4 Minute Spicy Peanut Noodles with Chili Oil & Fried Garlic | Indulgent Eats - Dining, Recipes & Travel (2024)

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It’s peanut butter NOODLE TIME! I love making these spicy peanut noodles with chili oil & fried garlic because they’re utterly delicious and SO easy to whip up using pantry ingredients (and yes, I’m here to convince you to make all of these ingredients standbys in your pantry if they aren’t already!). Using only 7 ingredients (or less!) and ready in just 4 minutes, these sweet, nutty & spicy noodles are perfect for a weeknight dinner, late night snack, and everything in between. I’ve made them at least 10 times since the first time I posted this recipe, hence why you’ll see different bowls in my photos!

If you’re a fan of Chinese food and dumplings, the flavor profile on these noodles should feel familiar but in no way are these meant to be an authentic dish. I’ve simply taken some of my favorite ingredients and combined them into something I find incredibly addicting that balances sweetness, umami, acid, and heat with chewy noodles.And don’t fret, I’ve linked to all of the ingredients on Amazon for easy shopping below – since I’m an Amazon Associate, I’ll earn a small commission from qualifying purchases which goes toward supporting my blog🙏🏼

For the chili oil, you have a number of options and what you use is really up to personal preference and your ability to source ingredients. You could make your own homemade chili oil which allows you to fully control the flavor but requires more work, though you could always make a giant batch and keep it stored in your pantry for later use. If you’re lazy like me, then there are plenty of jars of chili oil in the market.

Best Chili Oil Brands for Spicy Peanut Noodles:

• Fly by Jing, which is my fave Sichuan chili crisp oil with subtle numbing quality from Sichuan peppercorns (get 15% off your order with my code INDULGENTEATS15!)
• Lao Gan Ma, a chili crisp oil with garlic and peanuts that compliments the other ingredients in this dish
• Lee Kum Kee’s chiu chow chili oilfor extra garlicky and slightly salty flavor from its use of soy sauce
• Lee Kum Kee’s black bean chili oil (find it at an Asian supermarket or try the Lao Gan Ma version) for extra saltiness and umami from fermented black soybeans – if you use either of the Lee Kum Kee chili oils, just make sure to use less soy sauce to start since these are already salty

And yes, I keep all 4 of these stocked in my pantry at all times because I love chili oil that much 😅

You can also use whatever peanut butter you’d like, from JIF and Skippy to a gourmet all-natural peanut butter like Justin’s. If you’re using an unsweetened peanut butter, then you may want to add a bit of honey into the sauce if you like sweet and salty flavor profiles like I do.

The other pantry ingredients for this are:

• Chinkiang vinegar, the black vinegar that’s often served with dumplings (especially xiao long bao). This will balance the flavors in your spicy peanut noodles by adding deep unctuous flavor and subtle acidity
• Sesame oil to add extra nuttiness and help with making the noodles less sticky from the peanut butter
• Fried garlic, which is a miracle ingredient that you can buy in a jar and sprinkle on anything to add crunch and umami
• Taiwanese knife cut noodles, which are instant noodles made from wheat that cook in boiling water in a mere 3 minutes. They have gorgeous squiggly edges and a chewy texture, like an Asian version of mafaldine. You should be able to find these along with most of the ingredients at an Asian supermarket, though there a couple of online options like Tseng Noodles and A-SHA Noodles, though you can easily sub in ramen noodles, spaghetti, udon, or whatever noodles you have on hand
• Soy sauce to add a bit more salt and umami to the dish – just start with a low amount since different chili oils can already have some sodium to flavor the noodles

Scallions add a spark of mild onion flavor and freshness to the dish, though you could easily skip them if you don’t have scallions ready (though this is the perfect way to use your windowsill scallions!). If you end up buying either the Tseng Noodles or A-SHA Noodles from Amazon, you can actually just use the seasoning packets, which makes these noodles even easier to pull together – just follow the notes included in the recipe below to adjust the rest of the sauces accordingly.

If you want to add some protein to these, you can easily sauté some seasoned ground pork, shrimp, chicken, or tofu and just add it with the noodles before you combine everything. Or boil some dumplings in the same water as the noodles, and toss those in with some extra vinegar on the side – the spicy peanut sauce also goes great with those tiny pockets of deliciousness!