Peanut Noodles: A 5-minute, yummy comfort meal

Weekday lunches can be overwhelming, especially in the work-from-home era. Juggling chores and work commitments can make it tough to stick to meal prep routines, leading to unexpected cravings and less time for focused work. But what if you could satisfy those cravings, meet your deadlines, and make a fun meal for yourself? Yes, this exists and it is this ingulgent, comforting peanut noodles.

Sometimes, you don’t need to think about protein or macros – all you need is a comforting, warm bowl of food that doesn’t take much time.

These chilli peanut noodles are the ultimate comfort food – a warm bowl of umami goodness that hardly takes 5 minutes from planning to plating. And to add a cherry on top, they’re a healthier alternative to that bowl of instant ramen you might have otherwise eaten. Packed with protein and healthy fats from peanuts and sesame, it’s a nourishing and satisfying dish.

Now, I’ll pause here and say that this is a very versatile recipe. You can add plenty of veggies (grated carrots, peas, or shredded cabbage), protein options (crunchy tofu, minced tofu, or fried paneer), or garnish with chilli oil, sesame seeds, peanuts, spring onions, and fried onions. But for now, let’s keep it simple with the base recipe.

What you need for the peanut noodles

(serves 1)

🔸 2.5 tbsp peanut butter
🔸 2 tbsp light soy sauce (low sodium versions are better)
🔸 2 tbsp rice vinegar
🔸 2 tbsp Chinese sesame chili oil (or 2 tbsp sesame oil and 1 tsp chili flakes)
🔸 1 serving noodles of your choice
🔸 1-2 tsp spring onion greens, to garnish (optional)
🔸 Salt, to taste (if needed)

5-minute Peanut Noodles Recipe

For the peanut-based sauce

• Take a mixing bowl. Add peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar and mix well.
• Heat the sesame oil in a pan, add chilli flakes to the oil. Alternatively, you can also use Asian Chili Oil. I love this Lee Kum Kee Chili Oil. Once hot, pour it on the sauce and mix well.

Cook the noodles

• Boil water in a pan. Once it boils, add some salt and the noodles. I love using udon noodles for this recipe. These chewy rice noodles complement the savoury and umami peanut sauce perfectly. Moreover, they are healthier than their wheat counterparts and naturally gluten-free.
• Cook the noodles for 5-10 mins in boiling water. Follow the time instructions mentioned on the packet.
• Once cooked, reserve some of the noodle water and drain the rest. This will help emulsify the sauce.

Bring it all together

• Mix the cooked noodles with the sauce, adding a bit of reserved noodle water to adjust the consistency to your liking.
• Garnish with spring onion greens and enjoy.

Modifications to the peanut noodles

One of the best additions to this noodles, is some added protein. You can top the noodles with a crunchy and crisp crumbled tofu. This adds both texture and protein to the noodles. The best part is that you can prep this in advance.

If you do not have anything prepared and do not have any time at all, you can pan fry some cubed tofu in chili oil and add it to the noodles.

Another addition can be some pan-fried or grated vegetables. I love adding shredded cabbage, carrots and some boiled pak choi. You can also add some mung bean sprouts to the noodles. I love using the food processor mode in my Ninja 3-in-1 blender cum processor to chop large quantities of veggies in bulk.

If you loved these peanut noodles and are looking for other quick noodle/pasta-based weekday lunch recipes, check out this 10-minute Aglio e olio pasta recipe.

Let me know how and when you enjoyed these peanut noodles in the comments below!