Why you’ll love these easy peanut noodles
I absolutely adore peanut sauce. There’s just something about that nutty, slightly spicy flavor that I can’t stop craving, and this recipe delivers just that with a simple, no-cook sauce.
Top it off with some fresh cilantro for an extra pop of flavor and you have a seriously delicious meal in less than 20 minutes.
More peanut recipes: Thai chicken meatball curry / cilantro peanut pesto / peanut chicken wraps / peanut butter stir fry sauce / peanut butter and jelly cake
Ingredient notes:
- Spaghetti – Any style of long pasta will work for this recipe, we have made it with linguine too. Rice noodles would be a good substitute if you needed this to be gluten free. Just follow the directions on the package!
- Peanut butter – We normally use a natural (not the refrigerated kind) of peanut butter, if you use a different type, you might want to adjust the sugar levels, to taste.
- Soy sauce – We typically use reduced-sodium soy sauce. You can also use tamari or coconut aminos to make this gluten free.
- Crushed red pepper flakes – If you don’t have these, sriracha or chili paste will work as well, but the amount needed will be different.
- Brown sugar – You can use honey or agave nectar in place of the brown sugar. The amount will vary based on what you use.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Thai peanut noodles are great as-is but you can serve yours with some cooked chicken breasts, sliced bell peppers, red cabbage, sesame seeds, salted peanuts or even some green onions. All of them add a little “something extra” to the dish and taste incredible!
Yes, you could. You can use smooth or chunky depending on your preferences. If you’re looking for a peanut crunch you could also use smooth peanut butter and a handful of crushed peanuts
Either one! While the dish tastes great warm and fresh, there’s nothing wrong with grabbing a cold bowl of cooked noodles from the fridge for a fast snack or meal.
More flavorful dinner recipes: Thai basil chicken / shrimp yaki udon / rotisserie chicken pho / chipotle pineapple beef / gochujang pasta
Thai Peanut Noodles
Ingredients
- 8 ounces spaghetti or linguini pasta
- ⅓ cup natural peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- ⅛ – ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the noodles. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti according to package directions for al dente. Reserve about 1/4 cup of pasta water before draining.
- Make the sauce. While the pasta cooks, whisk the sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth. To make the peanut butter easier to incorporate, add the peanut butter to the bowl first and heat it in the microwave for 15 – 30 seconds.
- Garnish and serve. When pasta is cooked and drained, return to pot with sauce and toss until pasta is evenly coated. If needed, add a few tablespoons of pasta water to thin the sauce. The sauce will heat as it's stirred.If desired, garnish with fresh cilantro before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
I seriously adore peanut sauce, and have ever since I made it in a cooking class in Bali! Too good, but the simplicity of this dish makes it 10x better! Love that you don’t even cook the sauce. Such a easy, yummy dinner. Pinned!
Congratulations on your BEAUTIFUL baby Melissa!!! I’ve been out for a while because of sickness but this is such a beatiful surprise to come back to. Aside from all the cuteness over on your instagram page, these noodles look pretty delicious! I’m a huge lover of taking noodles and transforming them and you definitely did!
Hey I hope you got my last message! I don’t see it but it may need approval.
Delish! Makes me miss Thailand so much. Peanut sauce and Thailand are the same thought in my head. I am actually testing spaghetti squash with peanut sauce at the moment. We got 3 of them in our CSA box so I really hope it will work 🙂
I got all the Ingredients. Thank you for the recipe. It looks delish to me. 🙂
I’m WAY late, but just felt like I had to comment!
This sauce is super delicious and I love the sourness that the vinegar offers. I made it with whole wheat spaghetti noodles and added in some shredded carrots, but think it would be great with cabbage, broccoli, and snap peas too. The peanut butter I used was all-natural (peanuts as the only ingredient) and chunky, which is great for extra authentic peanut flavor.
If I were to cook this with chicken, it’d DEFINITELY be ‘breaded’ with powdered peanut butter (plus I’d up the sauce amount, too).
Anyways: delicious recipe; it only takes as long as the noodles do to cook! Four stars because I think ANYTHING can be improved!
Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Please may I know, if Brown Sugar can be substituted with Honey in this recipe. And all the other ingredients except Peanut Butter can be added together without heating? Thank you so much.
This was easy to make & so tasty!