So I have a serious addiction to Asian noodles. It’s very dangerous and can be extremely expensive to treat. These Thai Peanut Noodles are an incredibly easy and inexpensive fix–it uses a lot of pantry staples and you can make it in about 20 minutes! It’s a perfect quick weeknight dinner, but I also often serve it when we have guests because it’s always such a huge hit!
Don’t be scared of peanut butter in the sauce–although it sounds different, it’s a pretty solid staple in peanut-sauce-y dishes because of it’s smooth texture and intense peanut flavor. Even better, it’s fresh, quick, easy, relatively healthy, and addictive–for us, this is Asian takeout, minus the takeout!
You’ll need chicken or vegetable broth, creamy peanut butter, 1-2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce (1 is mild with a bite, 1 1/2 is medium, 2 teaspoons is pretty hot…although you can always add more or less depending on your preferences), honey, soy sauce, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, and linguine.
The garnishes are essential for this recipe–you’ll also need chopped green onions, peanuts, lime wedges, and cilantro.
If you want to make this a little more hearty, feel free to add some grilled shrimp, chicken, or steak (I would thinly slice the chicken or steak and keep the servings around 2-3 ounces per person so you don’t overwhelm the noodle aspect of this dish.)
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. While the water is coming to a boil, wash and chop the ginger, garlic, green onions, cilantro, lime, and nuts. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to package directions.
While the noodles are cooking, combine the broth, peanut butter, Sriracha, honey, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until the peanut butter melts and the ingredients are combined.
When the noodles are done, drain and place in a large bowl.
Add the peanut butter sauce and toss to combine. Divide the noodles evenly among individual serving bowls then top with meat (if desired), chopped green onions, cilantro, lime wedges, and peanuts. Squeeze the lime juice over the noodles and, if you’d like, add another squeeze or two of Sriracha. Serve immediately.
One of my favorite meals EVER.
If you’re looking for a low-carb version, be sure and try these Thai Peanut Zoodles!
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Thai Peanut Noodles
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 3-4 main dish servings
Description
This incredibly quick and easy lunch or dinner can be made in less than 30 minutes and is loved by both kids and adults! Feel free to add 2-3 ounces of shrimp or grilled chicken or steak per serving to make it a little more hearty!
Ingredients
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1–2 teaspoons Sriracha chili sauce, plus more for serving if desired (see note below)
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons finely minced fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
8 ounces linguine noodles
1 bunch chopped green onions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 limes cut into quarters
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
Optional:
Shrimp or grilled, sliced chicken or steak (about 8-10 ounces)
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to package directions.
While the pasta is cooking, peel and mince the ginger and garlic, slice green onions, chop cilantro, and prepare lime and nuts.
To prepare sauce, in a separate sauce pan, combine the broth, peanut butter, Sriracha, honey, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until the peanut butter melts and the ingredients are combined. Cook on a very low simmer for 2-3 minutes until slightly thickened.
When the noodles are done, drain well and return to pot. Immediately add the peanut sauce and toss to combine. Divide the noodles evenly among individual serving bowls then top with chopped green onions, cilantro, and peanuts. Squeeze a little lime juice over each serving and serve with an additional lime wedge if desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
A little note about Sriracha: 1 teaspoon is mild with a bite, 1 1/2 teaspoons is medium, and 2 is pretty hot. You can always err on the side of caution and not add too much, then allow people to add more Sriracha to their own servings according to their personal tastes. You may also choose to leave it out for zero spice at all.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
Questions & Reviews
Just wanted to say from 14 years in the future that this recipe still holds up!
This is my go to sauce for stir fry or noodles! I’ve been using this recipe for a few years and I always come back to it after trying something new. It’s a favorite in our family and our kids devour dinner every time. Thank for sharing such and awesome recipe!
This was absolutely delicious! Even my picky 9 yr old said she loved it. We rarely eat out & noodles & Co is one I miss. This recipe is as close as you can get to their Thai peanut noodle dish. We added some grilled chicken to top it off. It’s a keeper for sure!! Thank you for such a delicious recipe.
I don’t understand how she thinks it “sounds” gross, you’re missing some pretty important ingredients here; nam pla??
Kate….Sure you’ve probably seen this by now…but just in case…
Coconut Curry (Noodles And Company Bangkok Curry) noodlesandcompanyathome.blogspot.com
This was an awesome recipe. It’s on my keepers list. I doubled the recipe. I used jarred ginger and I felt the ginger flavor was a bit strong. I like ginger so not inedible. I love sriracha – 2tsp (x2) was perfect. If there is concern about spicy-ness. I would suggest season on the low end and those who like it spicier can add sriracha to their individual serving. Whether you cook the sriracha in the sauce or add it later doesn’t change the flavor of the sauce.
Ok, I have a random question. When doubling a recipe with sriracha, does the sriracha spice level go up exponentially?
I started making one batch of the thai peanut sauce and then doubled it and it seemed spicier than usual. THEN today, I tripled it because I wanted lots of leftovers and my boys couldn’t eat it, my one year old was in tears and I could barely finish mine. Tell me what to do Sarah and Kate!
It was good. Probably would’ve been better if I’d actually followed the recipe. In my haste to get dinner on the table, I forgot misread the recipe and put 3 tablespoons of powdered ginger in the sauce. Talk about clearing the sinuses. That and I used my own chicken stock that had spices in it already. I think next time I make stock I need to make some plain for making things besides soup, lol.
Will definitely try again. My only real complain is the sauce was too thin, but that’s minor and easily fixed. 🙂
Now I need to figure out how to make this instant. (I love those “taste of thai” instant peanut noodles for long days at the university.)
Could this be served cold at a potluck or should I make ahead and heat together in a skillet at the host’s house?
Maybe keep it warm in a crockpot?
We make this pretty regularly — and love it! We make one addition I saw in a similar recipe – during the last minute of boiling the noodles, we add snow peas and red peppers. It cooks them just enough so they still have bite, but aren’t raw. Then we drain the noodles and veggies and add to the sauce. Easy-peasy. 🙂
This is so easy and awesome!! The spice and cilantro and lime combo is perfect! LOVE this!
Delish! I like to use crunchy peanut butter for added texture and substituted one tbsp of soy sauce with fish sauce for more Thai flavor.
it is yummy
This is the best effing dish I have made in a very, very long time! Honestly, it is better than most restaurants I go to! Thank you thank you! So excited to get your book on Saturday! 🙂
EVERYONE in my family loves this recipe!!!!! I have to triple this recipe and send some home for grandson. It does freeze well, just add a little chicken broth if it gets too thick when reheating. I slice pork loin very thin and stir fry it with a little chinese 5 spice (about 1/4 tsp) then stir fry pea pods, brocolli, sliced carrots and thin sliced napa cabbage(add this last).with all those veggies, you don’t need alot of noodles and you get a huge bowl for one serving, even veggiephobe son will eat this!!!! P.S. we use a full 2-3 tsp srirachi in each batch.
Is there any decent substitution for the Sriracha sauce? You don’t know picky until you meet my kids, so I’m reluctant to buy a whole jar of the sauce for a recipe I’ll use less than a teaspoon on, and may never use again. Otherwise, I’m totally excited to try this recipe!
For the record, I went ahead and made the dish without the Sriracha sauce. It was SO SO good! I bet it is phenomenal with the sauce!! I did toss in a couple shakes of Tabasco, just for a little heat even though Tabasco is totally unlike Sriracha.
If your kids like spicy flavors, I have no idea how they couldn’t like it! But, if you want to test out the heat factor, I would recommend adding some red pepper flakes!
I absolutely LOVE this recipe from you guys and make it far, far too often! One silly question: do you rinse the noodles after cooking them or not? I never used to for the longest time, but then I read some article somewhere that said since the Japanese udon noodles (that I use) are really starchy, it’s a good idea too. Just wondering what you’d recommend. 🙂 Thanks!
Can I make the sauce ahead of time and warm it up and add noodles a few days later?
Any ideas for being able to make it ahead of time would be appreciated!
Is there something you can substitute for the chicken broth for vegetarians?
yep, just use vegetable broth 🙂
This is one of our family’s standby dishes when I can’t think of something to make. My girl’s might even say that it’s their favorite. I got the recipe from Allrecipes.com, but they didn’t suggest cilantro and lime. We’ll have to try that!
I made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious! I tried different versions in the past, but this was the best! Thank you!
just as an FYI, a quarter of this recipe is 8 Weight Watcher points plus each:) That is without chicken added, however.
Can you give some guidance on the brand of noodle I should shop for? I winged it last night when I tried this recipe (bought something called PHilippine Noodles)…it worked fine but would like to know what exactly to look for. Or does the linguine work just as well? Thanks for any advice on this as I’ll be making it often (it was SO darn good)! -Elaine W. R.
If you like it, go for it! 🙂 I actually really love the linguine (and whole wheat linguine, if you cook it long enough, is actually really great, too). You can also get Japanese Udon noodles or even get some rice noodles. Whatever you like!
This is an awesome recipe–otherwise it would never have survived what I did to it last night. Let’s just say that if you’re substituting dry ground ginger for fresh grated, you NEED to REDUCE IT BY A LOT. Apparently 1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger is equivalent to about 1/8 tsp dry ground ginger.
The amazing thing is my family and I still liked it and plan to try again with a sane amount of ginger this time. 🙂
Yum! I found your site 3days ago and made thses noodles last night. They were a hit! Will definitely make them again…and Im looking forward to the little bit that was left over!
Great Recipe! Don’t spend a fortune at a Thai restaurant, stock up and cook double for Lunch/Dinner if you are busy! Thank you.
I noticed this recipie is tagged a vegetarian meal. Sorry to point out the obvious,but the chicken broth in the recipie upsets your vegetarian lable.
That’s probably why the recipe says chicken broth OR vegetable broth!
WOW! This recipe is awesome! I randomly stumbled across your blog while doing a google search for Thai peanut salad, and I am sooooo happy that I did. I made this last night for my husband for father’s day, and he loved it. The only changes I made where that I used about 1 cup of coconut milk instead of the chicken broth, replced the pasta noodles with rice noodles and I added chicken and bean sprouts, and an instant family favorite was created! I will definatly be following your blog VERY closely from now on!
My husband and I LOVE this recipe! We always have to double the batch so we have enough for lunches the rest of the week. We’ve made it at least once a week for the past 3 weeks. Thank you!
Oh my yumminess…does this ever sound good! Can’t wait to try it! Thanks!!!!