These super quick and easy vegan peanut noodles are one of our favorite midweek meals! It comes together in under 20 minutes, you can use your favorite veggies and the peanut butter sauce is so amazingly tasty and creamy. 100% dairy-free and plant-based.
These vegan peanut noodles are so amazing! Very simple, huge in flavor, made with lots of pantry ingredients, loaded with fresh veggies and done within 20 minutes. Totally my kind of meal and I bet it is going to be yours too!
All you need to make is the Thai peanut butter sauce, which is so delicious thanks to the creamy peanut butter, garlic, ginger flavor, rice vinegar and soy sauce. We use this sauce all the time for dipping in rice paper spring rolls, drizzling over sweet potato sushi, making vegan satay noodles, dolloping over vegan tofu buddha bowls, and so much more.
And here, the 5-minute peanut sauce is tossed with Asian-style noodles, crunchy veggies and protein-rich edamame.
I hope you enjoy it! 🧡
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❤️ Why you will love this recipe
- Can be all made in under 20 minutes
- Fresh and delicious Thai noodle meal everyone will love
- Perfect for meal-prepping ahead and for making lunches on-the-go
- Highly customizable and can use any veggies that you like
- High-protein and filling meal
- 100% vegan!
🗒 Ingredient list (+ substitutions)
- Noodles: I love using the soba noodles from the brand Lotus Noodles for this recipe. I get them online, they are healthy and delicious.
- Thai peanut butter sauce: done within minutes and so tasty. You will need unsweetened natural peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sweetener, garlic and ginger to make it.
- Edamame: it adds tons of healthy plant-based protein without any prep, you can simply get them shelled and frozen in any grocery store. They thaw within 5 minutes in a bowl of hot water, super easy.
- Raw veggies: I used a combination of carrots, red pepper, cucumber and green onions. I love the color combo and the crunchiness of these veggies.
- Peanuts: work great in this peanut sauce recipe and add a nice crunchy texture to your noodle bowl.
- Cilantro: adds a nice freshness, but feel free to omit or swap for fresh mint or Thai basil if you don't like cilantro.
⭐️ Full ingredient list with quantities down below in the recipe card!
➡️ Best noodles for this recipe
You can really use any kind of noodles you like best for this recipe, although I would definitely recommend using soba noodles.
We love all the noodles from the brand Lotus, which are often the ones that I use. They are made using whole grains only, plus their texture is so great. But, regular spaghetti or linguini would be great here too if you don't have Asian style noodles.
Other ideas include udon, soba, ramen (check for egg-free ramen), rice vermicelli and Pad Thai noodles.
📝 Variations to the recipe
The combination of carrots + red pepper + cucumber works so well for Thai-inspired recipes, but you can really use your preferred veggies or whatever you have in your fridge.
I recommend to include veggies you can eat raw. It will save you a step of cooking them, add more crunchiness and just work better for this kind of noodle dish.
Consider including:
- zucchini noodles (zoodles)
- purple cabbage
- spinach
- crunchy lettuce (such as romaine)
- snap peas
- broccoli
Spicy peanut noodle recipe: add some red pepper flakes or sriracha to your peanut sauce. We usually simply add a drizzle of sriracha over our bowls so our kids can eat it too.
More plant protein ideas: If you don't have edamame, then you can add some roasted tofu or tempeh as well, although they will add more prep steps to your recipe. It would pair well with this simple pan-roasted tempeh!
🍽 How to make vegan peanut noodles
Step 1: Make the peanut butter sauce. You can use a blender or crush the garlic and ginger, then whisk the ingredients in a bowl.
Step 2: Cook the noodles according to the package, then drain well and transfer them to a large mixing bowl.
Step 3: Transfer the frozen edamame to a medium bowl, cover with water and warm up using the microwave for 4-5 minutes, then drain well.
Step 4: To the bowl with the noodles, add the chopped veggies, drained edamame and fresh cilantro.
Step 5: Pour some of the Thai peanut butter sauce over (you might have more than you need).
Step 6: Stir to combine (add a little splash of water if needed) and add more of the sauce if needed. Enjoy!
⭐️ Full recipe down below in the recipe card!
💡 Tips
- Keep the noodles al dente! If they are overcooked, they tend to get mushy in the sauce and they will break easily when stirring them.
- To prevent the noodles from becoming too soft, don't forget to run them under cold water. They will get sticky if they stay in the colander for too long, so I usually just run the noodles under cold water once more just before tossing with the sauce.
- Use pre-chopped veggies to speed up this recipe. I love these bagged sticks of carrots, I used them all the time and they would work well with this meal. I would avoid using frozen+thaw veggies as they would become too soft for this kind of meal.
- You may want to adjust the consistency of the sauce only once you combine the ingredients since the veggies and rinsed noodles will bring extra moisture. If the sauce seems too thick or the noodles tend to clump together after combining everything, then add a splash or two of water until the desired texture.
❗️ Storage and meal-prep tips
These vegan peanut noodles make for great leftovers! Keep them in an airtight container for 3-4 days. The peanut butter tends to harden while cooling down, so you may need to add a little water and stir well before enjoying it so it becomes creamy again. You can eat your leftovers cold or warm them up for a few seconds in the microwave.
You can also meal-prep this recipe ahead of time: the peanut sauce can be made days ahead, such as during the weekend when you have more time, and you can also prep and chop the veggies beforehand.
FAQs
Yes! You will need to use gluten-free noodles, such as these buckwheat soba noodles from the brand Eden. Also, make sure to use gluten-free tamari sauce instead of regular soy sauce when making the peanut sauce.
I don't recommend it. Freezing the noodles will likely make them mushier and the veggies will lose their crunchiness.
I often make a similar recipe using tahini instead for my kid's lunch boxes and it works well! You may need less water for the sauce since tahini is usually thinner than peanut butter.
More Asian noodle recipes you might like
I hope you like these vegan peanut noodles as much as we do! If you try this recipe, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe to let me know how it was. Your feedback is so helpful!
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Peanut Noodles
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Small bowl to thaw the edamame
- Blender (or bowl + whisk if making it manually) to make the peanut sauce
- Sharp knife
- Medium pot
Ingredients
- 8 oz Asian noodles or regular spaghetti - I used brown rice soba noodles
- Thai peanut butter sauce - see notes for recipe, I used about half of the batch
- 1 cup carrots (about 2 carrots) - julienned or shredded
- 1 cup cucumber (about half of a English cucumber) - julienned
- 1 red pepper - finely sliced
- 2-3 green onions - sliced
- 1 cup frozen shelled edamame - thawed
- ½ cup cilantro - chopped, plus more for topping
- ¼ cup peanuts - plus more for topping
Instructions
- Cook the noodles accordingly to packaging.
- While the noodles are cooking, make the peanut butter sauce and chop the veggies. Also thaw the edamame in hot water for about 5 minutes (you can use the microwave), then drain.
- In a large bowl, add the noodles, carrots, cucumber, red pepper, green onion, edamame, peanuts and cilantro. Pour some of the sauce and stir to combine. Add more of the sauce as needed, you may be left with some extra sauce to use for another recipe.
- Divide in serving bowls and top with more cilantro and peanuts. Add sriracha for a spicy noodle bowl. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- You can find my peanut butter sauce by clicking on the link.
- I used the soba noodles from the brand Lotus. Use any kind of noodles you like, especially Asian-style noodles if you have them, but regular spaghetti or linguini work too.
- You might need to add an extra splash of water to the noodles to help mix everything together.
- Store leftovers in an air-tight container for 3-4 days. The noodles are great to eat at room temperature or cold, but you can warm them up for a few seconds using a microwave if you want. I like to add some of the extra peanut sauce over leftovers if the noodles dry out a bit.
- Nutrition: Please note that the nutritional information is an estimate per serving provided for informational purposes only (calculated by software) and accuracy is not guaranteed. Consult with your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if you need precise nutrition calculations for health reasons.
We made this recipe today for lunch since I had everything already to make the peanut sauce. I didn't have peppers so I added purple cabbage instead. It was so good! My husband loved it too, he made his noodles spicy with chili oil. Will do this again!
Oh that's great! I'm glad it worked out! Thanks for sharing 🙂