These rice noodles with peanut sauce are full of flavor and protein. I love a dish that I can make ahead of time and bring to room temperature to serve for dinner. The sauce is the perfect combination of salty, sweet, and nutty. This is typically considered an Asian dish, but I’ll serve it with just about anything.
This recipe is adapted from one I found in the The Mom 100 Cookbook by Katie Workman. This cookbook includes lots of great recipes for feeding busy families. Many times when I’m preparing dinner for my family, I make a basic version of the recipe, and I separate out certain ingredients that my husband and I will like but one or both of my children won’t want. Workman calls this “the fork in the road,” where you branch off in different directions to customize one recipe for multiple palates.
It can be a fine line between making different meals for everyone in the family and making one dinner that can be adapted to different tastes. I often live by “the fork in the road” mentality, and I love how this cookbook describes different variations for so many types of recipes.
Ingredients
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1 clove garlic (or 1 tbs chopped garlic scape)
- 2 tbs maple syrup
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 2 tbs rice vinegar
- 2 tbs soy sauce
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 2 tbs sesame oil divided
- 8 ounces brown rice noodles
- 3 scallions white and green parts diced
- 2 carrots sliced
- 1 tbs toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- To make the sauce, combine the ginger, garlic, maple syrup, peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, olive oil, and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a food processor or blender. Process until smooth and set aside.
- Cook the noodles in a large pot of water according to the package directions. Before draining the noodles, measure out a half cup of the cooking water and set it aside. Drain the noodles and place them in a large bowl. Add the remaining tablespoon of sesame oil to the noodles and stir.
- Mix the peanut butter dressing with the half cup of cooking water. Pour this sauce over the hot noodles and stir. Leave the noodles at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally to help the noodles soak up the sauce.
- When you’re ready to serve the noodles, stir in the scallions, carrots, and sesame seeds. This dish can be served at room temperature.
Rice Noodles with Peanut Sauce Price Breakdown
This recipe costs $5.74 to make, or $.96 per serving. These delicious brown rice noodles with peanut sauce are a healthy, high-protein side dish.
heather says
November 3, 2016 at 10:54 amI’ll eat just about anything covered in that peanut sauce! what a delicious meal
Kelly Jones says
November 3, 2016 at 10:20 amI usually choose buckwheat noodles over rice but it has been awhile so maybe I will switch it up. Seems like an easy peanut sauce too!
Alicia says
November 10, 2015 at 11:34 amHow many servings does this make and how many calories is this meal?
Annemarie says
November 10, 2015 at 2:32 pmAlicia, this recipe yields 6 servings. I don’t count calories, but I believe there are websites where you can input an ingredient list and they’ll give you the nutritional breakdown.
Melissa French, The More With Less Mom says
July 11, 2014 at 8:40 pmThanks for posting! I shared this in my July meal plan article. It looks like it will be one the simple pleasures in this meal plan.
Amy says
April 29, 2014 at 8:24 pmNot sure if I did something wrong, but even after draining the noodles really well, it was really soupy once I added the sauce and cup of water.
Annemarie says
April 29, 2014 at 8:58 pmAmy, some noodles absorb more liquid than others. You could add less sauce next time and top it off as needed. I hope it tasted good even if it was a little soupy!
kirsten@FarmFreshFeasts says
June 24, 2013 at 9:09 pmAnnemarie,
This looks delicious, and I think enough time has passed since the unfortunate Peanut Sesame Noodle Incident of 1999 (what, you didn’t hear about it?) that I can consider sesame oil and peanut butter in the same bowl with noodles again.
Thanks!
Annemarie says
June 24, 2013 at 9:24 pmSounds like you have a good story there, Kirsten. But yes, give it another try!
Amy says
June 24, 2013 at 1:07 pmJust last night I was looking for a new way to serve rice noodles. Thanks for sharing this recipe…I think it will be making an appearance in our meal plan this week!
Annemarie says
June 24, 2013 at 1:14 pmI’m glad you found this, Amy. I hope you enjoy it!