Peanut Noodles Recipe
on May 31, 2025, Updated Jun 10, 2025
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That dusty packet of ramen in your pantry? We’re about to upgrade it to first class, with a roasted garlic confit peanut sauce that will blow your mind 🤯. You can find hundreds of Asian-inspired peanut noodles recipes, but this variation takes the cake: roasting fragrant garlic cloves until tender and spreadable, and then blending them into a creamy, salty, peanut sauce brings the flavor to the next level 👌. Garlic confit sounds fancy, tastes expensive, but is deceptively easy. Just peel a few cloves of garlic, pop them in a baking dish, cover in olive oil, and roast in the oven until golden and tender. You’ll know they’re done once your kitchen smells like garlic heaven 🙌🧄.
Why You’ll Love this Peanut Noodles Recipe
Take one ordinary packet of ramen noodles, add this world-class roasted garlic, creamy peanut butter sauce and you’ve got a dream meal. Dinner on a budget? Nailed it. Explosive flavor? Crushed it. Incredibly easy and quick to prepare? Bingo! Loads of healthy, filling fat and plant-based protein? Thank you, peanut butter! This is a meal that everyone can appreciate: budget-strapped students, busy parents and professionals, and kids. Jazz up your noodles with some grilled shrimp, and they’re fit for date night 😉.
Ingredients
Ramen noodles: I like to use dried ramen for this Peanut Noodles Recipe because they cook quickly—seriously, in less than 5 minutes!—and they’re the perfect carrier for creamy peanut sauce. You could also use soba noodles or their thicker udon cousin in this recipe.
Peanut butter: This forms the base of the creamy sauce. If you’re allergic or just partial to your usual go-to, feel free to substitute the peanut butter for your favorite nut or seed butter.
Garlic and Olive oil: If you’re one of those people who love to use more garlic than the recipe calls for, then you’re going to love my garlic confit peanut butter! We’re going to roast a ramekin of garlic cloves in olive oil and remove them from the oil with a fork before adding them to the sauce.
Maple syrup, soy sauce, and hot water: We’re going to add these condiments and some hot water to the sauce to balance out the sweet and savory elements and give it a smooth consistency.
Toppings: This is where your creativity shines through! I like to add fresh scallions, a drizzle of chili oil for a spicy kick, then top it off with sesame seeds and crushed peanuts for some crunch.
Nonna’s Tip 🍜
While your basic 25-cent pack of ramen will work just fine here, slightly pricier premium ramen will be chewier, thicker, and often mimic fresh ramen more closely in texture and taste.
Peanut Noodles Recipe Variations and Substitutions
- You can use ramen, udon, or soba noodles 🍜 for this recipe. For a gluten-free option, use rice noodles.
- Feel free to make the sauce for this Peanut Noodles Recipe with almond butter, Sunbutter, or tahini in place of peanut butter.
- Add in your favorite proteins like shrimp 🍤, chicken, thinly sliced beef, crispy pork, silky tofu, or jammy soy eggs.
- Try loading this recipe with veggies, such as broccoli, shredded carrots, cucumbers 🥒, scallions, edamame and purple cabbage.
- Load up the toppings! Scallions, sesame seeds, chili oil, and crushed peanuts add the perfect finishing touches.
Best Served With
- A side of tangy, crunchy Asian Green Beans or Asian Cucumber Salad 🥒.
- An appetizer of fresh and flavorful Shrimp Spring Rolls with a side of peanut sauce.
- Jammy soy marinated eggs 🥚.
- A steamy bowl of Dumpling Soup.
- I like to enjoy a plate of this Peanut Noodles Recipe with an ice cold Singha. Cheers 🍻!
How to Store this Peanut Noodles Recipe
These noodles are best enjoyed freshly-made, but it is possible to prep the components ahead of time.
- Garlic Confit: Do not leave this out at room temperature; it can grow bacteria 🦠. If you want to make garlic confit in advance or store leftovers, let the confit cool completely. Once cool, store in an airtight container. I recommend glass, as it does not absorb odor like plastic does. Cover the garlic 🧄with the cooking oil. Add more olive oil, if needed, to fully submerge the garlic. Tightly seal the container and store the garlic in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Peanut Garlic Sauce: Can be prepared and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. The sauce will thicken in the fridge. When you’re ready to serve, let the sauce come to room temp and thin it out with some hot water.
Similar Recipes
Ramen Noodle Soup
55 mins
Shrimp Spring Rolls
25 mins
Vegetable Fried Rice Recipe
15 mins
Shrimp Fried Rice
20 mins
Peanut Noodles Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 garlic cloves
- olive oil, enough to cover the garlic
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- ½ tablespoon maple syrup
- ½ tablespoon soy sauce, light sodium
- 5 tablespoons hot water
- 140 grams Ramen noodles, 70 grams per person
- scallions, chlli flakes, crushed peanuts, and sesame seeds for garnish, (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F (200C).
- Peel the garlic cloves, add to a small dish or ramekin. Pour olive oil on top. I like to add enough oil to cover the garlic.
- Cover it and place it in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
- The garlic should be cooked until it turns light golden and becomes soft enough to poke through with a knife.
- Boil the ramen noodles on the stove as per the package directions. Mine take about 4 minutes.
- 2 minutes before the ramen is done, start on the peanut sauce. With a slotted spoon or fork, remove the garlic and add it to a food processor with the peanut butter, maple syrup, soy sauce, and hot water. Pulse.
- Note: the sauce makes enough for two portions (double the ramen if needed). You can also make one very saucy portion but the calories will be high.
- Drain the ramen and mix it with the creamy peanut sauce. Enjoy with scallions, sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, chilli oil, or anything you like on top!
Video
Notes
- Serving sizes: This recipe makes two servings of sauce. You can split the sauce in half and make one more pack of ramen, or if you like it super saucy feel free to enjoy as a single serving. You could even reserve some as a dip for spring rolls.
- Noodles: You can use ramen, udon, or soba noodles for this recipe.
- Gluten-free substitutes: For a gluten-free option, use rice noodles. Instead of soy sauce, tamari or coconut aminos are great options.
- Nut butter alternatives: Feel free to make the sauce for this Peanut Noodles Recipe with almond butter, Sunbutter, or Tahini in place of peanut butter.
- Protein options: Add in your favorite proteins like shrimp, chicken, thinly sliced beef, crispy pork, silky tofu, or jammy soy eggs.
- Veggie add-ins: Try loading this recipe with veggies, such as broccoli, shredded carrots, cucumbers, scallions, edamame and purple cabbage.
- Toppings: Scallions, sesame seeds, chili oil, and crushed peanuts add the perfect finishing touches.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Common Questions
You can add your favorite veggies, proteins, and toppings to make this versatile recipe your own. (Think shredded carrots, cucumber ribbons, grilled chicken, tofu, soft boiled eggs, scallions, sesame seeds, and a swirl of chili oil.)
Use gluten-free tamari or coconut aminos instead of soy sauce, and swap in gluten-free noodles like rice noodles or gluten-free ramen.
Peanut noodles last 3-4 days in the fridge. The sauce may thicken when cold, so add a splash of warm water before reheating.
Certainly, this recipe will work with your favorite nut or seed butter; tahini also works. If you use natural peanut butter, just note that it can be a bit runny so you will need to add less water to the sauce.
Absolutely! The sauce thickens over time, so just add a little bit of warm water or sesame oil to achieve the desired consistency before adding it to your noodles.
I never thought ramen could taste like this! The garlic confit made it insanely rich and flavorful. It was quick, cheap, and ridiculously good. Had everything already in my pantry!
So creamy and delicious! The roasted garlic is such a nice touch.
These were insanely good — perfectly saucy, packed with flavor, and came together so quickly!
I absolutely love different ways to church up ramen! My son is allergic to peanut butter so I used Sunbutter and it turned out great!
Incredible recipe and so quick and easy to make! Not to mention it fits into my macros. This recipe is on repeat weekly 👌