Spicy peanut noodles are made in minutes in a skillet and packed with tender vegetables and noodles in a perfectly creamy, spicy peanut sauce.
There’s few things better than a takeout favorite made in the comfort of your own home!
For a fraction of the price with about 10x the flavors, mind you. That’s these peanut noodles in a nutshell. (pun intended)
The homemade peanut sauce smothering these addictive spicy noodles is the game changer here. I could easily eat these noodles for breakfast and honestly, don’t tempt me.
And don’t worry, even if you’re not a fan of spice you can easily adjust these noodles to suit your tolerance! Keep reading for all the details.
Cause seriously, you don’t want to miss out on these.
These Spicy Peanut Noodles feature…
- A rich, savory peanut sauce
- A rainbow of veggies including carrots, sweet peppers, and scallions
- Tender udon noodles
- Just a hint of spice from red pepper flakes
- Ready in under an hour and cooks up in (almost) one skillet
Making the Spicy Peanut Noodles
(scroll down to the bottom of post for the full recipe)
Ingredients You Will Need
- Soy sauce
- Creamy peanut butter
- Rice vinegar
- Brown sugar
- Sesame oil
- Sweet pepper
- Scallions
- Carrots
- Red pepper flakes
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Udon noodles
- Roasted peanuts
- Cilantro
Choosing Your Noodles
We love Udon noodles best in this recipe, but any noodles you have on hand will work perfectly fine. A few of our favorite alternatives…
- Whole wheat or white spaghetti noodles
- Chinese egg noodles
- Lo mein noodles
- Soba noodles
Tips for Perfect Peanut Noodles
- Make homemade peanut sauce – this sauce is really the game-changer with these noodles! Don’t be tempted to use a packaged sauce, it’s worth it to make it homemade and so easy.
- Saute vegetables – we use a mixture of matchstick carrots, sweet peppers, and the white parts of scallions. Feel free to use any random veggies you have in the fridge though! Mushrooms, zucchini, or broccoli would all work great.
- Add aromatics – adding the red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger, and green parts of scallions during the end of cooking helps their flavor shine through more.
- Cook noodles – cook according to package instructions until al dente.
- Assemble skillet – add the cooked noodles and peanut sauce to the sauteed veggies and toss everything around together until heated through.
- Top skillet with peanuts and cilantro – it’s a little step, but makes a big difference! The cilantro adds a ton of fresh flavor and the peanuts give a nice little crunch.
How to Adjust Heat Level
It’s very easy to adjust the level of spice in these noodles based on what you prefer!
For spicier noodles, we recommend 1-2 tablespoons of red pepper flakes and tasting as you go.
For milder noodles, start with a pinch of red pepper flakes and adjust with more to taste. You can even skip the red pepper flakes entirely.
Make Ahead and Storing Instructions
You can prep most of the components for these noodles completely ahead of time! Chop the veggies, make the peanut sauce, cook the noodles, and store in the refrigerator up to 4 days. Then assemble everything according to recipe instructions whenever you’re ready!
Once the noodles are assembled, they may be stored in the fridge up to 6 days. Don’t count on them lasting anywhere near that long though!
Noodles may served warm or cold, depending on your preference. If serving warm, microwave 1-2 minutes, stirring at 30 second intervals.
There’s just nothing not to absolutely love about these noodles. They’re packed with gingery peanut flavors, perfectly saucy, and loaded with tender noodles and veggies.
And trust me when I say they are WAY too addictive. Like several bowls in one sitting kinda addicting.
Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.
Watch these noodles made step-by-step on Google web stories!
More noodle dishes to try out next time!
Skillet Spicy Peanut Noodles
This recipe may included paid links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 medium sweet pepper, cut into 1-in strips
- 1 cup matchstick carrots
- 1 small bunch scallions, green part cut into 1-in pieces and white part finely chopped
- 1-2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 3 medium cloves garlic, minced
- 12 oz Udon noodles (or regular wheat or white spaghetti) cooked according to package instructions.
- 1/4 cup finely-chopped roasted peanuts
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk soy sauce, water, peanut butter, rice vinegar, and brown sugar until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sesame oil and swirl to coat bottom. Add sweet pepper, carrots, and white parts of scallions and saute 3-5 minutes until vegetables are tender.
- Add green parts of scallions, red pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic and saute an additional 2 minutes until mixture is fragrant.
- Reduce heat to medium and toss noodles into vegetable mixture. Add peanut-soy sauce and cook an additional few minutes until noodles are heated through and evenly coated in sauce.
- Fold peanuts and cilantro into noodles and season with salt and pepper to taste if needed. Serve noodles warm and enjoy!
Tony says
Great flavor, but is the 1 – 2 TBSP of red chili peppers correct? That seemed like a lot so I did 1.5 TSP instead and it was still quite hot.
Sarah says
Hi Tony – 1-2 tablespoons is the correct amount. These noodles are meant to be on the spicier side. 🙂 As noted in the blog post, you can use less red pepper flakes or skip them entirely.
Cynthia says
It hurts my heart to even have to ask, yet here we are. I used all of the fresh ginger I had. Maybe a cake was involved lol. I have dried ginger….. how much should I use?
Sarah says
No worries at all! I would recommend 1/4 teaspoon of dried ginger for the fresh. 🙂