Peanut Sauce Noodles Recipe

Bowl of peanut sauce noodles with sliced red, yellow bell peppers and scallions on a striped napkin.

Peanut Sauce Noodles


This quick and easy recipe is perfect for a delicious weeknight meal or a “I don’t want complicated” weekend recipe.

The sauce is a mix of peanut butter, fresh ginger, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and soy that is added to noodles (linguine is great- but any type really) and some colorful bell peppers. Serve it by itself or add some chicken or fried tofu (fry with a cornstarch dusting).

This recipe features our Junmai Rice Wine Vinegar, opens in a new tab.

Which vinegar to use, and why

Peanut sauce needs acid to stop it being cloying, and rice vinegar does it without competing with the sesame and ginger. We use California Junmai Rice Wine Vinegar here. It is slow-fermented and aged in oak at our mill in Worcester, Massachusetts, which is why it seasons the dish rather than just souring it.

Make it ahead and keep it

It keeps covered in the fridge and the flavor settles overnight, which usually improves it.

What to cook next

Try Sugar Snap Peas with Tahini Ginger Dressing, or browse all our vinegar recipes. If you have not cooked with craft vinegar before, a mini bottle sampler set lets you taste across the range before committing to a full-size bottle. Orders over $85 ship free within the contiguous US.

Peanut Sauce Noodles

American Vinegar Works

Servings

2–3 People

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

15 minutes

Calories

1210

Cuisine

Asian-Fusion

Category

Main

This "Peanut Sauce Noodles" recipe is a weeknight champion, designed for those moments when you want a flavorful, satisfying meal without the complexity. The sauce is a savory, nutty blend of peanut butter, fresh ginger, and Junmai Rice Wine Vinegar, providing a bright tang that perfectly balances the richness of the sesame oil and soy. Tossed with colorful bell peppers and silky linguine, it’s a vibrant dish that works beautifully on its own or paired with protein.

Peanut Sauce Noodles

Ingredients

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    • 1/3 cup unsweetened peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

    • 2 tablespoons of Junmai Rice Wine Vinegar

    • 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger

    • 3 tablespoons soy sauce

    • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

    • 1 tablespoon of maple syrup

    • 1 teaspoon of sriracha (optional)

    • Water (when tossing with noodles)

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    • 8 ounces of linguini or other long noodle pasta cooked al dente

    • 3 tablespoons of AVW Olive Oil

    • 2 garlic cloves grated

    • 2 green onions sliced (whites/greens divided)

    • 3 medium bell peppers of different colors (red, orange, yellow) – use half of each

    • ¼ teaspoon of salt

    • Sesame seeds (optional)

    Directions

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      1. Whisk with a fork all the ingredients, other than water, together in a small bowl

      2. The sauce will be pretty thick.  You will loosen by adding water once you add the sauce to the noodles.  The reason you want to add water directly to the noodle/sauce mixture—instead of to the sauce directly—is that you want to be able to control how creamy versus watery everything gets depending on much water came over with the noodles

      3. Salt Note:  We are not adding salt to the sauce because soy has plenty of salt.  You can always adjust salt levels in the final dish.

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      1. Boil heavily salted water and cook your linguine until al dente. 

      2. While pasta boils slice your peppers in thin long slices. I think using half of each bell pepper for this recipe is plenty (save the rest for a different purpose).

      3. Add olive oil to large pan at medium heat and add grated garlic and green onion whites. 

      4. As soon as the garlic is fragrant (less than a minute) add the sliced peppers and salt

      5. Let the peppers cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and cooked (but not sauce!)

      6. Add rice wine vinegar to peppers and stir – you are adding a nice tang to the peppers which will be needed against the richness of the peanut sauce.

      7. Add in the drained cooked pasta, peanut sauce, and start to add some water (pasta water or just cold water) and blend well together.  Start with 1/3 of cup and keep adding as needed.  You want the pasta to have a creamy coating and will likely find that you need to add more water than you expected.

      8. Plate and top with the tops of the green onions and sesame seeds if you have them. Serve right away or sauce will begin to dry

      9. Enjoy by itself or along with fried tofu or grilled chicken.