Why you’ll love these easy sesame noodles
I love a big bowl of flavorful noodles. I like them even more if they’re quick and easy. I mastered peanut noodles – on of my all time faves – and even made a quick chicken pho recipe for weeknights that uses rotisserie chicken. But, now I’ve found a new favorite – easy sesame noodles. They’re a quick and satisfying dinner or and a great option for a packed lunch since they can be eaten cold.
Sure you could throw some veggies in, or even serve the noodles with a little bit of grilled chicken, but why bother when these sesame noodles are pure perfection on their own?
If you like this recipe, you have to try this roasted sesame butternut squash, and this sesame crusted teriyaki salmon and this sesame ginger lime chicken.
More dairy free pasta recipes: miso spaghetti / Thai peanut noodles / Tik Tok ramen / cilantro peanut pesto pasta
Ingredients:
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
- Whole wheat spaghetti – While these sesame noodles are naturally dairy free and vegetarian, this recipe isn’t gluten free. You could easily make it gluten free by using rice or buckwheat noodles.
- Soy sauce – Again for a gluten free dish, try swapping the soy sauce for some tamari sauce – its equally as good.
- Honey – If you want to make these completely vegan, you can swap the honey for brown sugar (or even coconut sugar).
The following is a detailed overview of the recipe steps with added tips and tricks for recipe success. For a simplified and printable version, including ingredient amounts and more formal instructions, see the recipe card below.
How do to make these sesame noodles
Cook the noodles according to package directions. To make these easy sesame noodles, I used whole wheat spaghetti, cooked according to the package directions. Make sure you salt your water to flavor the noodles, and cook them to al dente. If you want to use different noodles, that’s totally fine. Just use enough for 4 servings and follow the package instructions for cooking.
Make a quick sesame sauce. Heat a saucepan to medium-high. Add olive oil, garlic, ginger and crushed red pepper. Simmer the garlic until it’s nice and fragrant. Then, add the honey, vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Simmer the sauce on low until the noodles are cooked.
Toss noodles with sauce and garnish. Drain the noodles and toss the with the sesame sauce. You can do that in the original post or in a large serving bowl (you choose). Before serving, garnish with lots of green onion and smoked or toasted sesame seeds. I prefer the smoked because they’re black and that adds visual interest, but you can definitely use plain, toasted sesame seeds, too.
These are the sesame seeds I use. The black smoked ones are my favorite and I love that they come in a little shaker.
Easy Sesame Noodles
Ingredients
- 8 ounces whole wheat spaghetti
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 4 green onions, thinly sliced, for garnish
- smoked sesame seeds, for garnish
Instructions
- In a large stockpot with salted water, cook spaghetti according to package directions for al dente.
- While the spaghetti is cooking, heat a saucepan to medium-high. Add olive oil, garlic, ginger and crushed red pepper flakes. Sauté until fragrant. Add remaining ingredients and reduce heat to low. Simmer until spaghetti is cooked.
- Drain spaghetti and toss with sauce to evenly coat.
- Garnish the sesame noodles with green onion and sesame seeds before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Yumm!! Added extra ginger and some slivered carrots and doubled the recipe. My family devoured it!!
Is the ginger and garlic used supposed to be fresh or dried?
Fresh, but you can use dried if you have to, just adjust the amounts accordingly (generally about 1/3 of the original amount will work)
Would I be able to use maple syrup rather than honey?
I think that would work. It might give it a bit of a different flavor, but I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure.
It’s nt vegan if it contains honey.
I know. I don’t claim that it is, but that’s why I wrote in the post that if you want to make it vegan, you should substitute brown sugar.
Wonderful! A definite go-to. Thank you for sharing.
Just made this. I had to sub onion for red and honey for maple syrup. Still outstanding
Judging by eye, I felt there was too little sauce for the amount of pasta so I only used about 3/4 of the cooked spaghetti. While everything was still warm I added 3 Tbs of crunchy peanut butter and to each serving I added a few drops of toasted sesame oil. Excellent taste with more protein. Thank you for the recipe.