Scrumptious Peanut Butter Noodles

Easy, versatile, and tasty AF, you’re going to want to make these Scrumptious Peanut Butter Noodles for dinner every night!  

The Easiest Peanut Butter Noodles

Who knew that it would take a pandemic to get me to start daily recipe development? Cooking is the way I relieve my stress, actually – and everyone, from my family to you all, benefit. So, here we have my peanut butter noodles.

These are super easy and fast (like most of the recipes I post). They take two of my kids’ favorite foods: peanut butter and pasta – and turn them into a magical dish that’s a vehicle for whatever vegetables and proteins you might have in your fridge or freezer. There’s no real ‘must-haves’ to make this peanut butter recipe, except for peanut butter (duh) and soy sauce. Sesame oil is a ‘probably should have,’ and so is ginger. But otherwise? You’re free to improvise the hell out of this dish.

Who knew that it would take a pandemic to get me to start daily recipe development? Cooking is the way I relieve my stress, actually – and everyone, from my family to you all, benefit. So, here we have my peanut butter noodles.

These are super easy and fast (like most of the recipes I post). They take two of my kids’ favorite foods: peanut butter and pasta – and turn them into a magical dish that’s a vehicle for whatever vegetables and proteins you might have in your fridge or freezer. There’s no real ‘must-haves’ to make this peanut butter recipe, except for peanut butter (duh) and soy sauce. Sesame oil is a ‘probably should have,’ and so is ginger. But otherwise? You’re free to improvise the hell out of this dish. Making it perfect for when your fridge and pantry is running low on goods.

As you can see, I actually make peanut butter noodles with normal pasta, which pretty much everyone has in the house. You can use any sort of Asian noodles too, like rice or soba, but to be honest, I hate working with rice noodles. They stick together and I just can’t get them right. You can also use ramen noodles out of the packet, just throw the seasoning away.

Getting Kids into the Kitchen

This is another great recipe to get the kids to help you with. Put them to work chopping vegetables or mixing the sauce up…it’s tough to mess this dish up, and it’s not super-messy in the kitchen, either. It comes together quickly, so make sure you have everything prepped and ready to go before you begin.

My Go-To Stir Fry Noodle Formula

You’ll notice that I add the sauce to the vegetable/tofu mixture before putting the noodles in. This is my standard procedure when I make anything like stir fries, etc.

1. Aromatics first
2. Then protein
3. Then spices
4. Then vegetables
5. Then sauce
6. Then starch

This order ensures that the protein is cooked (especially when you’re using animal protein), the spices are evenly distributed, and the noodles are evenly coated with all of the goodness.

You can’t just drop peanut sauce or stir-fry sauce onto noodles and hope for the best. It clumps.

What You’ll Need To Make This

• Noodles: you can use any type of noodles like pasta noodles or ramen noodles, etc
• Protein of your choice: such as tofu cubes, chicken, chickpeas
• Neutral oil
• Garlic
• Scallions
• Vegetables

For the Peanut Sauce

• Peanut butter: chunky or smooth
• Light soy sauce
• Sesame oil
• Fresh ginger
• Maple Syrup

 

How To Make My Scrumptious Peanut Butter Noodles

• Cook the noodles according to package instructions.
• While noodles are cooking, make the sauce by combining all sauce ingredients, whisking well to combine. Set aside. 
• Add oil to a fry pan and heat on medium. Add garlic and cook until lightly browned.
• Add protein and stir fry on medium-high until slightly browned.
• Add vegetables and scallion and cook for another 2-3 minutes or until slightly tender.
• Add sauce to pan, tossing everything to coat.
• Add noodles to pan, again tossing everything to coat.
• Garnish with sesame seeds and extra scallions.

Tips on Making These Peanut Butter Noodles

• If your pasta has to sit a while before you add it to the veggies, drop a bit of sesame oil into it to ensure that the noodles don’t stick together.
• If you like your noodles really saucy, I recommend cutting down the amount of pasta in the recipe from 8oz to 6oz.
• You can use those pre-chopped frozen vegetable medleys to make this dish even faster (such as those corn, peas, green beans mix).
• Use what you have in your fridge – seriously – this recipe goes well with everything. Half an onion? Yep! A lonely carrot? Great! 3 leftover button mushrooms? Throw them in! 
• Don’t have fresh ginger? Try powdered ginger.
• Don’t worry if the sauce looks thick: it will melt when it’s added to the hot pan.

Fridge running low? Here are my tips on saving money on your next grocery run.

 

Here’s the recipe! PEANUT BUTTER NOODLES FOR EVERYONE!!!