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!
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!
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
Sylvia
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 1x
- 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.
Keywords: sesame noodles, vegan sesame noodles, sesame noodles tahini, sesame noodles with chicken, sesame noodles with chicken
Thank you for this excellent recipe. Sauce was especially delicious. Added fried tofu on top. Yum!
★★★★★
Thank you for this recipe. It is so delicious! We have served it a few times. We add extra boiling water to the sauce to make a broth. Then, we layer the noodles, veggies, and garnishes on top. There are no leftovers 🙂
★★★★★
Would peanut butter work in place of tahini? It would turn into peanut noodles and not sesame noodles. I just don’t have any on hand.
yes, I think so!
This was wonderful! I know the problem with runny sauce because it happened to me as well. I used tahini, not tahini paste! To adjust, I whisked in some cornstarch, and added the sauce to the vegetables and let it cook down. Our family has vegans and omnivores, so I sauteed shrimp on the side and made everyone happy.
★★★★★
Great way of fixing it- love it!
Oh my lands, Sylvia, we loved, loved this!! So much flavor and everything went together so well.
★★★★★
Thank so much Laura. Glad you liked it!
Great for a quick, tasty lunch. With my limited grocery shopping during this covid era, I used trader Joe’s frozen Asian vegetables. Added tofu, green onions and sesame seeds. Hope everyone is safe – challenging times!
★★★★★
I made this last night and it was so easy and so delicious! I used shallot, red bell pepper, finely sliced Brussels sprouts, carrot and broccoli. The sauce was amazing. I prepped everything, including the sauce, and blanching the carrot and broccoli for a minute or two, and then put the noodles on to boil. Once they were on I started the stir-fry. Perfection! Thank you so much!
★★★★★
Just made the sauce. Not sure what I did wrong. Followed the recipe exactly but my sauce is not creamy. but watery. Has anyone else had this problem? Maybe when I put the whole dish together the noodles will soak up all the liquid?
Hummm, sorry about that Cindy. I wonder if your sesame paste was on the runny/oily side?
This was fantastic! I doubled the sauce but found that it was a little thinner than I like, so next time I will omit some of the water. Absolutely delicious, and will definitely make again. I used the Banza chickpea spaghetti (I have a wheat allergy), and it tasted like I remember spaghetti tasting, so that’s a bonus 🙂
Will definitely make again and I’m looking forward to the cold noodles tomorrow for lunch!
★★★★★
The Sesame Noodle recipe was perfect! We abused. I cut the oil in half but all else exactly to directions. Freddie says it’s his favorite now. Thanks so much.
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed this Suzanne!
Just made this for dinner. Great use of veggies that need a new purpose! Loved the sauce! Thank you.
★★★★★
Glad you liked this Marilyn!
Delicious and a great way to use up a bunch of random bits vegetables in my fridge.
★★★★★
Really lovely…thank you.
Used up some old veggies in the fridge for this recipe- and honestly wasn’t really expecting this to be as good as it was, given how simple the recipe seemed. It is very addicting and can’t wait to make it again.
★★★★★
We made this for lunch yesterday- so delicious. My husband gobbled it up and asked for more.
★★★★★
Can’t wait to try this! Hot dry sesame noodles is the famous dish from the beleaguered city of Wuhan, my home for two years.
★★★★★
Let me know what you think- it’s not a traditional recipe, so probably a lot different.