Peanut Butter Ramen Noodles
If you’re looking for an extra quick yet nutritious dinner, these peanut butter ramen noodles fit the bill perfectly. Ready in just 20 minutes, they can be modified to account for your allergies and preferences.
It’s always good to have some recipes that come together in twenty minutes on hand. You never know when you’ll get delayed at work or be too tired to cook. These peanut butter ramen noodles are a perfect example of a quick meal that still meets all the nutrition criteria.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- I love the convenience of ramen without the need to sacrifice the health benefits of the flavors. This recipe is the perfect middle ground between instant ramen and fancy restaurant noodles.
- These peanut butter ramen noodles come together very quickly, and the prep is pretty basic, too. This is a great recipe for beginner cooks who want to eat healthy meals.
- This dish is inspired by traditional Asian flavors, featuring such ingredients as soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili, lime, coconut, and of course, peanuts.
- This recipe yields 4-6 servings, enough for a large family dinner or an easy meal prep for the week.
- You can adjust the toppings as you see fit! I added tofu, greens, extra chili, and crushed peanuts. Feel free to get creative.
Ramen: The Perfect Mix and Match
Ramen, the Japanese noodle dish, is built from a number of components that come together seamlessly to create a flavorful soup.
At the heart of ramen is the broth. There are different types out there, like shoyu (soy sauce) broth, miso broth, or shio (salt) broth for a clear and savory taste. The broth is infused with aromatics, mushrooms, or herbs, and can be further flavored with additions such as coconut milk.
Ramen typically features wheat noodles, but it tastes just as delicious with rice noodles, udon, soba, and other types of noodles.
Once you’ve got your noodles and broth sorted, it’s time to deck out your ramen bowl with all sorts of delicious toppings. Think protein (like tofu), chopped green onions (negi), fermented bamboo shoots (menma), bean sprouts, and greens such as cilantro or bok choy.
To amp up the taste, some ramen bowls come with a drizzle of flavored oil, like sesame or chili oil.
Of course, you can customize the seasoning to your liking. With ramen, the possibilities are endless, and chefs often put their own creative spin on this classic dish, giving you a bowl of comfort and flavor in every spoonful.
Key Ingredients
These peanut butter ramen noodles follow the same principle. First, we make the peanut butter sauce.
- Onion or shallot
- Fresh ginger
- Garlic cloves
- Chili sauce
- Peanut butter
- Rice vinegar
- Maple syrup
- Soy sauce
Then, we allow the components to infuse the broth. Although this is a quick recipe, you can allow your broth to simmer for longer.
- Peanut sauce
- Vegetable broth
- Coconut milk
Next, the noodles go in. Some ramen recipes call for the noodles to be cooked separately, but in the interest of saving time and dishes, I cooked the noodles directly in the flavorful broth.
You can use traditional ramen noodles or substitute for rice noodles, glass noodles, or even spaghetti.
Finally, we serve these peanut butter ramen noodles with toppings of choice. I used the following:
- Baked extra firm tofu
- Chopped cilantro
- Diced green onions
- Sliced chili pepper
- Crushed peanuts
However, the last list is subject to change. Normally I try to include a source of protein and whatever veggies I already have available to me.
How to Make This Recipe
If using tofu as one of your toppings, slice it into cubes and bake it on a parchment-lined sheetpan for 15-20 minutes at 400F. Alternatively, you can use silken tofu and skip this preparation step.
The next step is to make the broth. In a large pot, add the oil, onion and ginger. Saute for a few minutes until fragrant, before adding garlic, peanut butter, chili sauce, maple syrup, rice vinegar, and soy sauce.
Pour in a little bit of vegetable broth (about a quarter cup) to help the ingredients come together. As the contents warm up, whisk or stir the sauce until it is creamy. along with around 1/4 cup of the broth. Mix until the sauce is creamy.
Add the remaining broth, then bring to a boil and throw in the noodles. Cook for a few minutes until the noodles are al dente. The cooking time will depend on the type of noodles you use.
While the noodles cook, prep the toppings: dice the veggies, crush or chop peanuts, etc.
Once it’s ready, pour the soup into bowls, and top it with veggies, peanuts, and tofu. Squeeze some fresh lime juice over top and enjoy.
Hack It!
- If you prefer, you can cook your noodles and the broth separately and only bring them together when you serve the dish with the rest of your toppings.
- Feel free to let the broth simmer for a little while to infuse it with flavors. While this is designed to be a quick recipe, you can modify the cooking time if you are not in a rush.
- To meal prep this recipe, cook the noodles separately. When ready to eat, heat the soup base along with your noodles and assemble toppings.
- Other potential toppings you could include are grated carrot, bok choy, bean sprouts, edamame, textured soy curls, sesame oil, sesame seeds, enoki mushrooms, or silken tofu.
- If you’re allergic to peanuts, sub peanut butter for seed butter or tahini.
- For soy-free ramen, use liquid aminos instead of soy sauce and omit the tofu.
Other Recipes You’ll Love
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The Recipe: Peanut Butter Ramen Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 tsp avocado oil, or extra virgin olive oil
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1 thumb ginger, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, diced
- 4 tbsp peanut butter, sub for seed butter or tahini
- 1 tbsp sriracha, or chili sauce
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 2½ tbsp soy sauce, tamari if gluten-free
- 5 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 6 oz ramen noodles, or whole wheat spaghetti, or rice noodles etc.
- 1 lime, juiced
Optional toppings, I used
- 375 gram extra firm tofu, 1 block, cut into cubes and baked until crispy
- 1 handful cilantro, or parsley, chopped
- 1 red chili, sliced
- 1 bunch green onions, finely diced
- 1 tbsp peanuts, crushed
Equipment
Instructions
- If preparing tofu, slice your block into cubes, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spray with a little oil, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 400F, until crispy on the outside.
- Meanwhile, prepare your soup. In a large pot, add the oil, onion and ginger. Saute until fragrant, approximately 3 minutes.
- Then add the garlic, peanut butter, chili sauce, maple syrup, rice vinegar and soy sauce, along with around 1/4 cup of the broth. Mix until the sauce is creamy.
- Add the remaining broth and coconut milk, then bring to a boil. Add in your noodles, and cook until they’re al dente. Alternatively, you can cook your noodles separately and serve with the rest of your toppings.
- While the noodles cook, prep the veggies: slice the chili pepper, cilantro, and green onions. Crush your peanuts, if using.
