This dish was inspired by a noodle recipe I saw on Bon Appétit, and I just HAD to try it out, except you know, with my own few twists here and there. It reminds me of traditional drunken noodles with a rich, meaty sauce. The noodles simply drip and bathe in a fabulous sweet and spicy tomato chili sauce that’s incredibly easy to make and addictive.
Tony and I slurped up these hot chili chicken noodles and couldn’t get enough. Top them with roasted cashews or peanuts and plenty of fresh basil to bring it all together.
The perfect date night in meal that seems a little fancy, but truthfully takes no time at all to whip up!
What you’ll need to make hot chili chicken noodles
Okay, the flavors in these spicy chicken ramen noodles are out of this world! I lightened this dish up a bit by using less oil and sugar, but the result is equally as savory and delicious. Here’s everything you’ll need to make it:
- Chicken: you’ll need some ground chicken or turkey to cook and add flavor to the sauce, and you’ll cook it in toasted sesame oil.
- Herbs & spices: we’re also using freshly grated ginger, garlic, and fresh basil for the perfect flavor boosts.
- For the sauce: the rest of the sauce is made with a bit of coconut sugar, tomato paste, hot chili paste, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and water.
- Noodles: I love using ramen or rice noodles in this recipe! See below for more swaps and ways to make this dish gluten free.
- To serve: top your bowls with more fresh basil, chopped roasted cashews or honey roasted peanuts, and some extra red pepper flakes if you like more heat. Feel free to omit the nuts to keep this dish nut-free.
Can I make this vegetarian?
Yes! Feel free to use crumbled tofu, cubed tofu, or a can of rinsed, drained chickpeas in place of the ground chicken in this recipe. We think crumbled tofu will work best!
Customize these healthy chili chicken noodles
These spicy chicken noodles are super easy to customize with ingredients you have on hand. Here’s what I can suggest:
- Add a boost of veggies: feel free to add already cooked broccoli, green beans, snow peas, bell pepper, mushrooms, or matchstick carrots to the dish when you stir in the noodles. YUM.
- Swap your spice. If you don’t have any hot chili paste, you can use a hot sauce like sriracha instead, but I do recommend hot chili paste for the best flavor.
More noodle options
You can also customize this dish by using your favorite noodles! Rice noodles will keep the dish gluten-free, but you can also use:
- Ramen noodles for a light, bouncy, chewy texture
- Spaghetti or fettuccine noodles for ease (regular or gluten-free)
- Soba noodles will add a slightly nutty, earthy flavor
- Udon noodles for a thicker, extra chewy texture (I recommend buying the refrigerated kind)
Can I make these noodles less spicy?
While these noodles are meant to be a delicious blend of sweet and spicy, feel free to reduce the hot chili paste and replace it with more tomato paste instead if you’re sensitive to spice. Add some red pepper flakes to taste at the end if you end up wanting more of a kick!
How to make sweet & spicy chicken noodles
While these chili chicken noodles look nice and fancy, they’re incredibly easy and quick to make right at home.
- Brown the chicken. You’ll start by breaking up your ground chicken in a pot or skillet with sesame oil until it’s nice and golden.
- Season the chicken. Add your ginger, garlic, and coconut sugar to the chicken, break it up, and fully cook it.
- Make the sauce. In the same pot, you’ll stir in the rest of the ingredients (besides the noodles), bring everything to a simmer, and then reduce the heat and cook it uncovered so that the sauce thickens.
- Cook the noodles. In a separate pot, cook your noodles until they’re al dente according to the directions on the package. Be sure not to overcook! Drain them and add them to the pot or skillet with your meat sauce and stir everything well.
- Garnish & serve. Divide the chili chicken noodles into bowls, garnish with your fav toppings, and serve!
Storing & reheating tips
Store any leftover spicy chicken noodles in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days. Simple reheat in a microwave-safe bowl until hot.
More delicious dinner recipes to try
- 30-Minute Sesame Chicken Green Bean Stir Fry
- Sheet Pan Honey Sesame Chicken and Asparagus
- 30-Minute Vegan Stir Fry Sesame Noodles with Chickpeas & Basil
- Healthy Orange Chicken Stir Fry
- One Pan Thai-Inspired Coconut Yellow Curry Chicken & Rice
Get all of my dinner recipes here!
I hope you love these sweet & spicy hot chili chicken noodles! If you make them, be sure to leave a comment & a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Sweet & Spicy Hot Chili Chicken Noodles with Basil
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil (or avocado oil)
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
- 3 tablespoons hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek)
- 3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 cup water
- 10 ounces ramen noodles (spaghetti, fettuccine or rice noodles will also work)
- For serving:
- Fresh chopped basil (I recommend basil ribbons on top!)
- Chopped roasted cashews or peanuts (honey roasted is delicious!)*
- Extra red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Add sesame oil to a large pot and place over medium-high heat. Add ground chicken to the pot and season generously with salt and pepper. Brown the meat and break up into medium-sized chunks; cooking for about 5 minutes or until nice and golden underneath. Next, add in ginger, garlic, coconut sugar to the chicken and continue to cook about 4-5 minutes longer or until meat is almost all the way cooked, breaking up into smaller chunks as you cook it.
- Once meat is cooked, stir in tomato paste, fresh chopped basil and hot chili paste for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then add in the soy sauce, rice vinegar and water. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and cook uncovered, stirring every so often until sauce begins to thicken. This should take about 30 minutes.
- While the sauce cooks, you can make your pasta: cook pasta until al dente according to directions on the package. Once pasta is done, drain, then add back to the pot with the meat sauce (once it is done cooking!) and stir well to allow the meat to coat the noodles. Divide noodles into bowls and garnish with LOTS of basil ribbons, chopped cashews/peanuts extra red pepper flakes, if desired. Serves 4.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eat
This post was originally published on March 9th, 2021, and republished on April 14th, 2026.
I HAD to comment on this recipe as I’ve made it over 6 times in the past few years and have also made it for guests who were over the moon with the flavor. I like to make it a little spicier by adding some chilli crunch (which Monique introduced me to and now I can’t live without) and the leftovers for this dish are also perfection. I’m a cook only 2-3X per week gal so anything with good leftovers gets my vote. SO MUCH YUM.
Amazing! I’m all about extra spice 🙂
All the recipes I’ve tried from ambitious kitchen were tasty, healthy and inventive. I look at the nutritional values as well when I choose. Love everything about ambitious kitchen!
I’m glad you’re loving the recipes here!
We loved this recipe! I made it according to the directions with the exception of adding about a quarter cup of hot pasta water when I married the pasta to the sauce. I think it added some moisture without thinning the sauce. We topped it with chopped peanuts and basil shreds.
The flavor was different than any other Asian noodle recipe I’ve made and we will be making it again!
Great tip with the pasta water! Glad you enjoyed!
Food turned out delicious. My only criticism is that there is no idea about exactly how much 4 servings, let alone 1 serving, is. As someone who is very careful about tracking my calories for fitness reasons, it’d be helpful to know how many grams is 1 serving of the chicken and sauce.
I’m glad you enjoyed! For my recipes, I typically divide the recipe into 4 equal portions, as some can’t easily be measured with a measuring cup or on a scale.
Another AK hit! Easy to make, minimal prep and full of flavour. This will be added to our rotation and made again and again!
Such a great dinner! Glad you loved it!
I made this and sauce looked nothing like picture and was watery and I cooked way past 30 min not sure what did wrong but wasn’t right was so excited for it too!!
Sorry to hear that! The sauce should thicken up nicely as you simmer it because the liquid will evaporate. I would double check your ingredient measurements to make sure there wasn’t too much liquid!
I made this for a small dinner party and everyone loved it!!!! I used hot honey instead of coconut sugar because I didn’t have it, and turned out AMAZING
Hot honey sounds delicious in here! So glad everyone enjoyed!
So easy and so tasty! I didn’t have coconut sugar and used cane sugar – not sure how this would impact the recipe but my husband and I both loved it!
YUM! so happy you gave this recipe a try and it turned out delicious for you, Laura!
Oh my goodness! My husband and I really enjoyed this recipe. Tasted all the flavors and we will be making again! Thank you!
YAY! I am so glad you gave the recipe a try and it turned out amazing for you, Melanie!
Easy to make and really tasty. I used Udon Noodles not sure if that is different from Ramen. I added fresh red and yellow peppers to the sauce for the last fifteen minutes of simmer and then steamed a bag of mixed frozen veggies (broccoli, snow peas, water chestnuts carrots).
YUM! Sounds so delish, Suzy. Glad you are enjoying this recipe 🙂
This is the worst noodle dish I have eaten. Not only did it not taste good, but it was a pain to make. The prep time was in no way 15 minutes…it took almost that long to assemble the ingredients. I can’t give it any stars!
YUM – This recipe came together very easily and quickly!
I didn’t have any rice vinegar so I had to substitute with ACV and used aminos instead of soy sauce. The flavor was DELISH but I felt it was a bit too salty. Next time I’d reduce soy sauce to 2TB. I also Added in bell pepper and edamame for some extra veggies and served over rice noodles!
This will certainly be on our regular rotation!
Hi! So glad you enjoyed it. I wonder if the aminos were a bit saltier than the soy sauce would have been? But totally fine to reduce the amount!
How to make with chicken breast?
You can cut it up into bite-sized pieces and saute it in step 1, just like you would with the ground chicken 🙂
These noodles are INSANE!! So freaking tasty. I use the Trader Joe’s gluten free egg fettuccini and it’s just so satisfyingly spicy. Load it up with basil and serve it with cold cooling cucumbers on the side. UGH make it it’s so good.
YAY I’m so glad you love this one, Alex!! I need to try that GF fettucine 😍
Easily one of our favorite AK recipes. We pretty much always have the ingredients on hand which makes it an easy go-to when we don’t know what to have for dinner. We often swap 1T of hot chili paste for tomato paste (so it’s 3T tomato paste and 2T hot chili paste) to change the spice level to everyone’s tolerance.
Have made this twice and it’s so good. Love that the ingredients are things I always have on hand. The hubby and kids really enjoyed it as well. If your family doesn’t like spice, you may need to use a little less chili paste but it’s pretty much perfect as is.
This is the first AK recipe I stumbled across, and it became my gateway recipe because I cook from your site at least 3x/week! This is still my fave, and I love that it comes together so fast with minimal effort. I usually add a touch more Sambal Oelek because I like a bit more heat – this recipe is my absolute FAVE!!!
Ahh that is amazing, Brooke! I’m happy you’re here! So glad that you love this one 🙂
First time trying a recipe with some of these ingredients and it came out really good! Would definitely make it again.
Oh I’m so glad you ended up loving it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review 🙂