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!!
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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?
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.
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:
- Cook the thin spaghetti noodles until al dente, then drain and set aside.
- Whisk together the sweet and sour sauce ingredients and keep near the stove for quick access later.
- Then, sauté sliced bell pepper in a little sesame oil until crisp-tender.
- Add the sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, and green onion to the same skillet and continue cooking until the veggies become slightly tender.
- Finally, add the cooked spaghetti and the homemade sweet and sour sauce to the skillet and toss to coat the noodles fully.
- 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.
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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Easy Sweet and Sour Asian Noodles
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
- ⅓ 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
- ⅓ 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
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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