Weeknight Spicy Noodles with Chicken and Peanuts
Slurpy spicy noodles with chicken and peanuts that come together all in one skillet in just about half an hour?!! Sign me up!
Weeknight cooking just doesn’t get any better!
Seriously, I could eat dishes like this every night of the week!
Every bite is so full of flavor and texture—tender, browned chicken, little cubes of zucchini, crunchy peanuts and chewy noodles all coated in this wonderful spicy, but-not-burn-your-mouth-off red chile oil that comes together in just minutes! You’re are so going to fall in love with this!
And while this dish is killer made fresh, the beauty part is that you could also make it early in the day and simply reheat and serve whenever your crew assembles, which makes it perfect for those nights that everyone seems to be on a different schedule. You know what I mean, right?
I guarantee that everyone will ask for seconds!
And hopefully not thirds because I really, really want you to get a chance to enjoy some for lunch or a quick snack the next day. Oh, and just between us, hiding any leftovers in some nondescript container in the way back of the fridge to ensure that you’re the only one that gets them, is perfectly ok with me! Happy Monday!
Weeknight Spicy Noodles with Chicken and Peanuts
Makes 6 servings
Prep Time: About 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the spicy oil sauce
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (use more if you can handle heat)
1 ½ tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 ½ teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
½ cup canola oil
6 tablespoons roasted, salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
For the chicken and noodles
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 pound ground white meat chicken
1-2 zucchini, diced
10-12 ounces Japanese curly noodles (mine were called chunka soba)
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
3 scallions, chopped
The Recipe
1. To make the spicy oil sauce: In a small heatproof bowl, stir the red pepper flakes, soy sauce and sesame oil together and set aside.
2. In a large deep skillet, heat the1/2 cup canola oil, When it’s hot, carefully add the peanuts and cook for a few minutes, stirring often, until the peanuts are golden and the oil is bubbling—keep a close eye on this because you don’t want the nuts to burn. Carefully pour the oil and nuts into the red pepper flake mixture and stir together. Set aside and don’t wash the skillet.
3. To make the chicken and noodles: Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the noodles according to the package directions until they are al dente. Drain and set aside.
4. Meanwhile, heat the 1 tablespoon oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and press it down with the back of a spoon to make a thin even layer. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and let it cook without stirring so that the bottom, get browned. This should take about 7-8 minutes and you can occasionally press the meat down with a spoon to help it along. Now break up the browned chicken into small pieces and add the diced zucchini, stirring every now and then until chicken is cooked through and zucchini is tender. Add the spicy oil sauce and scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any browned bits. Add in the noodles along with the soy sauce and sesame oil and toss well to coat so that everything gets hot and the flavors get a chance to meld together. Remove from the heat and top with the scallions. Serve immediately.
5. This is best on the day you make it but leftovers are pretty wonderful too! Keep this covered and chilled in the fridge for a few days and reheat or eat cold.
Enjoy!
Note: Recipe adapted from The New York Times. I tinkered quite a bit with this—used different noodles, cut the orange rind, added zucchini, subbed in scallions for chives and upped the amounts of soy sauce and sesame oil. Really just use this recipe as a template.
