Vegan Peanut Noodles with Vegetables

I like to use a combination of red cabbage, carrots, and cucumber, but to make the recipe even quicker use pre-chopped veggies.  Feel free to add cooked edamame or crispy oil-free tofu.  The recipe uses a variation of my 5-minute vegan peanut salad dressing, which can be prepped ahead of time to make this recipe come together even quicker. 

The vegan peanut sauce noodles are easy, vegan, and gluten-free (depending on the noodles you use).  They're also packed with colorful veggies covered in a flavor-packed homemade peanut sauce. The noodles can be served cold, so they work great for vegan packed lunches, just like this recipe for tahini soba noodles. For more weeknight meals, try quinoa zesty salad, vegan tomato pasta, or pasta with tahini sauce.

Ingredient notes and substitutions

It's a simple recipe, but please see the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and exact measurements.

Peanut Butter - Use natural peanut butter for these vegan peanut butter noodles, the kind made with just peanuts and maybe salt.  Before measuring, stir the natural peanut butter to combine any oil separation.  Almond butter can also be used instead of peanut butter.

Tamari - Use tamari or low-sodium soy sauce, regular soy sauce may be too salty for this easy peanut sauce.  I usually stick to tamari and if I can't find that I'll use low-sodium soy sauce.

Fresh lime juice - Use about 1 lime for tang and freshness. 

Maple syrup - Use for a little sweetness.

Rice vinegar - For a little tang.

Ginger - Freshly grated ginger for more flavor.

Garlic powder - This can be substituted with 1-2 cloves of minced fresh garlic.

Crushed red pepper - Add for more of a kick to the vegan peanut sauce noodles or substitute with a chili paste.

Noodles - I use rice noodles, but udon noodles or soba noodles can also be used.  The easy vegan peanut noodles can even be made with long pasta noodles, like regular spaghetti.  See tips for noodles below if you use pasta.

Vegetables - I use red cabbage, cucumber, and a couple of carrots for these vegan peanut noodles with vegetables.  The carrot can be shredded instead of peeled if you prefer.  To make ribbons, use a vegetable peeler and peel the carrots lengthways until you can't peel anymore; then eat the rest of the carrot, save it for homemade vegetable broth, or place it in the compost.  

A Mandoline slicer makes shredding cabbage quick and easy.  It creates thin and consistent slices, but please use the hand guard to protect your fingers.

Use whatever raw veggies are your favorite in this delicious recipe.  Other vegetables that would work great are red bell peppers, green onions, snap peas, chopped broccoli, shredded green cabbage, or zucchini noodles.

Tips for noodles

For these peanut sauce noodles, I tested a few different brands of rice noodles and they each had different instructions on how to cook them.  Make sure you cook the noodles according to your package instructions.  All of the brands I tested with direct you to rinse the noodles after cooking.  Even after draining the noodles, the rinsing process added too much excess liquid for my preference and diluted the sauce.

So if you rinse your brown rice noodles, skip the ¼ cup of water.  If you substitute with pasta that doesn't need rinsing, then add ¼ cup of water to the sauce when preparing it.  If you don't have brown rice noodles, 8 ounces of spaghetti can be substituted.  In that scenario, add ¼ cup of water to the peanut sauce to thin it out.

The recipe was only tested with brown rice noodles, white rice noodles, and whole wheat pasta. Some gluten-free pasta usually needs to be rinsed after cooking, but I don't know if it holds on to water like brown and white rice noodles.

Additions to vegan peanut noodles

• Feel free to add cooked edamame. 
• Or try it with oil-free crispy tofu or easy oil-free marinated tofu.
• Substitute the vegetables with any that sound delicious with noodles and peanut sauce. 

Instructions

Prep your fresh veggies!  

In a large pot of water, cook the noodles according to the package directions, then drain and rinse under cold water. Whisk the sauce ingredients together.  Use a blender instead of a whisk for a smoother consistency.

Use a large bowl to toss the noodles, veggies, and creamy peanut sauce together!  If the sauce is too thick add a splash of water.

Serve them as is or top the peanut noodles with chopped roasted nuts, sesame seeds, fresh cilantro, or more crushed red pepper flakes (if you like it extra spicy).

Storage

Leftovers are great served cold for the next day.  Store in airtight containers and they're best consumed within 3 days.  The peanut butter sauce can be made in advance, but it may thicken after being refrigerated.  Add a little water at a time to thin out so it is thin enough to toss with the noodles and fresh vegetables.

Related recipes

• Easy chickpea stew
• Peanut tempeh bowl
• Roasted sweet potato bowl

As always, I hope you enjoy the recipe for vegan creamy peanut noodles! If you like the recipe, feel free to rate it and leave a comment.