Cold Peanut Noodles
These cold peanut noodles come together in just about 20 minutes and taste super fresh and peanutty. The sauce's made with simple ingredients like natural peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, and the noodles are served with crisp cucumber, julienned carrots, and plenty of fresh herbs!
Ingredients
Peanut Sauce
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) oil
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1/2 cup (125 g) natural peanut butter
- 5 tbsp (75 ml) water
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) maple syrup
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) soy sauce
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) toasted sesame oil
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) lime juice
- 1/2 tsp sweet chili sauce
For Serving
- 8 ounces (225 g) noodles
- 1 medium carrot julienned
- 1/2 small cucumber julienned
- 1/4 cup (37 g) roasted peanuts (optional)
- 1/3 cup chopped herbs (I used a mix of mint, green onions, and cilantro)
Instructions
- Cook the noodles. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add the noodles and cook them according to the package instructions. In the meantime, prepare the peanut sauce.
- Sauté the garlic. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, add the minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.
- Make the peanut sauce. To a blender, add the sautéed garlic (and the oil), peanut butter, water, maple syrup, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, lime juice, and sweet chili sauce. Blend for 10-15 seconds, or until smooth. If it appears too thick, add 1-2 tablespoons more water. At this point, you can taste the sauce and adjust the saltiness and sweetness to your liking.
- Drain the noodles. Drain the noodles using a colander and rinse them 3-4 times under cold water.
- Assemble. Divide the peanut sauce between 4 serving bowls (5 tbsp of the sauce per serving). Add the cooked noodles, a handful of julienned cucumber and carrots, and garnish with roasted peanuts and chopped fresh herbs. Toss everything and enjoy immediately!
- You can store the peanut sauce in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Julienned vegetables will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
Cook the noodles right before serving. The peanut sauce and julienned vegetables can be made ahead of time, but when it comes to noodles, I highly recommend cooking them right before serving. We’ve tried cooking a larger batch and storing it in the fridge, but they tend to dry out. And if you store them in water, they become soft and watery.
Cool the noodles. Once the noodles are cooked, drain them and rinse them under cold water 3-4 times to stop the cooking process and quickly cool them.
Don’t overcook the garlic. Burnt garlic has a bitter taste, so stop cooking it as soon as it’s just lightly golden around the edges. This usually takes about 1 minute, no more.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 serving | Calories: 564 kcal | Carbohydrates: 62 g | Protein: 19 g | Fat: 29 g | Saturated Fat: 5 g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8 g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14 g | Trans Fat: 0.01 g | Sodium: 706 mg | Potassium: 535 mg | Fiber: 5 g | Sugar: 13 g | Vitamin A: 2987 IU | Vitamin C: 11 mg | Calcium: 67 mg | Iron: 2 mg
