These bold, savory Kimchi Noodles are quick, spicy, and packed with umami-an easy weeknight dinner ready in under 30 minutes with simple, flavorful ingredients. Vegan and GF adaptable.
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We have an amazing kimchi recipe on the blog, and I always keep it in the fridge. Here is an easy way I’ve been serving it up for dinner- I love making kimchi noodles.
Kimchi noodles are a Korean-inspired stir-fry noodle dish packed with veggies (a great way to use up stray veggies in the fridge), tossed with a simple stir-fry sauce, and, of course, chopped-up kimchi. Garnish with green onions, optional peanuts, and viola; dinner is ready in under 30 minutes.
I love this recipe because it is so adaptable- use whatever noodles you have on hand, whatever veggies, and top it (or not) with a protein if you like. Easy peasy.
This is our end-of-the-week "clean out the fridge" recipe. We throw whatever veggies we have around, and it's always soooo tasty and delicious. We like to add some scrambled eggs to the mix. I love it.
This is not a traditional recipe by any means, just one out of my head, that I think you can take and run with.
Kimchi Recipe
Kimchi is a Korean fermented cabbage dish-traditionally made with napa cabbage, garlic, ginger, and Korean chili flakes- that brings a bold mix of tangy, spicy, and savory flavors to any meal. Its natural fermentation not only creates that signature punchy taste but also adds depth and umami that pair beautifully with noodles. If you're curious about making it from scratch, I've shared my step-by-step homemade kimchi recipe on the blog, taught to me by a Korean mother of the bride at a wedding I catered.
Why you’ll love these Kimchi Noodles!
The flavor! The sauce is quick to whip up, and it has subtle heat and sweetness, rich umami, tanginess, and depth of flavor.
Adaptable. Use whatever veggies you have on hand and add a protein if you want, like tofu, chicken, shrimp, or eggs. Keep it vegan or gluten-free with rice noodles. Plus, it’s an easy clean-out-your-fridge meal!
Gut-friendly! Kimchi is so good for your gut thanks to its live probiotic cultures. Learn more about its health benefits and how to make homemade kimchi!
Kimchi Noodles Recipe Ingredients
- Kimchi: Make our homemade kimchi or use store-bought kimchi.
- Noodles: Rice noodles, udon noodles, egg noodles, soba noodles, ramen noodles, or linguini.
- Shallots, garlic, and ginger: You can substitute half an onion for the shallots if desired. Fresh shallots, garlic cloves, and ginger add a fragrant, aromatic flavor.
- Vegetables: Your choice here! Mushrooms, red bell pepper, matchstick carrots, cabbage, bok choy, green beans, snow peas, green beans, or asparagus. Mix and match, using what you have. You’ll need 4-5 cups of veggies in total. I highly recommend mushrooms, especially if going the vegan route, for umami flavor.
- Sauce: Soy sauce (or gluten-free liquid aminos), toasted sesame oil, maple syrup (or honey, agave, coconut sugar, brown sugar, or cane sugar), rice wine vinegar, gochujang (or sambal olek), and fish sauce (or miso paste for vegetarians and vegans).
- For garnish: Scallions, toasted sesame seeds, gochugaru, roasted peanuts or cashews, crispy shallots, or peanut chili crunch.
Protein Additions
- Crispy tofu, baked tofu, or Korean tofu
- Chicken- use leftover rotisserie chicken, ground chicken (or ground turkey), or thinly sliced and cooked chicken that has been browned.
- Shrimp
- Ground beef, lamb, turkey, or pork, seasoned and browned.
- Soft-boiled egg, sunny-side up, or fried egg
How to Make It
1. Cook the noodles. Prepare noodles according to package instructions. If using rice noodles, I like to place them in a glass dish and pour boiling water over top of the noodles. Once tender, drain in a colander and set aside. Coat the cooked noodles with a little oil to prevent sticking.
2. Pan-sear the protein. If adding protein, go ahead and pan-sear the tofu, chicken, or shrimp in a wok or large skillet with salt and black pepper. Set aside.
3. Stir-fry aromatics and veggies. Add a high-heat oil to the wok or skillet and warm over medium-low heat. Stir-fry shallots, garlic, and ginger, and sauté 1-2 minutes. Add your veggies, starting with the longer cooking ones first, and stir-fry until tender-crisp.
While the veggies cook, whisk together the noodle sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
4. Add noodles, sauce, kimchi, and protein. Scoot everything to the sides of the wok and add another teaspoon of oil. Add the noodles and stir-fry for 1 minute, then add the kimchi sauce, kimchi, and cooked protein to combine.
5. Taste and adjust. Taste the noodles and adjust the heat by adding more Korean pepper paste as desired. Add a little fish sauce or soy sauce for more salt, umami, or depth.
6. Serve. Divide the noodles among bowls with chopsticks and garnish with green onions, a sprinkling of sesame seeds, gochugaru (Korean chili flakes), roasted peanuts or cashews, crispy shallots, or peanut chili crunch.
Chef’s Tips
- Don’t overheat the kimchi– just warm it up a bit, to preserve those healthy probiotics.
- Use any quick-cooking veggies! Other quick-cooking veggies work great here: bell pepper, snow peas, spring peas, asparagus, green beans, shredded cabbage, bok choy - anything that can be quickly stir-fried. If using carrots as I did, cut them into matchsticks.
- Cook tougher veggies first. Stir-fry the longer-cooking vegetables first, letting them get tender before adding the quick-cooking veggies.
- Drain the kimchi and chop it. Before adding it to the wok, drain the kimchi juice and chop it into a small dice so it distributes evenly through the noodles.
- Adjust the kimchi to your preference. I used 1 cup of kimchi, but if you’re sensitive to spice or fermented things, feel free to use less. I just really wanted to taste the kimchi, so I amped it up. As written, the recipe is “medium” spicy.
- Taste and adjust. Test the noodles for heat and umami, adding more gochujang or sriracha, fish sauce, or soy sauce as desired.
Serving Suggestions
Serve Kimchi Noodles as a main dish with scallions, toasted sesame seeds, roasted peanuts or cashews, crispy shallots, or peanut chili crunch.
This is a simple 30-minute meal perfect for busy weeknights, especially when you need to accommodate multiple diets. But if you’re meal-prepping or hosting friends, here are some of our favorite recipe pairings!
- Korean Cucumber Salad
- Crunchy Bok Choy Salad
- Scallion Pancakes
- Korean BBQ Chicken
- Korean Bulgogi Beef
- Korean Chicken Wings
- Vegan Bulgogi
Storage
Store leftover kimchi noodles in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat on the stovetop until warmed through.
If you enjoyed these noodles, make sure to try our Singapore Noodles or our Szechuan Tofu!
More Kimchi Recipes you may like
After you try this Kimchi Noodles recipe, let us know how it turns out in the comments below. Your review will help other readers, too! Sign up here to join our community and receive our latest recipes and weekly newsletter! xoxo Sylvia
Kimchi Noodles Recipe
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 1x
- Category: 30 minute Dinner, Asian, dinner ideas, easy dinner, stir fry, vegan dinner
- Method: Stir-Fry
- Cuisine: Korean
- Diet: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian
Description
Here’s a super tasty recipe for Kimchi Noodles, stir-fried with lots of healthy veggies you probably have on hand. Keep it vegan or add an egg, tofu, chicken or shrimp! Crispy tofu is also a delicious option here!
Ingredients
- 4 ounces dry noodles (rice noodles, udon noodles, egg noodles, soba noodles, ramen noodles, linguini, etc) cooked according to directions
- 8 ounces protein of choice (tofu, chicken, shrimp), or leave it out.
Kimchi Noodle Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (or GF liquid aminos)
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or honey, agave or sugar)
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon gochujang, or red chili paste (sambal olek)
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce (VEGANS: sub 1 teaspoon miso paste)
Stir-Fry: (if you want to add meat, shrimp or tofu- see notes first)
- 2 shallots, diced (or half an onion)
- 4 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
- 2 tablespoons high heat oil (peanut oil , avocado oil, wok oil)
- 4–5 cups diced or sliced veggies: 1 cup mushrooms, 1 red bell pepper, a mix of: matchstick carrots, cabbage, bok choy, green beans, snow peas, green beans, asparagus, etc.
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup kimchi, chopped
Garnish Options: Scallions, Toasted Sesame Seeds, roasted peanuts or cashews, crispy shallots, peanut chili crunch, optional soft boiled (or fried) egg.
Instructions
- Cook the noodles. If using rice noodles, cover with boiling water; when tender, drain and set aside (coat with a alittle oil ot prevent sticking)
- Cook the protein. If you’d like to add crispy tofu, pan-seared chicken or shrimp, pan-sear first in the wok, with salt and pepper- and set these aside.
- Stir-fry. Heat oil over medium-low heat in a large wok or skillet. Add shallots, garlic, and ginger, and saute 1-2 minutes. Add the veggies (adding longer cooking ones first) stir fry until tender-crisp.
- Combine. Make a well in the center, add another teaspoon of oil, and stir-fry the noodles for 1 minute. Add the sauce and cooked protein, tossing everything together. Lastly, add the kimchi, just warming it up a bit- don’t overheat it.
- Taste. Adjust the heat by adding more chili paste if you like, and add fish sauce or soy sauce. (I usually add 1 more tablespoon of Chili paste and a dash of fish sauce.)
- Serve immediately, dividing among 2-3 bowls, sprinkling with scallions and sesame seeds. Feel free to top with any additional toppings.
Notes
Protein options: 8-10 ounces tofu, chicken or shrimp, ground pork, turkey or ground beef, pan-seared with salt and pepper. Or use this recipe for Crispy Tofu, with just salt and pepper. Or top with a sunny-side-up, fried egg, or soft-boiled egg.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ½ cups
- Calories: 373
- Sugar: 15.5 g
- Sodium: 659.3 mg
- Fat: 14.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 55.1 g
- Fiber: 6.4 g
- Protein: 7.8 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
The sauce is out of this world! This recipe is amazing. I’m so happy to have found it.
Great to hear Jenni!
Tasty sauce suits the kimchi perfectly, will be making again, thanks!
Glad you enjoyed! Appreciate your review.
Definitely a keeper! Loved the vegetables versatility!
Awesome Dani! Thanks for taking time to rate and review.
Hi Sylvia,
If using fresh udon noodles, how many ounces should I use?
Thanks!
I would double it- so 8 ounces. 🙂
Thank you!
I made it
It turned out magnificent everybody in the family enjoyed it
Thank you for a great recipe
Wonderful to hear!
Love this. It’s a new staple.
Happy to hear this Alison!
Delish! Loved it.
I don’t understand how you do the noodle sauce. It’s nowhere. I understand you use kimchi and a few veggies, etc. but not how you do a noodle sauce. Please let us know, looks delicious.
Scroll all the way down to the recipe card. All the ingredients and instructions are there. 🙂
This is absolutely incredible. The sauce is spot-on for something that hits all of the right notes. I used just what I had on hand in terms of veggies – I sliced cherry tomatoes in half, sliced up some peppers into ribbons, and added a handful of spinach at the end before the kimchi. I topped with sliced cucumbers. Absolutely warming and filling. Will make again and again!!
Sounds perfect Stephanie!
So happy to have found this.
SO YUMMY! I’m Korean, so I was a bit skeptical… no more! These noodles were SO good! Definitely crave-worthy. I made these with soba noodles, topped with julienned cucumber and pan fried tofu in little oil. Sprinkled black sesame seeds.
Awesome to hear Oak!
Very nice!
I just double the sauce because we love it saucy! Thank you!
Awesome Carla!
This was super tasty. Mine ended up being wetter/saucier than pictured in the blog, which isn’t bad necessarily but different than expected. I think it might be due to half the veg amount being bok choi. Or not using a large enough pan. I’ll make this again!
Thanks Monica!!!
This was sooo phenomenally good! It took some time to prep all the ingredients, but then it comes together super quickly! I could imagine prepping veggies and protein ahead of time to make this even more weeknight friendly. Thank you so much, as always, for inspiring and delighting with your recipes! 🙂
Awesome Julia!
Awesome recipe. Definitely hits that midnight craving for yummy pasta. I made mine with soba noodles and tofu. One thing, in your instructions, you say to sauté shallots, garlic and onions — Did you mean ginger instead of onions?
Thanks so much, happy you enjoyed this. Yes, I meant ginger, fixed now, thanks!
Delicious
thanks JB!
Awesome recipe, made it several times and always a winner!
Thanks so much!
Yum that was really good!
Awesome Marjon!
YUMMILICIOUS!!! So flavorful. I made it with pan fried tofu (extra firm, organic) — I used Soba noodles and it was actually better the next day, cold. Key here is to use really good Kimchi (obviously). I am Korean, so am somewhat picky about kimchi recipes, but this really was so yummy! Highly recommend.
Awesome and great to hear! Curious what you think of our Kimchi Recipe? Have your tried making your own? 😉
i did tempeh as my protein
Awesome Lindsay!
Awwww yeaaaaah … this is SO GOOD. Hit another one out of the park, Sylvia! And, thanks to you, I have now discovered I absolutely love kimchi and must have it in the fridge to munch on all the time. Really excited to try your recipe for that too. Thanks so much for what you do!
So happy you enjoyed this Carrie!
This dish was SO good. One of my favorites!
Great to hear Elizabeth! Glad you enjoyed this!
I made this with shrimp and followed the directions exactly except for more kimchi
This is delicious! This is going to be a monthly staple.
Perfect Sharon! Thanks and glad you liked it!
Hi Sylvia,
I love your blog and have tried many of your recipes. Everything has been wonderful and I love the inspiring quotes!
I want to make your kimchi noodles, but all I have on hand is Korean “Mu” Radish kimchi. Could I substitute it in this recipe?
I havent tried that but as long as it tastes good to you, I think it would work fine Jamie!
This is soooooo wonderful. I find myself craving it on the regular. I usually double the recipe so we have lots leftover, it is even GREAT cold and has even more flavour a day later. Thank you so much for sharing this ABSOLUTE GEM of a recipe. It is a great way to use up veggies in the fridge too!
Thanks Stacey- glad you like it!