Here it is! Here it is! The recipe that I’ve had on my mind for as long as I’ve been breathing — quick garlic noodles! A noodle dish with chewy noodles sauteed in a knob of butter with fresh minced garlic, and tons of fresh green onions. We’ve got oyster sauce and a generous splash of fish sauce too. Okay, I know; the internet is full of garlic noodles. But believe me, this one is different. It has a couple of unusual ingredients. Not usual like I’m sending you on a wild goose chase for a hard-to-find ingredient you’ve never heard of. Unusual in the sense that you don’t typically see it paired often with oyster sauce and fish sauce. But you know what; I’ll never make garlic noodles without them now. Not that I needed any more reassurances, but when I walk into the kitchen to find hubby licking the tongs clean as he goes slightly wide-eyed from being caught in the act, I’m pretty sure I’ve made the garlickiest garlic noodles around town. And after having some of the best garlic noodles on Maui, in San Francisco, and pretty much anywhere else I can find them on the menu, I’m proud to say this is one crazy good batch of garlic noodles. And what makes these even better? They take in the ballpark of 15 minutes to make and use mostly pantry and refrigerator staple ingredients. You can use ramen noodles, spaghetti, or chuka soba noodles like I’m using. Top with sauteed shrimp, crab, lobster, and crispy tofu with a squeeze of sriracha if you please.
Quick Garlic Noodles Video:
Ingredients for homemade garlic noodles recipe:
The ingredient list on my quick garlic noodles is short. Ten simple ingredients.
Butter and Oil: You’ll want a combination of the two. The oil helps raise the temperature of the butter so that it doesn’t burn.Fresh Garlic: we’ll saute the garlic in the butter so that the flavor infuses throughout this noodle recipe.Scallions: We’ll saute these with the garlic to infuse the butter and you can certainly add more on top as a garnish if you’d like.Fish Sauce: adds a ton of umami flavor to the noodles as well as salt. If you follow a vegan diet, I suggest making vegan fish sauce using the various recipes on the internet. If all else fails, you can add a splash of soy sauce instead.Oyster sauce: adds a salty element to the noodles. For my vegan friends, you can use oyster mushroom sauce instead. Granulated sugar: adds sweetness and helps balances the salty elements of the dish. Feel free to use brown sugar if you’d like.Parmesan Cheese: Your eyes don’t deceive you! I did indeed right parmesan! So this ingredient works beautifully with the oyster sauce and the fish sauce to give this dish an umami flavor bomb! If you’re vegan you can use a vegan parm alternative, although I do expect that the flavor will be somewhat different.Prepared noodles: You’ll want to use 8 ounces of dried noodles for this recipe and prepare them according to package instructions in a saucepan. For the noodles, I used Chuka soba noodles that my local grocery store carries. You can use just about any kind you like! Egg noodles, Hong Kong-style noodles, or even spaghetti or angel hair pasta will do. This is a fusion recipe; there’s no wrong answer here!Fried Garlic: It can be a tricky ingredient to find in a regular grocery store, so you can certainly omit it from the recipe or make your own! But know that the fried garlic bits on top are what truly make this recipe irresistible. If you’ve got easy access to an Asian supermarket, you can find this easily! Just know that a lot of the brands fry their garlic in palm oil. If you also feel strongly about avoiding palm oil, I suggest checking the ingredient list before you buy. I was lucky enough to find a brand that didn’t, locally. But here’s a brand that fries them in soybean oil in case you’re interested.
How to make the best garlic noodles on the planet:
What’s to love about this recipe:
They take about 15 minutes, give or take.You’ve probably got almost all the ingredients in your pantry or refrigerator.You can serve this with just any kind of protein! Hubby made a spicy Thai Chicken last week, and we swapped the quinoa for garlic noodles. But really, we’ve had this with Miso Ginger Salmon too, and you just can’t go wrong here. I love Hawaiian Shrimp Scampi with this too!You can skip the protein and go the vegetable route. Sauteed broccolini or seared bok choy in sesame oil chefs kissPerfect for when you’re a single lady (or dude) like I am on some weeknights, and all you want is a bowl of comfort food and you want it FAST.
Quick garlic noodles serve four but if you ask my husband, he’ll tell you there’s just enough for one. Honestly, plan on making more than you think you’ll need. It’s so dang hard to stop yourself from eating the whole pan!
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
Cantonese-Style Pan-Fried NoodlesSesame Ginger Tofu and Veggie Stir FryGochujang NoodlesSesame Peanut Noodles with ChickenHibachi Fried Rice
Original recipe shared Feb 2018, updated with new images, and post Oct 2022. SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave
Please note: after a few responses from readers, I’ve adjusted the amount of fish sauce + oyster sauce to read ‘1-2 tablespoons.’ I use 2 of each and didn’t find it had a fishy flavor but a few people mentioned that it was a bit pungent for their taste. I suggest starting with 1 tablespoon of each and adjusting as desired!You can use a lot of different kinds of noodles here. I used Chuka soba noodles, but egg noodles, Hong Kong noodles, spaghetti, or even angel hair pasta will work here.You can serve this with just about anything you like!This recipe can easily be doubled if you want leftovers, and really with all that garlic, who wouldn’t?
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