easiest Thai Peanut Sauce Noodles

These Thai Peanut Noodles are a quick, 20-minute meal that delivers complex, layered flavors. The recipe, however, is surprisingly easy to put together for dinner tonight.

These noodles are full of so much creamy flavor with that creamy peanut sauce that you'll be reaching for this recipe again and again. I use this recipe at least once a month and change up the protein and veggies each time.

Ingredients for Peanut Noodles:

• Sesame seeds.
• Peanuts. Use unsalted to keep the sodium levels down.
• Peanut butter. Natural peanut butter tastes delicious and often has less sugar.
• Noodles (linguine is best). If you need gluten-free, rice noodles work great. My kids make this with ramen noodles quite often, too.
• Sesame or peanut oil
• Soy Sauce. I prefer to use low sodiumsoy sauce to keep my salt to a minimum. And, for those that need gluten-free, use coconut aminos

What can you substitute for peanuts in Pad Thai or Peanut noodles?

Swap out the peanut butter with almond or cashew butter and the peanuts with cashews or almonds. Flax seeds also give a nice crunch to the dish. These noodles will still be delicious even if your peanut allergy requires a recipe swap!

Add-ins to this Peanut Noodle Recipe:

• Chicken breast. Add chopped chicken breast to take this to a complete meal.
• Shrimp
• Bell peppers. Red bell peppers, especially, are super yummy in this dish.
• Mushrooms (one of my personal faves)
• Bean sprouts. Similar to fresh vegetables, bean sprouts add texture and crunch.
• Green Beans. Add the fresh green beans to the spicy peanut sauce for added texture and nutrition.
• Fish sauce. Add a little bit of fish sauce adds depth of flavor in this dish, if you have some on hand.
• Minced garlic. I'll often add garlic in with the sesame seeds and peanuts.
• Broccoli. Throw some broccoli into the pasta water for the last 6 minutes, or so and it will cook up with the pasta.
• Shaved carrots. Again, those can go in at the same time as the sesame seeds & peanuts to cook up.

Or all of the above :).

Should I use creamy or crunchy peanut butter?

Whether you use creamy or chunky peanut butter for this recipe doesn't matter, it's based on your personal preference. If you prefer to have crunchier sauce, go for the crunchy peanut butter! If you want to go all out, you might even consider trying this recipe for homemade peanut butter. Homemade peanut butter in your homemade Asian peanut noodles? I just can't. Too awesome!

What kind of noodles are best?

Though this recipe calls for fettuccine noodles, spaghetti, Thai noodles, or even rice noodles will be equally delicious. It's entirely based on personal preference of your family. Basically, whatever everyone eats is what you make.

How to make spicy peanut noodles?

If you like spicy food, add some chili pepper, red pepper flakes, or red curry paste to the peanut butter sauce. Also, a bit of minced fresh ginger adds a nice kick!

You will love how little time and effort this recipe takes to make and your family will love the warm, comforting flavor of this dish. In fact, you'll need to show your kids how to make this...it's that easy!

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How to make peanut noodles:

• In a large pot, cook pasta according to package instructions but just slightly al dente. Drain, set aside.
• In a pan on medium-high heat toast sesame seeds and peanuts.
• Add sesame oil to the pan.
• Add the soy sauce, and whiskpeanut butter in. Stir.
• When the peanut butter mixture is melted, add in the hot noodles a bit at a time until you get the perfect noodle to sauce ratio! 
• If you find the sauce to thick use a bit of water or chicken broth to thin it out.
• Serve with green onions, fresh cilantro, a squeeze of fresh lime juice or lemon juice, and a dash of sriracha.

Make Ahead/Store:

• You can absolutely make these peaut noodles a couple of days ahead and store them in the fridge until you are ready to reheat them and serve. I would recommend cooking the noodles to al dente if you are planning on storing them for reheating. Add a bit of chicken broth to the noodles when you reheat so they don't dry out and they come to the perfect texture.
• Peanut Sauce freezes well so make up a big batch of the sauce and pop it into the freezer to pull out when you need it.
• Unfortunately, I haven't found that the peanut noodles keep a nice texture after they freeze and thaw so I would recommend you don't freeze the sauce and noodles together.
• Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days in an air-tight container.

You will love how little time and effort this recipe takes to make and your family will love the warm, comforting flavor of this dish. In fact, you'll need to show your kids how to make this...it's that easy!