Oh boy, have I ever told you how much I love Thai food? Yup, I do...and a lot. I spent some time in Thailand about 10 years ago (was it really that long ago?) and just fell head over heels for all the Thai food goodness. One of my all-time favorite dishes is Spicy Peanut Noodles, seriously, so good! A couple years ago I had it in my head to finally figure out how to make this favorite dish o'mine cause eating out every time you crave this dish isn't that great for the budget. I bet I spent a good week straight trying to figure out how to make this dish myself, probably making this dish 10 times trying to get it juuuuust right. I tried everything from sesame oil, fish oil and a whole slew of other asian-type add-ins and finally came upon the perfect ingredients list which, amazingly, contains none of that!? True story.
To me, this dish is absolutely perfect. It tastes just like how I remember it from when I visited Thailand. The best part is that the ingredients list is fairly simple and you probably have most of it in your pantry right now. The second best part about this dish is that you can make it in the time it takes you to boil water and make noodles, be it spaghetti or udon. I love quick and easy meals...but you already knew that ;-) And it also makes a great leftover aseating cold Spicy Peanut Noodles is just about as awesome as it gets!
Spicy Peanut Noodles
3 tbsp peanut butter
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp honey
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp hot sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
8 oz noodles (spaghetti, udon, etc)
Veggie toppings such as julienne carrots, red peppers, cabbage
Crushed peanuts
Fill a medium saucepan with water for the noodles and add noodles once water is rapidly boiling. Follow package directions as to how long to cook noodles. In a small saucepan over medium heat, mix together the peanut butter, soy sauce honey, garlic, ginger, hot sauce, and chicken broth until peanut butter is melted and all ingredients are combined well. Drain noodles and place them in a medium sized bowl. Add in spicy peanut sauce and mix well. Plate out noodles and add your vegetable toppings of choice and crushed peanuts. Enjoy!
Mmm, here is all you need to make this fabulous dish! So simple and so good.
This dish is usually one of my go-to quick family meals when I forget to to menu plan (even my kids love it!) so I normally use some type of spaghetti noodle instead of the more traditional Udon noodle as my pantry is always stocked with spaghetti noodles. They all taste great as the sauce is what gives this dish life. Try using whatever you have on hand!
Go ahead and cook up your noodles based on the package directions first.
Then while the water is boiling, in a small saucepan add in the honey, peanut butter and soy sauce. If you want to skip a step and don't want to add crushed peanuts at the end, you can just use crunchy peanut butter instead...an easy peasy substitution!
Next add in the ground ginger, minced garlic, and hot sauce. If you aren't much of a hot sauce lover, you can go light on this ingredient. I personally like a little kick in this dish so I use the full 2 teaspoons but you could always halve it as well!
Add in 1/2 cup of chicken broth and mix everything well. Cook over medium heat until that peanut butter is melted and all the ingredients are well incorporated.
Your spicy noodle sauce should look a-somethin' like this when it is done.
Drain your noodles and place in a medium-sized bowl, then add in your sauce. It might seem as if the sauce is runny but just wait a few minutes and it will magically thicken up as the sauce cools down. It will be even thicker if you choose to eat this dish cold...YUM!
I like to add some carrots, cabbage or whatever veggies I have on hand at the very end (as well as a sprinkling of crushed peanuts!) when I serve this dish but you can always add it all in with the sauce and mix it up in that step too.
Perfection! The best and easiest Spicy Peanut Noodles ever!
Enjoy my friends!
XOXO,
Labels: Dinner, Lunch, Recipes
