Thai Peanut Noodles
Craving peanut sauce? This vegan Thai peanut noodles recipe is the best! The no-cook sauce is pantry friendly and super easy to make. You can easily whip it up while the noodles cook. You can easily customize the spice level and top with fresh cilantro or green onions for a quick meal that’s full of flavor. Makes 2 servings (easily doubled).
Why I love this peanut noodles recipe
I absolutely adore peanut sauces. I have already published at least four other recipes containing some form of peanut sauce, and believe me, there have been many more recipes test out behind the scenes. There’s just something about it that I can’t stop craving.
So when Marc was on the road a few weeks ago, I raided my cabinets for the ingredients and whipped up a batch of quick peanut noodles. I decided not to bother with vegetables or meat, and I made myself a big heaping bowl of nutty, slightly spicy noodles. They are literally the easiest thing ever.
To make things even easier, I didn’t even bother to warm the sauce. I just whisked the ingredients together in a bowl while I cooked the pasta. Once it was strained, I tossed everything back in the same bowl and mixed it all up. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
If you like this recipe, you have to try this Thai chicken meatball curry, and this cilantro peanut pesto and these peanut chicken wraps.
Searching for more flavorful mains? Thai basil chicken, Shrimp yaki udon, Easy chicken pho are all sure to satisfy your cravings.
Ingredients & substitutions
- Soy sauce – You can use tamari and rice noodles to make this gluten free.
- 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.
- Crushed red pepper flakes – Sriracha or any style chili paste will work as well.
- Brown sugar – You can use honey or to make this vegan substitute agave nectar.
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.
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 to make Thai peanut noodles
Cook the noodles. We used spaghetti for this recipe, but you can use linguine or rice noodles. Really any long noodle or pasta will work. Cook them according to the package directions and drain when done.
Make the peanut sauce. In a small mixing bowl, whisk the sauce ingredients together. I like to add the peanut butter to the bowl first and heat it in the microwave for 15 – 30 seconds to make it easier to mix.
Toss the noodles with sauce. Mix the noodles and sauce together until evenly coated. Top with fresh cilantro and extra crushed red pepper flakes before serving.
More pasta recipes: pasta fresca / gochujang pasta / chicken bacon ranch pasta
FAQs and tips for making Thai peanut noodles
Ingredients
- 8 ounces spaghetti or linguini pasta
- 1/3 cup natural peanut butter (slightly warmed in microwave to make whisking easier)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 large garlic clove (minced)
- 1/2 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- Fresh cilantro leaves (for garnish)
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients.
- When pasta is cooked and drained, return to pot with sauce and toss until pasta is evenly coated and sauce has warmed.
- Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired.
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!