Skip your local Thai restaurant when you’re craving Thai Peanut Noodles with Chicken and make it at home instead! Thai peanut sauce and noodles couldn’t be simpler to make!
Easy Peanut Noodles with Thai Peanut Sauce
I’ve resisted posting too many Asian inspired recipes on here because of one little secret: I don’t do spicy. It seems like many favorite Asian recipes have a good kick of heat to them, and I’m not a huge fan of that. But these Thai peanut noodles with peanut sauce are perfect for those that like a good hit of Sriracha and those who don’t. Thai peanut noodles with chicken is my new favorite!
This Thai peanut sauce had me all over the place when I first started testing recipes. Some recipes call for coconut milk, fish sauce, and curry paste, while others stick with peanut butter and sriracha. So what’s the right way?
The more I researched, the more I found that there were a few ingredients in common and others that were basically at-home cooks trying to wing it. Coconut milk makes for a creamy sauce, but it also totally dulls the peanut butter, so that was an easy out.
Sriracha or chili flakes appeared often, but in the end sriracha won because we liked how it came incorporated into the sauce so evenly.
Fish sauce sounded like it must be a shoo-in as many Asian recipes use it, but again it seemed to overpower the other flavors so we got rid of it. Soy sauce or tamari, its gluten-free friend, were a better choice for that salty flavor without the fish flavor. Plus, we liked how it darkened the sauce and smoothed everything out.
Vinegar and sesame oil were back and forth in recipes, but we missed that subtle flavor when it was gone so we added it back in.
Here’s what we ended up with: ginger and garlic for sure, peanut butter and sriracha for the basic sauce flavors, and a punch of lime juice to brighten everything up. We stuck with warm water instead of coconut milk to thin things up a bit and you could certainly add more if you’d like.
Alright, but what about the Thai peanut noodles? Well, the noodles were a little tricky too. It’s much harder for us to find a good Pad Thai, Rice Noodle, or other Asian noodle so we had to look for one that would hold up to the savory sauce but not be so big and fat that the sauce ends up lost. We ended up using Angel hair pasta or spaghetti, and while I’m sure there are better options this was the most convenient and appetizing for weeknight Thai peanut noodles.
Ahhhh, the Thai peanut chicken needs a moment as well. You see, grilling or baking chicken and then dressing with a sauce fell pretty flat. The sauce didn’t stay on the chicken and the flavor was lacking. You could totally tell it was a plain piece of chicken with a little sauce. We decided to marinate the chicken in the homemade peanut sauce, and although it is absolutely freezing outside we had no choice but to turn to the grill.
Marinating penetrates the chicken all the way through so every bite has a wonderful blast of that irresistible peanut sauce.
The grill brings that extra smoky, enhanced flavor to the chicken and those little black grill marks not only make the meat more appetizing but it really does take the meat to a new level.
Thai Peanut Noodles & Peanut Sauce Ingredients
For the Thai peanut noodles and peanut chicken, you’ll need:
- Chicken breasts
- Bell peppers
- Sliced red cabbage
- Cucumber
- Sesame seeds
- Cilantro
- Roasted salted peanuts
- Green onions
- Pasta
And to make the easy peanut sauce, you’ll need:
- Creamy peanut butter
- Sriracha
- Lime juice
- Honey
- Toasted sesame oil
- Water
- Fresh ginger
- Garlic
- Soy sauce
- Rice vinegar
Can I Omit the Peanut Chicken?
If you don’t eat meat or are simply in a rush and don’t have time to marinate or cook the peanut chicken, you’re welcome to omit it. You’d be left with a delicious Thai noodle recipe regardless.
Just note that by omitting the chicken, you’d wind up with lots of leftover peanut butter sauce. So, you can either halve the sauce recipe or save the leftovers for later!
How to Make Thai Peanut Sauce Noodles with Chicken
The Thai peanut noodles with homemade peanut butter sauce takes little time to prep. Here’s how we make the homemade Thai peanut sauce and peanut noodles:
- Whisk together the easy peanut sauce.
- Marinate the chicken in half the peanut sauce for at least an hour.
- Grill the marinated chicken until cooked through.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package instructions.
- Drain the pasta and toss with the remaining Thai peanut sauce, grilled chicken, and veggies.
- Top your Thai peanut sauce noodles with peanuts, cilantro, sesame seeds, and green onion.
What Grill Pan Do You Recommend?
If you don’t want to venture outside, please promise me to use the best grill pan by Lodge. It’s a cast iron grill pan and its ridges are deep enough to actually leave marks, but not so high that the meat takes forever to cook. Plus, it’s only $12! That’s a major steal.
We just found this Lodge Cleaning Kit with a scrub brush, etc. to keep your pan looking and working great without all of the elbow grease. It’s like $20 but it really is worth it. You shouldn’t be caring for your cast iron like your other pans, so buying a couple of items meant for cast iron is a must.
How Long Does Peanut Sauce Last?
If stored in an airtight container in the fridge, the Thai peanut sauce will last up to 2 weeks.
Tips for Making Thai Peanut Sauce & Peanut Noodles
A quick note: ginger is best if it’s fresh in this peanut sauce recipe, but figuring out how to peel ginger can really distract some people from wanting to use it. We recommend peeling ginger with a spoon, not a knife or potato peeler. Just scrape the spoon over the ginger and the peel will come right off and then use a fine holed cheese grater to grate it, or you can mince with a knife.
I should also note that we prefer marinating our chicken in the Thai peanut sauce overnight, although an hour will work if you’re in a rush.
I also like to prep all of the veggies once I’ve set the chicken aside to marinate. I pop the prepped veggies into a 3 compartment storage container. I’ve already prepped the meat, so I just figure I’d might as well take 5 more minutes to prep the veggies, and the storage container keeps everything fresh without blending flavors.
More EASY ASIAN RECIPES:
- Teriyaki Veggie Bowls
- 15-Minute Chicken Stir-Fry
- Teriyaki Chicken Casserole
- Classic Chinese Orange Chicken
- Quick Cashew Chicken
- Slow Cooker Asian Sticky Ribs
- Sweet and Sour Meatballs
- Healthy Thai Peanut Steak Salad
- Slow Cooker Korean BBQ Beef
- All of Our Asian Recipes!
Thai Peanut Sauce Noodles and Chicken
Thai Peanut Noodles and Chicken
Description
Ingredients
- 3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, , cut in 1" Pieces
- 1 Red Bell Pepper, , sliced
- 1 Orange Bell Pepper, , sliced
- 1/2 Cup Red Cabbage, sliced
- 1 Cucumber, , peeled and sliced thin then cut in 1-2" pieces
- Sesame Seeds
- 1/3 Cup Cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 Cup Dry Roasted, Salted Peanuts, , roughly chopped
- 2 Tablespoons Green Onions, , sliced
- 1/2 Package Pasta, * see note
Thai Peanut Sauce
- 1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
- 2-3 Tablespoons Sriracha
- 1/4 Cup Fresh Lime Juice
- 1/4 Cup Honey
- 2 Tablespoons Toasted Sesame Oil
- 1/2 Cup Warm Water
- 3 Tablespoons Fresh Grated Ginger
- 6 Cloves Garlic, , minced
- 1/3 Cup Soy Sauce
- 1 Teaspoon Rice Vinegar
Instructions
- Whisk together the peanut sauce ingredients and pour half into an 8x8" baking pan. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to overnight.
- Reserve the remaining peanut sauce for the noodles.
- Heat a grill to medium high heat. Place the chicken on skewers and grill for 8 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from the heat and tent with foil.
- Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to package instructions.
- Drain the pasta and toss with the chicken, peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, and sauce.
- Top with peanuts, cilantro, green onions and sesame seeds. Serve with additional sriracha if desired. I never do, but Cade does. 😉
Mary
Everyone who is critical of this recipe clearly did something wrong, because it is fantastic and SUPER flavorful. Y’all are crazy lol. Love it!
Sweet Basil
You’re the best Mary! Thank you!!
Carole Deladurantaye
I didn’t care for this recipe, to peanut buttery tasting !
Sweet Basil
Thanks for the feedback Carole!
Mary
I mean… it calls for a cup of peanut butter 😂
Tia Z
This was a great recipe, I like that the raw veggies gave it a good crunch. And the peanut sauce was well balanced. Marinating and grilling the chicken adds great flavor. I only put 1 tbsp of sriracha in to adjust for my toddlers and they liked it! I ended up not using all the sauce but I think if I used more pasta I would have. We definitely will make it again.
Sweet Basil
Love to hear this Tia! Thank you so much! It’s a great day when you find a recipe the toddlers will eat!
Krista
Amazing! One of my favorite peanut sauces.
Sweet Basil
Thank you so much Krista!
Fractalmoon
Made this for dinner tonight. I used rice noodles. Flavor was ok (kids didn’t complain) but I did miss the umami flavors that fish sauce gives. I usually also use Sherry in my Asian dishes. So it was just missing that extra special something… The sauce was also SUPER thick. I had to water it down A LOT!!! I also prefer my veggies crisp but cooked, as it’s the veggies being somewhat stirfried with the meat, even for a few minutes, that really incorporates their flavors into the dish. I did like the flavor of the marinated and grilled chicken. I will likely not use this recipe again. Sorry, I hate leaving bad reviews but I have to be honest about my opinion. It just wasn’t great for me.
Sweet Basil
Hello! Thank you for the feedback! It definitely sounds like some things went wrong.
Fractalmoon
No, nothing went wrong. I followed the recipe to a T. Besides adding more water than the recipe called for. My sauce was thick like an Alfredo sauce and made the whole dish very sticky. It’s ok. I guess some like thick sauce….nothing wrong there. I just didn’t care for it to be so heavy and was a little surprised. Just want those who like a thinner lighter sauce to know that’s not what you get with this recipe without a lot of watering down. Which I’m sure did wash out some of the flavoring too, unfortunately.
Sweet Basil
Thank you! Yes, it is a thick sauce. Thank you for the honest feedback!
Stacy
I made this for the first time and it was excellent! I used it with rice noodles that we had on hand making it gluten free. It tasted so fresh with warm chicken and noodles and then the crunch of fresh veggies.
Sweet Basil
I love it! Thank you so much Stacy!! And thanks for the tip for making it gf!
Sandra
This is the first time I’ve made this and it was amazing!!! Like you mentioned there were so many variations on this recipe and I went with yours because it sounded like the way I would make it and it turned out great! Thanks ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sweet Basil
Yay! Love to hear this! Thank you so much Sandra!
CMB
Delicious and forgiving….made this in a cast iron skillet in a cottage so had to use garlic powder and powdered ginger, and no sesame oil (☹️). It was still yummy. Can’t wait to try again at home with the real ingredients, and sesame oil.
Sweet Basil
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Where was the cottage? It sounds so dreamy!
Jennifer Borys
Made for dinner tonight…FANTASTIC!!! We’re not a cucumber loving family so I omitted and added some extra cabbage, peppers and scallions. Grilled the chicken outside on charcoal. So much flavor. This will definitely be in the regular dinner rotation at our house. Thank you for posting this delicious recipe!
Sweet Basil
Love to hear this Jennifer! And you’re right, it is so dang good on the grill! Thank you for taking time to leave us a comment!
Laura
Shoot. It doesn’t seem like anyone ever says anything negative about Pinterest recipes so I feel kind of guilty not raving over this one. Sorry, but I just didn’t care for it. I found it way too heavy handed on the peanut butter, and I LOVE peanut butter. It was very heavy and somewhat chalky because of that. I’ve tried one other Thai peanut type recipe and that one had maybe a quarter as much PB, and that was delicious.
It looks like most people quite liked it, though, so maybe it’s just me.
Sweet Basil
Thank you for your honesty!! Not every recipe is for everyone and we totally understand!! 🙂
Emily B
This was a fantastic recipe! Huge hit for both my husband and I, and it works great to have as leftovers too 🙂
Sweet Basil
Yes, the leftovers are so good! Thank you so much for leaving feedback!
Virginia Liz
A big hit for the whole family (including two ravenous teenage boys)! Fabulous peanut sauce! I’ve made some different Thai peanut sauce recipes over the years. So glad that I‘ve now found this one that has all my favorite ingredients together in the right proportion without me having to improvise. And I love the crisp veggies thrown in at the end.
I marinated the chicken all day and then grilled it outside in my grill wok (even though it’s pretty chilly here today!). I grill in all weather! I highly recommend a grill wok or basket—just toss anything into it without having to take the time to skewer. And if you’re grilling a mix of meat and vegetables, you can throw them into the wok at different times based on the cooking time needed for each ingredient.
The only change I made to the recipe was using flat-leaf parsley instead of cilantro. (We have differing opinions on cilantro in my house—including “It tastes like soap!”)
Thanks so much for this great recipe!
Sweet Basil
Thank you so much for the feedback! We grill year round too here! I’ve read that people have a genetic condition that makes cilantro taste like soap. I’m so glad I don’t have those genes!
Maggie
This is the best peanut sauce recipe I’ve ever found. I added other veggies and served it with rice, because I was using up ingredients, but it was still fantastic. My husband even called the sauce “thrilling” – I think it was the sriracha that inspired that! – and said it was the best stir fry I’ve ever made. This will be my go-to.
Sweet Basil
Awwww…thank you so much Maggie! You’ve made my day! Thank you for taking time to leave us a comment and review!
Dana Adkins
The calorie content, is that based on 4 portions per the recipe? It says 4-6 portions. Kind of confusing
Sweet Basil
Hi Dana! It is based on one serving which is 1 bowl of noodles with the sauce.
Daniel Gullette
I made this, but used riced cauliflower instead of noodles for a slightly healthy version. It was very good and will definitely be making it again!
Sweet Basil
Love to hear that! Thank you for taking time to leave a comment!
B
How can you claim you don’t do spicy and include siracha in the recipe? Smacks of click bait. The recipe is great wo it!! Thx for sharing
Sweet Basil
A little bit is sriracha is ok, but I can’t do a lot!
KikiCT
Absolutely delicious! The peanut sauce is so balanced and delicious. Once the sauce is made, it’s very little work and everyone devoured dit
Sweet Basil
Yay! Thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed it!
Hope Hyder
This was great. I did opt for a few changes- carrot but no celery. I also used maple instead of honey and I dropped the vinegar completely. I also used linguine pasta and we went vegan with it. Overall, it was a fantastic recipe!
Sweet Basil
Thanks for the feedback Hope! I love all the alterations you made! One of my favorite things about cooking is taking a recipe and making it your own!
Hayley
So I never comment on recipes but let me say that this is one for the books. I made it a few weeks ago and have since made it three time and find myself craving it all the time.
I change up the noodles and veggies all the time but the only change I made to the sauce was to use chunky PB rather than creamy. Adds some nice texture.
Thanks for this amazing recipe!!
Sweet Basil
Thank you for the feedback Hayley! I love swapping out different veggies! Have you seen our post for our healthy Thai steak salad? https://ohsweetbasil.com/healthy-thai-peanut-steak-salad-recipe/
Janine
I love this recipe. I made the peanut sauce as written but I was worried it would taste sweet with the honey but it didn’t. I found the sauce a little thick on the pasta so I thinned it with a small amount of pasta water and it was perfect. Thanks for this recipe it was exactly what I was looking for.
Sweet Basil
Hi Janine! You’re so welcome. So glad you enjoyed it!
MichaelM
Great recipe all around. Don’t have a Lodge pan but that will change.
I usually stir-fry the chicken (I have a very old Chinese recipe that is simple and to die for), toss with the noodles, hit it with sauce and finish it with fresh cilantro and crushed peanuts or cashews on top.
It’s good hot, warm or cold. Sad thing is there are never any leftovers ;(
Really nice food blog. Keep rockin’ It. 👊🏼
M
Sweet Basil
Thanks, Michael! And that sounds amazing! I would love to try your recipe if you’re willing to share it!
Car
I hate long intros, I skip them right away and go to the recipe… Who has time for such long stories?
Sweet Basil
Fair enough! That’s what Google and other search engines like, so we keep on keeping on!
Kathy
I prefer the long intros because the tell me whether or not you have experimented to find the prefect blend of ingredients and just HOW you went about it all and why…very informative!! Your is especially informative without a long life story as some tend to do, but all in all, they are helpful! Keep up the good work!
I will be trying this recipe this week!
By the way, I JUST found your blog and this is the first time I’ve left a comment on any.
Thank you for sharing your recipes!
Sweet Basil
Thank you so much Kathy! We try to be as real with our readers as we can! We hope you enjoy this dish. Please let us know what you think and thank you for the support!
Rachael
So delicious! Thank you for this recipe. I used Gardien meatless chick’n strips and they were such as easy sub. 5 star.
Sweet Basil
Thank you Rachael!! It could totally be made without chicken too and just add other veggies! Thanks for your feedback!
Q
Do you toss the veggies in raw?
Q
I mean, after noodles and chicken cook and then cook with veggies further, or more like for garnishing after plating noodles and chicken.
Sweet Basil
Toss the raw veggies with the cooked pasta and chicken, then garnish with the peanuts, green onions, cilantro, and sesame seeds.
Sweet Basil
Yes
Dyanne
Made the Peanut sauce tonight,
VERY yummy.
I halved the recipe as I was only cooking for 2.
Had to substitute ground ginger, I used a generous 1/4 tsp. I was a little generous with the acids – lime juice and vinegar, garnished with sliced green onions and it came out great!!
Will definitely be adding to the rotation 🙂
Sweet Basil
Yes! We love to hear that! I do the happy dance when I find a new recipe to add to the rotation! Thanks for leaving feedback!
Karen
What is your pasta package size? 7oz? 14oz? 1lb? 2lb?
Sweet Basil
14 ounces 🙂
Claire
How long does the sauce keep in the refrigerator or does it freeze well? I made chicken and noodles for one but I went by the recipe for the sauce so I have a ton of left over. I did not use ginger or siracha as I did not have any. Would love to know how to store left over sauce so none of it’s wasted. Thanks!!
Sweet Basil
Hi Claire, it will kee for two weeks in the fridge if sealed.
Raymond Makris
This dish is highly suspect. The removal of everything that makes this dish what it is really sad. If you don’t wanna use the ingredients in Thai food then don’t attempt to cook Thai food.
Taylor
I think all they are missing is Welch’s grape jelly in order to make the classic American-Italian Peanut Butter and Jelly noodle.
Miranda Cunningham
This recipe is actually pretty authentic. I would leave in the fish sauce and cut the massive amounts of honey. They pointed out a lot of the recipes with other ingredients are actually Americanized
Molly
Did you actually MAKE the recipe as promoted? She made it easier, and AUTHENTIC taste all in one. I must defend this recipe as it is right up there in texture and taste. To be “sad” over a very useful and easy Thai dish is a little “suspect” JMHO.
Sweet Basil
Thanks Molly!
Jonna
Hi, I made your Thai peanut sauce and noodle salad today. It was fantastic. I followed your recipe exactly and it was outstanding. Thanks so much!
Sweet Basil
Thank you so much! Happy you enjoyed it!
LeAnn
Your recipe says: 1/2 package pasta *see note
– I can’t find a “*note” within the recipe…..
Sweet Basil
Hi LeAnn, at the bottom of the recipe it just says the kind we prefer, We prefer Angel Hair or Spaghetti
shawnna griffin
hey girl- this looks so yummy!
Beth
If that tastes as good as it looks I cannot wait to make it. I love the name of your web site and I love basil. Cant wait to make this.
Sweet Basil
Hope you love it! Thanks for the kind words!