Easy Sweet and Sour Asian Noodles

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Sweet and Sour Noodles — Ready in 30 minutes and made with a homemade sweet and sour sauce! Perfect as a side or main dish, and kids love this recipe!!

Sweet and Sour Asian Noodles in metal skillet

Easy Asian Noodles with Sweet and Sour Sauce

There are layers and layers of flavors in these Asian-inspired noodles that are ready in 30 minutes. Soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, lime juice, ginger, and Asian chili-garlic sauce (found in the Asian aisle of most major grocery stores) make up the sweet and sour sauce and coat the noodles beautifully.

They’re sweet and sour, with a very subtle heat from the ginger and chili-garlic sauce.

Red peppers, sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, and baby corn add texture and crunch to these sweet and sour noodles.

Who needs takeout when homemade tastes better and you’re in control of the ingredients?

lifting Sweet and Sour Asian Noodles out of pan with tongs

Ingredients for Sweet and Sour Noodles

These easy Asian noodles call for basic ingredients you likely have on hand. Feel free to mix and match the veggies to use up whatever is in your produce drawer!

Gather the following ingredients:

Noodles

  • Thin spaghetti
  • Bell pepper
  • Sugar snap peas
  • Baby corn
  • Sliced water chestnuts
  • Green onions
  • Fresh cilantro
  • Sesame seeds

Asian noodle sauce

  • Rice wine vinegar
  • Honey
  • Soy sauce
  • Sesame oil
  • Lime juice
  • Chili garlic sauce
  • Ground ginger

Can I Add Protein to This Recipe?

Most definitely! I kept the recipe vegetarian, but you can add the protein of your choice, including chicken, pork, shrimp, or beef. My family never missed the meat because they were too busy slurping up noodles. 

Easy Sweet and Sour Asian Noodles - So much flavor in these easy noodles that are ready in 30 minutes!! Plenty of vegetables add great crunch! You won't miss takeout when homemade tastes way better and is healthier!!

How to Make Asian Noodles

These Asian-inspired sweet and sour noodles come together in about 30 minutes and require minimal prep work. Win-win!

Here are the basic recipe steps:

  1. Cook the thin spaghetti noodles until al dente, then drain and set aside.
  2. Whisk together the sweet and sour sauce ingredients and keep near the stove for quick access later. 
  3. Then, sauté sliced bell pepper in a little sesame oil until crisp-tender.
  4. Add the sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, and green onion to the same skillet and continue cooking until the veggies become slightly tender. 
  5. Finally, add the cooked spaghetti and the homemade sweet and sour sauce to the skillet and toss to coat the noodles fully.
  6. Cook the Asian noodles for a few more minutes to thicken the sauce and heat everything through. I like to garnish mine with cilantro, sesame seeds, and more green onion, but you can keep things as simple as you’d like. 
These 30-Minute Asian Noodles are made with a homemade sweet and sour sauce. Perfect as a side or main dish, and kids love this recipe!

How to Store and Reheat Leftovers

These sweet and sour noodles are best fresh, but they reheat well as leftovers. Store them in the fridge for up to 5 days.

One thing to note about enjoying these noodles as leftovers is that the spaghetti will continue to soak up the sweet and sour sauce as it sits in the fridge. So you may need to add a tablespoon or so of water to a skillet when you reheat these noodles, just to loosen everything up a bit! 

Tips for the Best Sweet and Sour Noodles

Although this recipe is pretty straightforward, there are a few things you should keep in mind while making these noodles.

  • First, it’s so important that you cook the spaghetti just until al dente. The noodles will soak up the sweet and sour sauce the longer they sit in it, and if you overcook the pasta it will turn to mush once it’s mixed with the sauce. 
  • Sauté the veggies just until they’re crisp-tender. If you overcook the veggies, they’ll become heavy and won’t add extra textures to this dish. But if you cook the veggies in the order I specified, this recipe should turn out perfectly! 
  • Reheat these Asian noodles in a hot skillet with a tiny bit of oil. If you reheat them in the microwave, they’ll become rubbery. Not what you want! 

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4.54 from 30 votes

Easy Sweet and Sour Asian Noodles

By Averie Sunshine
These 30-Minute Asian Noodles are made with a homemade sweet and sour sauce. Perfect as a side or main dish, and kids love this recipe!
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6
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Ingredients  

Noodles

  • 1 lb thin spaghetti, cooked and drained*
  • 1 large red bell pepper, trimmed, seeded, and sliced into thin strips
  • 1 heaping cup sugar snap peas***
  • one 15-ounce can baby corn, drained and rinsed (if using whole baby corn, cut into bite-sized pieces)
  • one 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained and rinsed
  • cup green onions, about 4 green onions, trimmed and sliced into thin rounds, plus more for garnishing
  • ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, stems discarded, finely minced
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted if desired, optional for garnishing

Sweet and Sour Sauce

  • ¾ cup rice wine vinegar
  • ½ cup honey
  • cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
  • 4 tablespoons sesame oil, divided
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon Asian chili-garlic sauce**
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons ground ginger, to taste

Instructions 

  • Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
  • To a medium bowl, add the rice wine vinegar, honey, soy sauce, 2 tablespoons sesame oil, lime juice, chili-garlic sauce, ginger (some people are sensitive to ginger so add to taste), and whisk to combine; set sauce aside.
  • To a large skillet, add the remaining 2 tablespoons sesame oil, peppers, and cook over medium-high heat until peppers begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir intermittently.
  • Add the sugar snap peas, baby corn, water chestnuts, green onions, and cook until crisp-tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir intermittently.
  • Add the cooked spaghetti, sauce, and cook for about 2 minutes, or until warmed through. Toss well during cooking. The extra sauce that’s pooling at the bottom of the skillet will absorb into the noodles over the next 30 minutes; toss intermittently.
  • Evenly sprinkle with cilantro and toss to combine. Optionally garnish with sesame seeds and green onions. Serve immediately.

Notes

*Spaghetti or angel hair pasta may be substitute
**Found in the Asian aisle of most major grocery stores; sriracha may be substituted
***Snow peas may be substituted
Storage: Noodles are best warm and fresh but will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months. Reheat gently as desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 361kcal, Carbohydrates: 59g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 11g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g, Sodium: 570mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 27g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

Recipe Rating




Comments

    1. I haven’t tried the recipe any other way than written so can’t speak for sure about substitutions.

  1. 5 stars
    Loved this recipe! Other than the water chestnuts, I used different vegetables and love the flexibility of doing that. Only change I would make next time is to use a little less of the chili sauce. It did seem initially like a lot of sauce but almost all was absorbed so it was great as leftovers (both warmed and at room temp).

    1. Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it turned out great for you! And yes, with my sauce too, so much absorbed into the noodles over the next day or so. Glad you enjoyed it with alternate veggies as well as warmed and at room temp!

  2. Did anyone else have a problem with the amount of rice vinegar? I thought it seemed like a lot, but I don’t normally make this kind of dish so I followed the recipe. The smell during cooking and of the finished product were overwhelmingly vinegar-y, and it burned my mouth when I ate it. I felt the vinegar totally drowned out all the other flavors. If I had to make it again I would cut the vinegar by half to three quarters and increase the honey. It didn’t taste “sweet and sour” to me at all…just sour…

    1. Hmmm, that’s interesting about the rice wine vinegar. All brands do vary in their intensity. I usually use on from Trader Joe’s or I have used one from the regular grocery store but the brand name escapes me at the moment. The dish when I made it was definitely not so strong that my mouth was burning! I think something was going on with your vinegar and you had an unusually strong batch! I am always wary of adding too much honey to ‘savory’ dishes because people complain about them reading too sweet but in this situation, given your vinegar, I can see why you’d want more honey. But as written, we really enjoyed it as-is. Thanks for trying the recipe.

  3. you mentioned the noodles absorbing the extra  sauce within 30 minutes.  Are the noodles suposed to sit for 30 minutes before serving?

    1. Not necessary but I found with the leftovers, that the sauce really absorbed into the noodles. Just something I mentioned as a detail I noticed.

  4. This recipe is amazing not to mention beautiful!  I love the versatility; you can throw any veggie in here and it’d be delicious.  Thank you for sharing!

  5. Averie this looks scrumptious! I’ll have to try it with zucchini noodles and let you know how it goes. :)

  6. I could eat Asian stir fries every day and be happy with it.  I love anything with the chili garlic sauce.  OH MAN.  

    And the baby corns?  I used to eat them straight from the can.  So good!

    1. I can see you totally loving that chili garlic sauce and I just made another recipe with it since I still had the rest of the jar.

      I used to pick out the baby corns at Chinese restaurants from whatever my family ordered and hoard them :)

  7. Our daughters would probably fight over the pasta meals.   :)    This looks like another winner–I’d be stealing the baby corn and water chestnuts for myself.  

    1. I love water chestnuts too but that is definitely an under-rated vegetable that no one else seems to ‘love’ :)

  8. Averie noodles and I are the best of the friends ! I can literally eat them for 3 meals a day everyday and these are noexception! Love the crunchy vegetables in there and the sweet & sour sauce!

  9. I have a lone bundle of soba noodles (Jon’s favorite) just waiting to be sauced up! I think he would enjoy some diced pork as well. Between this and the peanut chicken I’m anxious to make, we’ll be having an Asian flavored weekend!

    1. Funny you mention soba noodles…I have a soba recipe coming up in a few weeks! I guess I went on an Asian kick (and slow cooker) recently!

  10. It’s the perfect meal!! I love nothing more than a meal that can be changed up to anyones liking! If someone wants vegetarian, bam there it is, if they like chicken, just add it in! So simple and so dreamy looking! Love it! Thanks