Stir-fried Chinese Sesame Noodles, loaded up with healthy veggies and tossed in the most delicious, creamy vegan Sesame Sauce made with tahini paste! Make this in 20 minutes flat and keep it vegan or add chicken- up to you! With a video!
Here’s a simple recipe for Chinese Sesame Noodles, loaded up with healthy veggies. Today I used up all the stray farmer’s market veggies we had hiding in our fridge. Luckily down here in California the farmer’s markets are still open and FULL of amazing produce. No lines or cues. Just sayin.’
You could also make this with pre-packaged stir-fry veggies, or just use what you have on hand.
The Sesame Sauce is so flavorful, it won’t matter too much what combination of veggies you use. Traditionally this is made without veggies at all- so you could go that route and add chicken for protein if you like. Very adaptable.
What I love about this recipe, besides the flavor, is how easy it is! This can be made in 15-20 minutes. Seriously, just as long as it takes to heat the water and boil noodles. While the noodles are boiling you can easily make the sesame sauce and saute the veggies. Fast and EASY!
How to make Chinese Sesame Noodles! | 45-second video
If you are curious about the red looking condiment at the top- well, good! You should be! Of course, I will be sharing it soon too. It’s a Chili Peanut Oil we’ve been putting on everything. (It goes well with Mexican food too!)
This Sesame Noodle recipe starts with sauteing garlic, onion, ginger and veggies. Here I’ve gathered up a carrot, some leftover mushrooms, cabbage and broccolini. Bell pepper, asparagus, green beans, snow peas, shredded brussel sprouts- any quick-cooking veggies will work. Use about 4 cups.
FYI: This recipe makes 2-3 portions- using 4 cups of veggies! Healthy and full of nutrients!
While the veggies are sauteing, start cooking the noodles and make the Creamy Sesame Sauce.
Traditionally a Chinese style sesame paste would be used here, but for simplicity, I’m using tahini paste. One less trip to the store. Chinese sesame paste is made with toasted sesame seeds instead of raw sesame seeds- so to compensate I’ve added toasted sesame oil.
Stir the tahini paste with soy sauce, sesame oil, honey or alternative, chili paste, rice vinegar, and a little water. If you like it extra saucy, feel free to double the sauce.
Drain the noodles – here I’ve just used chow mein noodles- but you could use soba noodles , buckwheat noodles or even plain old spaghetti. Use what you have. I prefer a more toothsome noodle here over rice noodles (unless they are brown rice noodles) but do as you please.
Your favorite GF pasta would work too. 🙂
Then just toss it all together with the veggies, noodles, and the Sesame sauce and serve it up nice and warm.
Top with more chili paste if you like, toasted sesame seeds and crushed peanuts! I always love adding something fresh like sprouts or scallions or even sliced cucumber or radish.
If making this ahead, toss the noodles with sesame oil and wait to add the Creamy Sesame Sauce until serving.
So there you have it. A simple, mouthwatering vegan dinner recipe that can be made in 20 minutes using ingredients you probably have on hand!
On the homefront: We are fine. Thanks for all your emails and well wishes. Santa Barbara is probably one of the best places to be quarantined. We walk on the beach most days or try to get outside in the sunshine in some form, every day. There are lines here to most of the grocery stores and lots of bare shelves, so I’ve been trying to avoid them and opt for the farmers market. But other than that, I’m enjoying the quiet easy rhythm of our life. It’s actually a nice break and it feels good to turn inward. Creativity seems to flow from this place.
Ok- Let us know how you like the Chinese Sesame Noodles with veggies in the comments below. I hope you are holding up OK and having a restful week.
xoxo
PrintSesame Noodles
Flavorful Sesame Noodles, loaded up with healthy veggies and tossed in the most delicious, creamy, vegan Sesame Sauce! Make this in 20 minutes flat! Keep it vegan or add chicken- up to you!
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2-3
- Category: noodles, main, vegan, stir fry
- Method: stir fry
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1–2 tablespoons oil
- 4 cloves garlic, rough chopped
- 1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
- 1/2 an onion, sliced
- 4 cups saute-able veggies (cabbage, peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, asparagus, snow peas, etc.) cut small.
- 4–5 ounces dry noodles (soba noodles, buckwheat noodles, chow mein noodles, low mein, spaghetti, brown rice noodles , gluten-free noodles, etc.)
Creamy Sesame Sauce: (For extra “saucey” double this)
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce (Or GF Braggs Liquid Aminos)
- 3 tablespoons tahini paste, or Chinese Sesame Paste
- 1–2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon honey or vegan alternative like maple
- 1–2 teaspoon chili paste or sriacha, more to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
Garnish: scallions, toasted sesame seeds, sprouts, roasted peanuts, sliced cucumber or radish.
Instructions
Boil water for pasta.
In a large skillet (or wok) heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and ginger and the veggies of your choice. Saute, 3-4 minutes, turn heat down to low, and continue cooking until just tender.
At the same time, cook the noodles according to directions and make the Creamy Sesame Sauce.
Creamy Sesame Sauce: Place all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk with fork until smooth. Taste. Add more chili paste and salt and pepper to taste.
Once the veggies are tender, and noodles are drained toss them together along with the sauce, coating well. Serve warm, top with sprout or other options.
Enjoy!
Notes
If you want rich thick sesame sauce, leave out the water (or if your tahini paste seems very runny). You can always add water to thin.
If making this ahead, toss noodles with a little sesame oil. Wait to toss with the creamy Sesame Sauce until ready to serve.
Feel free to add crispy tofu or simple baked chicken.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 497
- Sugar: 10.8 g
- Sodium: 960.8 mg
- Fat: 22.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 66.4 g
- Fiber: 4.2 g
- Protein: 15.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: sesame noodles, vegan sesame noodles, sesame noodles tahini, sesame noodles with chicken, sesame noodles with chicken
Took me almost an hour since I’m a slow chopper, I guess. So easy and delicious. We had cauliflower, celery, mushrooms and zucchini in ours, topped with shredded carrot and a radish. It does need the toppings to liven up the color I’d say. We also had a leftover Peruvian chicken thigh and some fresh tofu chopped up into it too.. Thanks for another winner!
★★★★★
Perfect Janet!
This was so yummy! Because I am Korean, I sub’d the chili paste and use gochujang– I highly recommend trying it!
★★★★★
Great to hear Oak!
This was very good, very easy. Made it as described this time. So easy to sub in different veggies, noodles, etc, though. The sauce is a total keeper. This one will be in regular rotation, especially when I have odds and ends in the fridge!
★★★★★
Yes Cristina, perfect for that! Glad you enjoyed.
The first time I made this, I found the sauce a bit overwhelming (just used regular tahini and sesame oil, so maybe that had something to do with it). I made it again and halved the amount of sauce with slightly less tahini than the recipe calls for (so that it wasn’t as creamy) and it was perfect 🙂 I love how quick and easy it is – great way to use leftover vegetables!
★★★★★
Perfect Leanne!
Can tahini be replaced with peanut butter?
Hi Pina- I don’t see why not? Give it a try!
This was delicious. I tried brown rice noodles for the first time and they did not come out the way I would have preferred. Next time, I’ll use a pasta. I used green/purple cabbage, carrots, broccoli, peppers, snow peas and added some poached shredded chicken. All of the vegetables were nice and crunchy and perfect. I made a double batch of dressing which was perfect for us. The dressing is so delicious. I had left over dressing and used it on a lettuce salad the next day. Great recipe and super simple. Next up, your Cornbread Casserole. Can’t wait to try it. Thank you for inspiring me several times a week.
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed this CherieDe!
The Tinkyada brand of brown rice noodles I used are terrific. The directions are a little different than most: boil for 2 minutes, then cover off the stove for 18 and drain. Not mushy, not sticky. Perfect.
Thanks Janet!
I’m sitting here having this for lunch and I just had to leave a comment !!
This is AMAZINGGGG thank you so much for this recipe !!
★★★★★
Good
★★★★★
Great recipe with a nice nutty flavour from the tahini. We omitted the onion, garlic, honey & chilli, and it still tasted great. Next time for us we will half the quantity of sauce to tone down the flavours of the dish. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
★★★★★
Could I add Thai Basil to this dish?
I can’t picture that here- but feel free to give it a try, if that is calling out to you. 😉