We first tasted peanut butter noodles back when we were living in Shanghai. We instantly fell in love and have always been craving it ever since we moved back to Canada. It’s sweet, salty, spicy, savoury, and rich in texture. And since the noodles are served cold, it’s also so so refreshing. It’s so good, of course we couldn’t resist making our own recipe for it!
Making the sauce: The sauce is made of garlic, chili sauce, sugar, peanut butter, soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, and sesame oil. The peanut butter we used is the Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter since we like a more uniform texture for the sauce. But you can also use the chunky peanut butter if you like peanut bits in your sauce.
Two important ingredients that you might not find as easily in stores are the chili sauce and sweet soy sauce. We used the Indonesian ABC Original Chili Sauce and ABC Kecap Manis. We like the ABC chili sauce since it’s on the sweeter side and not too spicy. The ABC kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) is thick in consistency and adds sweetness and great darker color to the sauce. If you cannot find it in your local stores, you can order online or use another chili sauce of your liking and use regular sugar instead of the sweet sauce. Keep in mind each brand of chili sauce is different, and regular sugar doesn’t have the same sweetness level as sweet soy sauce, so the quantities would have to be adjusted accordingly.
We also added extra chili oil from our favourite Lao Gan Ma Black Bean Chili Sauce for some extra spiciness!
Choosing the noodles: The noodles are just as important as the sauce. We want CHEWY noodles. It’s so important to the texture of the whole dish and chewy noodles go perfectly with the sauce. We used what-based Lanzhou-style noodles that we buy at our local Asian grocery store. You can use any type noodles that you like, as long as they’re what-based and chewy!
We hope you enjoy this simple recipe for our favourite spicy peanut butter noodles! Happy eating!
Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tsp chili sauce
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tsp sweet soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 200 g wheat noodles
- Lao Gan Ma black bean chili sauce oil for topping
- green onions chopped, for topping
Instructions
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In a mortar and pestle, pound together the garlic, chili sauce, and granulated sugar until they form a uniform, relatively smooth saucey paste. Set aside.
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Cook the wheat noodles according to the packaging's instructions. Drain off excess water and run cold water through the noodles.
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Heat 1 tbsp of canola oil on a medium-sized pot on medium high heat and stir-fry the chili sauce mixture for about 1 minute. Add the peanut butter and mix well until melted. Add in the water, low-sodium soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, and sesame oil and combine well until smooth. Once the sauce looks smooth and slightly thicker (it should have a similar texture to a white pasta sauce), remove from heat.
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Before serving, run the noodles through cold water again and drain off excess water. Serve the noodles in shallow bowls and pour the sauce over the noodles. Add Lao Gan Ma black bean chili sauce oil and some green onions for topping.