gluten-free) or Bragg's liquid aminos (not gluten-free).
- Rice Wine Vinegar - You can also use regular rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, or champagne vinegar.
- Fresh Ginger - I always keep either a knob of fresh ginger, a tube of ginger paste, or a box of Dorot frozen crushed ginger on hand. Any will work beautifully here!
- Peanut Butter - You can also use tahini for more of a concentrated sesame flavor, or a combination of both. Sunflower seed butter is also a great option if you are nut-free.
- Garlic - Fresh is best, but in a pinch you can swap in jarred minced garlic.
- Sriracha - Optional, but yummy is you are a fan of heat. Gochujang is an excellent swap if needed.
- Chili Garlic Paste (Sambal Oelek) - Optional, but another fun way to add spicy flavor.
- Agave Nectar - I find that a little bit of sweetness helps to balance out the other bold flavors. Feel free to swap in honey, maple syrup, date syrup, brown rice syrup, or even brown sugar. NOTE: If you opt for a non-liquid sweetener, you may want to heat the sauce to make it easier to dissolve the sugar crystals.
The following ingredients are all icing on the cake. The sesame ginger garlic noodles will be delightful just with the sauce, but if you have any of the following on hand, they will make your meal brighter, crunchier, and altogether yummier!
- Crunchy Vegetables of Choice - If you have them on hand, add in as many crunchy vegetables as your heart desires so you can eat the full rainbow! Here are a few of our favorites to add:
- Scallions, a.k.a. green onions, sliced thinly
- Bell Pepper, any color, sliced thinly
- Cucumber, seeded and sliced into short matchsticks
- Carrot, either shredded or spiralized
- Cabbage, red, green, Napa, savoy, or Bok Choy, shredded or sliced thinly
- Radishes, cut into matchsticks
- Sugar Snap Peas and/or Snow Peas, sliced thinly on the bias
- Toppings of Choice - Add as many toppings as you like for extra flavor and crunch. I like:
- Fresh Mint, Fresh Cilantro, and/or Fresh Basil, Thai if you’ve got it, regular if you don’t
- Chopped Peanuts or Cashews
- Toasted Sesame Seeds
- TJ’s Ghost Pepper Flakes or Red Pepper Flakes
- Extra Sriracha and/or Sambal Oelek
- Nori Komi Furikake - This is a flavor shaker that has nori, which is dried seaweed, and sesame seeds. It is also awesome on popcorn with some sriracha salt.
- Maruesu Tempura Crisps - This is another Costco find that’s a GEM. We eat these by the handful, as well as use them as a garnish any time we can. Get you some!
How To Make Sesame Garlic Ramen Noodles
These easy noodles with peanut sauce come together in just a few minutes. Here's how:
Step 1: Boil noodles of choice in salted water according to box directions and drain.
Step 2: Toss with oil. To keep the noodles from sticking together, toss them with a drizzle of hot sesame oil. NOTE: regular sesame oil, peanut oil, or even olive oil will achieve the same end. We just like foods nice and spicy over here.
Step 3: Make Peanut Sauce by whisking together Soy Sauce, Rice Vinegar, Fresh Minced Ginger, Peanut Butter/Tahini, Fresh Chopped Garlic, Sriracha/Chili Garlic Sauce/Gochujang, and Agave Nectar. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Step 4: Toss the noodles in your delicious sauce. Stop here and eat, or, if you have more time, energy, and ingredients move on to step 5!
Step 5: Add the prepped veggies, tossing to combine.
Step 6: Eat. Repeat. You know you want to.
Optional Variations
I love these peanut sesame noodles just the way the recipe is written, but there are plenty of ways to customize them to your exact specifications. Here are some variations to consider:
- Consider sautéing your veggies. I am perfectly happy throwing in all of the veggies completely raw, but Joe prefers his to be a little softer. On the occasions that he’s going to eat with me, I briefly sauté these additions (excluding the cucumber) in a bit of oil and a sprinkling of salt before adding them to the mix. If you want cold sesame noodles that are more like a salad and/or want one less dish to clean up, omit this step. Or, be lazy like me and use the pot you boiled your noodles in.
- Consider adding protein. Keep it vegan with pan-fried crispy tofu or soy curls, or add sliced chicken, steak, salmon, or shrimp.
- Swap in Italian-style noodles. Don't have ramen on hand? You can make sesame peanut butter noodles with spaghetti, angel hair, fettuccini, rotini, penne, or literally any shape of pasta you have on hand.
- Gluten-Free - Opt for gluten-free noodles and use either tamari (soy product) or coconut aminos (soy alternative) in place of the soy sauce.
- Soy-Free - Use coconut aminos (gluten-free) or Bragg's Liquid aminos (not gluten-free) in place of the soy sauce.
- Nut-Free - Use tahini or sunflower seed butter in place of peanut butter.
Expert Tips
- Taste the sauce solo. When all the sauce ingredients are whisked together, try a spoonful. Remember that it’s going to be a concentrated flavor that will be tempered by the other ingredients. In my mind, this should taste akin to something you’d dip your potsticker/wonton/spring roll in…salty, vinegary, spicy, a little sweet, and kind of creamy.
- Salt your pasta water. This is less important for instant ramen noodles (which have been fried and seasoned already), but for any plain boxed pasta or plain (read: not instant) ramen, I suggest adding the flavor while you can.
- Feel free to use your food processor with the grater blade to make short work of shredding all the veggies. I don't mind the process of chopping (I find it soothing), but bringing out the machine will shave at least 10 minutes off your prep time.
More Cheap & Easy Rent-Week Meals
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Sesame Garlic Ramen Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 lb noodle of choice I used 5 packets of instant ramen noodles
- 1 drizzle hot sesame oil or regular toasted sesame oil, peanut oil, or olive oil
- ¼ C soy sauce or tamari, coconut aminos, or Bragg's liquid aminos
- 2-3 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1-2 tablespoon fresh ginger grated or minced
- 3 tablespoon peanut butter, tahini or combination of both
- 2-5 cloves garlic, minced to taste
- 2 teaspoon sriracha optional, or use gochujang
- 2 teaspoon chili garlic (Sambal Oelek) optional
- 2 teaspoon agave nectar optional, or use the sweetener of your choice.
- crunchy vegetables of choice see notes
- toppings of choice see notes
Instructions
- Boil noodles of choice in salted water according to box directions and drain.
- Toss with oil. To keep the noodles from sticking together, toss them with a drizzle of hot sesame oil. NOTE: regular sesame oil, peanut oil, or even olive oil will achieve the same end. We just like foods nice and spicy over here.
- Make Peanut Sauce by whisking together Soy Sauce, Rice Vinegar, Fresh Minced Ginger, Peanut Butter/Tahini, Fresh Chopped Garlic, Sriracha/Chili Garlic Sauce/Gochujang, and Agave Nectar. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
- Toss the noodles in your delicious sauce. Stop here and eat, or, if you have more time, energy, and ingredients move on to step 5!
- Add the prepped veggies, tossing to combine.
- Eat. Repeat. You know you want to.
Notes
- Crunchy Vegetables of Choice - If you have them on hand, add in as many crunchy vegetables as your heart desires so you can eat the full rainbow! Here are a few of our favorites to add:
- Scallions, a.k.a. green onions, sliced thinly
- Bell Pepper, any color, sliced thinly
- Cucumber, seeded and sliced into short matchsticks
- Carrot, either shredded or spiralized
- Cabbage, red, green, Napa, savoy, or Bok Choy, shredded or sliced thinly
- Radishes, cut into matchsticks
- Sugar Snap Peas and/or Snow Peas, sliced thinly on the bias
- Toppings of Choice - Add as many toppings as you like for extra flavor and crunch. I like:
- Fresh Mint, Fresh Cilantro, and/or Fresh Basil, Thai if you’ve got it, regular if you don’t
- Chopped Peanuts or Cashews
- Toasted Sesame Seeds
- TJ’s Ghost Pepper Flakes or Red Pepper Flakes
- Extra Sriracha and/or Sambal Oelek
- Nori Komi Furikake - This is a flavor shaker that has nori, which is dried seaweed, and sesame seeds. It is also awesome on popcorn with some sriracha salt.
- Maruesu Tempura Crisps - This is another Costco find that’s a GEM. We eat these by the handful, as well as use them as a garnish any time we can. Get you some!
- Consider sautéing your veggies. I am perfectly happy throwing in all of the veggies completely raw, but Joe prefers his to be a little softer. On the occasions that he’s going to eat with me, I briefly sauté these additions (excluding the cucumber) in a bit of oil and a sprinkling of salt before adding them to the mix. If you want cold sesame noodles that are more like a salad and/or want one less dish to clean up, omit this step. Or, be lazy like me and use the pot you boiled your noodles in.
- Consider adding protein. Keep it vegan with pan-fried crispy tofu or soy curls, or add sliced chicken, steak, salmon, or shrimp.
- Swap in Italian-style noodles. Don't have ramen on hand? You can make sesame peanut butter noodles with spaghetti, angel hair, fettuccini, rotini, penne, or literally any shape of pasta you have on hand.
- Gluten-Free - Opt for gluten-free noodles and use either tamari (soy product) or coconut aminos (soy alternative) in place of the soy sauce.
- Soy-Free - Use coconut aminos (gluten-free) or Bragg's Liquid aminos (not gluten-free) in place of the soy sauce.
- Nut-Free - Use tahini or sunflower seed butter in place of peanut butter.
Nutrition
*They unfortunately do not tick the Whole30/Paleo or Keto boxes
** Soup exchanges are an awesome way to stock your freezer while simultaneously talking about food with your pals!
- Buy a bunch of delitainers and labels (for title, ingredient list and date purposes) and distribute them to your participants.
- Have a google doc signup sheet of what everyone is bringing so you don’t end up with 10 versions of chicken noodle (although different versions are fun in their own right).
- Pick a time and a location. Whoever is hosting should have some kind of soup, a bunch of mugs or bowls, maybe some crackers and bread to nosh on while you hang out.
- However many soup containers each person brought, they get to take an equal number of soup containers home. Such an easy concept and so easy to execute! I did this both years of business school, and it meant that we all ended up with two weeks worth of lunch or dinner worked out for the low investment of making one big batch of whatever soup I wanted. SO FUN!
- Remember, cream based soups don’t freeze well, so eat them first and freeze other, sturdier soups instead.
Let's taco 'bout it.