Nutty peanut noodles are so delicious served hot, warm, or cold and happen to be gluten-free, too. Super easy to meal prep!
You know that favorite dish everyone fights over at Chinese restaurants? The peanut sesame noodles? This dish is kind of like that. Except it's made at home, so it's likely got a lot less sugar and a lot more customization going on here. And that dish typically doesn't have much in the way of veggies; it's just nutty noodles all the way. Our version has shredded cabbage and carrots, along with sliced cucumbers and sesame seeds. Rice noodles keep it gluten-free, too!
Nutty Peanut Noodles Ingredients
- 8 oz. rice noodles
- ½ cup creamy natural peanut butter
- ⅓ cup warm water
- 2 tbsp Ellyndale™ Rice Bran Oil
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- ½ tsp chili flakes
- 2 cups shredded cabbage/carrot mix
- 1 cup sliced cucumbers
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
How to Make Nutty Peanut Noodles
First, you cook the rice noodles according to the directions on the package. Drain them, transfer to a large bowl, and set aside. While they're cooking, put together the sauce for this dish. Whisk together peanut butter, rice bran oil, warm water, coconut aminos, rice vinegar, honey, and chili flakes. That's your sauce. If you've never used rice bran oil, it's nutty and sweet at the same time and not something to skip in this recipe. (Trust us, you'll love this Ellyndale Naturals rice bran oil, and find lots of other uses for it).
Then, you combine the cucumbers, cilantro, and the shredded cabbage/carrot mixture in the bowl with the noodles. You don't have to prep this yourself; a cole slaw blend works well and you can typically buy these already shredded and bagged in the produce department. Score for shortcuts! Then, toss everything together, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and you're good to go.
How to Store and Serve Peanut Noodles
We love a dish like this because it's great cold, warm, room temperature, or hot. So, let your taste buds be your guide. But that means you can eat this dish for lunch or dinner (or maybe even breakfast if you're feeling it!). Once it's made it's delicious served hot. But you can certainly portion this out into meal prep containers and seal them up. They'll be good in the fridge for 3 to 5 days, easily. Then, you can either eat it cold from the fridge or decide to reheat it gently in a saucepan with a little bit of oil or water to loosen it all up. (The microwave will work, but it might make the noodles gummy.)
You don't want to freeze this dish. It's just not going to hold up well upon reheating.
Substitutions and Alterations
- This dish will also work with almond or other nut butters.
- Feel free to use regular spaghetti or angel hair if desired. You can even use soba noodles, and those will typically be gluten-free because soba noodles are made of buckwheat.
- Adding some chopped peanuts on top gives it some crunch.
- Toss in some sauteed tofu, shrimp, or chicken into this dish to up the protein.
- You can use tamari (it's gluten-free) if you don't have coconut aminos, or regular soy sauce (although we like low-sodium soy sauce.)
READ MORE PEANUT AND NOODLE RECIPES!
- Pesto Noodles with Crispy Chicken Bites
- Tasty Thai Chili Garlic "Noodles"
- Cold Chicken Soba Noodle Meal Prep
Thank you to NOW Foods for sponsoring this Nutty Peanut Noodles recipe post, and thank YOU for supporting the brands that help make Meal Prep On Fleek possible. All opinions are our own.
Ingredients
- 8 oz. Rice noodles
- ½ cup creamy natural peanut butter
- ⅓ cup warm water
- 2 tablespoon NOW Foods rice bran oil
- 2 tablespoon coconut aminos
- 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes
- 2 cups shredded cabbage/carrot mix
- 1 cup sliced cucumbers
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Cook rice noodles according to package directions. Drain and cool slightly in a large mixing bowl for 3 minutes.
- While noodles cool, in a small bowl whisk together peanut butter, rice bran oil, warm water, coconut aminos, rice vinegar, honey and chili flakes until smooth and creamy.
- Add cabbage, cucumbers and cilantro to mixing bowl with noodles and pour dressing over noodles. Use tongs to mix.
- Divide peanut noodles among 4 MPOF black containers. Top with sesame seeds. Chill for 1 hour. Serve chilled topped with remaining peanut sauce.
