Brand new saucy noodles that pack in the protein and colorful veggies. This is what weeknight dinner dreams are made of.
These ginger chicken peanut noodles have a spicy, flavorful peanut sauce that coats every noodle, and the entire dish is ready in just 30 minutes. I’m a firm believer that sometimes the simplest meals end up being the most satisfying, and these noodles are the perfect example. It’s one you’ll make once, and then find yourself making weekly when you need something quick and nourishing.
Check out the full post for TONS of ways to customize this dish, and add it to your dinner menu ASAP!
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Ingredients in these chicken peanut noodles
This will be your new back-pocket dinner recipe because the ingredients are so simple, and the result is high-protein, saucy noodle goodness. Here’s what you’ll need:
- For the sauce: we’re making a sweet, spicy & savory sauce with creamy natural peanut butter, low-sodium soy sauce, rice vinegar, a little brown sugar (or coconut sugar), fresh ginger, and sriracha.
- Veggie & produce: add the perfect boost of freshness with scallions, red bell pepper, spinach, and fresh garlic.
- Chicken: we’re using lean ground chicken, and you’ll get 38g of protein!
- Seasonings: you’ll cook the chicken and veggies in more soy sauce, plus a little salt and pepper to add flavor.
- Noodles: feel free to use linguine, fettuccine, or lo mein noodles. See below for even more ways to customize!
- To garnish: I like topping these noodles with the reserved green part of the scallions and chopped roasted peanuts.
Make these noodles your own
Just like any weeknight stir fry, these ginger chicken noodles are easy to customize to your taste preference and what you have on hand.
- Choose your noodles. Feel free to use your favorite gluten-free long noodles to keep the dish gluten-free. Please note that I do NOT recommend using rice noodles, as the sauce needs starch from the pasta water to get the right consistency. Otherwise, long noodles like spaghetti, ramen, soba noodles, or refrigerated udon noodles would work well.
- Swap your vegetables. Swap or add green beans, chopped broccoli, snow peas, or matchstick carrots.
- Pick your spice. If you love extra heat, add more sriracha to the sauce! Feeding kiddos or sensitive to spice? Reduce or omit the hot sauce. You can also use chili paste or gochujang in the sauce if you don’t have sriracha.
Try a new protein
These noodles are also great for adding your favorite meat or plant-based proteins! Here’s what I can suggest:
- Ground beef or ground turkey: cook these just like you would the ground chicken.
- Tofu: for a vegetarian option, press a tofu block and crumble it into your skillet with the veggies, then cook just like the ground chicken.
- Chickpeas: another great vegan or vegetarian option. Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas, then stir them in when you would add the chicken.
Your bowl of peanut chicken noodles would also be delicious with a fried egg on top!
Saucy chicken peanut noodles in 4 steps
- Make the sauce & boil water. Start by mixing your sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl. You’ll also want to bring a large pot of water to a boil for the noodles.
- Cook the veggies & chicken. Heat some avocado oil in a large skillet or braiser, then add your veggies (except the spinach). Add a little more oil, then add the chicken, salt, and pepper. Break up the chicken and cook it fully, reduce the heat, then add the soy sauce and spinach.
- Cook the noodles. Add the noodles to your large pot and cook according to the directions on the package. Reserve some pasta water and add it to your sauce to make it creamy.
- Toss & serve. Drain the noodles and add them to the skillet with the chicken. Pour in the sauce and toss until everything is coated, then garnish with scallions and chopped peanut if you’d like!
Storing & reheating tips
Store any leftover ginger chicken noodles in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days. Simple reheat in a microwave-safe bowl until hot.
Tool you’ll need
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More 30-minute meals you’ll love
- 30-Minute Sesame Chicken Green Bean Stir Fry
- 30-Minute Vegan Stir Fry Sesame Noodles with Chickpeas & Basil
- Smashed Buffalo Chicken Tacos with Herby Ranch Slaw
- Sweet and Spicy Gochujang Chicken Bowls
- Spiced Mediterranean Chicken Bowls
Get all of my 30-minute meals here!
I hope you love these ginger peanut chicken noodles. If you make them, be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you like them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
30-Minute Chicken Peanut Noodles
Ingredients
- Sauce
- ¼ cup creamy natural peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 to 2 tablespoons sriracha, depending how spicy you like your noodles
- Reserved pasta water
- Veggies and chicken
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil, divided
- 1 bunch scallions, sliced and white and green parts divided
- 1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound lean ground chicken
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 to 3 cups spinach, finely chopped
- Pasta
- 10 to 12 ounces linguine, fettuccine or lo mein noodles
- Garnish
- Chopped roasted peanuts
- Reserved scallions
Instructions
- Prepare the sauce: In a medium bowl, add the peanut butter, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, grated ginger and 1 tablespoon of sriracha. Set aside. (You’ll whisk it later with reserved pasta water.)
- Boil the water: Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Cook the veggies and chicken: While the water boils, add 1 tablespoon of oil to a deep large skillet or 3 ½-quart braiser and place over medium-high heat. Add in the white part of the diced scallions, bell pepper and garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, until veggies are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add in another tablespoon of oil, then add the chicken to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Break the meat apart with a wooden spoon and cook, stirring occasionally until the chicken is fully cooked and no longer pink, 5 to 7 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low then stir in ¼ cup of soy sauce and spinach. Stir well to combine and allow the flavors to meld together and spinach to wilt while the pasta cooks, stir occasionally as needed.
- Cook the pasta: Once water boils, cook the pasta according to the directions on the package until al dente. Reserve ¾ cup of pasta water and add to the bowl with the sauce ingredients. Whisk to combine, then taste and add more sriracha, if desired, to make noodles more spicy.
- Drain the pasta and add the cooked noodles to the skillet with chicken and reduce heat to low. Pour in the sauce and use tongs until the noodles are well-coated.
- Garnish and serve: Top with remaining scallions and a tablespoon or two of chopped peanuts.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
Can’t wait to try this, but will need gluten free pasta! Will a chickpea pasta work or should I use regular gluten free spaghetti?
This is my new favorite dish! I’ve made it twice. The first time I followed the directions to saute the garlic with the red bell peppers and green onions. But I didn’t like how burnt the garlic got. So the second time I made it (tonight!) I added the garlic later and only sauteed it for 1 to 2 minutes. Other than that, this recipe is easy and the flavors are delightful! Served with a Pinot grigio.
Got the email that this was one of the most popular recipes so decided to give it a try tonight! So quick and easy to make! I love a good Asian style recipe with peanut butter and a little spice and this one was super flavorful with really just a few, simple, and whole ingredients! Made a lot too which will be great for leftovers! Plus, when my husband says “keep this one around” then I know it really good! Will definitley become a new regular recipe!
So easy and delicious! Glad it was a hit!
Soooooo good 😊 I reduced the soy sauce by two tablespoons and didn’t add the salt to the turkey since my husband has to watch his sodium intake. It was still very tasty. Another winner! Thanks, Monique
Perfect! So glad it was a hit!
Ahhh! This was incredibly easy to make and even better to eat. Will def be part of our summer rotation. I will say – I was multi-tasking and creating a bbq rub for tomorrow morning’s crock pot starter & i accidentally tossed in a tsp of chili powder to the sauce ingredients. But I am not sorry I did! It worked! 😅 Thank you for this gem!
These noodles are super forgiving! So glad you enjoyed!
This was a hit with the whole family including my four year old! Thank you so much! He asked if we could have it as leftovers the next day and excitedly ate it the second time too. This never happens. I doubled the sauce and froze half before adding noodles.
So happy to hear that!!
What a perfect weeknight meal! It came together quickly and easily, and pleased even the pickiest eaters in my house! I used lo mein noodles, ground turkey instead of chicken, and added in some broccoli. Next time i would double the meat, but still a 10/10. Definitely adding to my weekly menu! <3
Amazing! Glad you enjoyed!
This is quick, easy, and doesn’t require a ton of chopping, ingredients, or dishes. Love recipes like this! I added a bit of chopped broccoli and topped with all the things and cilantro. Will be a regular!
Absolutely! Great for customizing 🙂
Make this! So delicious – no notes.
So happy to hear that!
This dish is absolutely delicious! My husband and I both loved it. I added brocolli. Can’t wait to have leftovers for lunch today. Monique and her recipes never disappoint.
So happy to hear that! Perfect dinner 🙂
Just made these for the second time in a week and both times they were a hit! The first time it took me 50 minutes as I was just learning the recipe, so I tried again (without hurrying) and made it in 35 minutes. I appreciate the recs on substitutions, I used ground turkey instead of chicken and used gluten-free fettuccine noodles to make it gluten free. It makes 4 generous servings, and is a satisfying meal with an excellent nutritional profile. Delicious!
Perfect! This one’s great for customizing, and definitely gets faster the more often you cook it 🙂 Glad you enjoyed!
I finally made this for dinner tonight and oh my goodness this is a keeper. The peanut ginger sauce is EVERYTHING- I used two tablespoons of sriracha and it was not aggressively spicy, rather it’s a complement to the peanut butter. The pasta water made it perfectly creamy and luscious. Between the sauce, minimal slicing and dicing and the cooking of the chicken and veggies taking only 10 minutes, this is a stupid easy recipe perfect for those days where I want to cook something that doesn’t take too much time and effort but is also super comforting and healthy with lots of flavor. This will definitely be part of the rotation!
YES so easy and delicious! One of my new fav weeknight meals 🙂 Glad you loved it!
Loved loved this recipe!!
Leftovers great too!
So happy to hear that!
This is soooo good! Will be repeating this for sure. Came together quickly and the whole family loved it. I used linguine noodles and thought the shape was perfect for it. Such great flavor!
Love that! Such a delicious, quick meal 🙂
I’m taken aback by the review that says this was *bland.* I’m pretty sure I had a cartoon-style moment where stars and hearts and rainbows lit up my world after the first bite. Like I’ve said in another review, my range of cooking was previously limited, so I’ve honestly never had a dish like this. I swapped in kale, olive oil, and gochujang for the spinach, avocado oil, and sriracha because that’s what I had on hand. I thought it was wonderful, and based on other reviews, now I’m excited to try the noodles cold!
Your flavorful, easy, and satisfying recipes are going to have all my local takeout places wondering where I went 😀
So glad you loved this one! It’s been one of my go-to’s for the last couple of months 🙂
Loved this recipe! Big tick from my two young kids which is rare. Sauce is the perfect flavour and consistency, which can be hard with peanut based sauces! Definitely will stay in our rotation.
Amazing! Happy this was a hit!
I made this tonight. Very good and easy. I used the fresh ramen noodles (just boiled for about 3 minutes). Will make again.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
Made this for dinner last night and it was great – sometimes peanut sauce can be cloying but this was thin and coated everything perfectly. Next time may cut back on the amount of pasta a bit (we used 10 oz lo mein noodles) to make a bit less food overall and up the protein per serving. DH and I didn’t find it very spicy so we added roasted red pepper flakes to our taste, but that’s personal preference. The real star though is how good this is cold leftover for lunch.
Perfect! YES, love these noodles cold, too 🙂
Very tasty indeed, I will definitely make it again .. thank you for the recipe!!
So glad you enjoyed!
These were very good! The ground chicken saved time. It made a *lot* though – especially because my package of rice noodles for the “pasta” was 16 oz. We had lots of leftovers.
I’m glad you enjoyed! Great to enjoy for a couple of weeknight dinners 🙂
I would say this was really average. It kind of turned out like some bland slop. I will say that I did use rice noodles so maybe that was the problem. I wouldn’t make again.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy this! Were your rice noodles overcooked? I’m not sure how it turned out bland with all of the components of the sauce.
These noodles were easy to make and delicious. We loved them and I will definitely make them regularly.
So happy to hear that!
This was a pretty simple and yummy dish. Maybe took a little longer than 30 minutes, closer to 45 but I also wasn’t in a rush. Even my teenager said he thought it was good which is a big compliment. Used a bag of spinach didn’t measure it. would maybe add an additional pepper to increase the veggies. used ground turkey as that is what I had in my freezer. Definitely will be in the rotation for a weeknight dinner.
Amazing! This one’s great for customizing 🙂