This 15-Minute Sesame Noodles recipe is quick and easy to make and can be served warm or cold. Feel free to add in extra veggies or proteins (such as chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, tofu, etc.) if you’d like!
Got 15 minutes?
Let’s make some sesame noodles! ♡
This was actually one of the very first recipes that I shared on the blog way back in 2009, and it has been one of my back-pocket, most-used, and most-loved recipes ever since.
As you can see, it’s ridiculously quick and easy to make, basically just taking however long your stove requires to heat and cook a batch of pasta. It’s tossed with a yummy simple sesame sauce made entirely with pantry ingredients. (So no chopping required!) It works goes well as a side dish with just about anything, or can also be gussied up with extra veggies or proteins to make it a main. It is just as delicious served hot outta the pan, or nice and cold as a pasta salad. And most importantly — these sesame noodles are totally tasty.
We make them constantly to serve with stir-frys, soups, salads or baked/grilled proteins. And they are always a hit with any crowd. So if you love noodles as much as we do, I thought I would bump this one back to the top of the blog today so that you can bookmark and keep in your back pocket as well!
Sesame Noodles Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Sesame Noodles Ingredients:
To make this easy sesame noodles recipe, you will need:
- Noodles: I’ve always just made this recipe with basic linguine. But virtually any kind of noodles will work here!
- Soy sauce: I use low-sodium soy sauce.
- Rice vinegar: Or you could substitute red wine vinegar as well.
- Toasted sesame oil: One of my favorite ingredients ever — so much flavor!
- Ground ginger and garlic powder: I’m taking a shortcut here, so that you don’t have to get out your cutting board. But you’re welcome to sub in fresh ginger and garlic if you’d like.
- Chili garlic sauce: I love the flavor of this sauce, but sriracha or other any other hot chili sauces that you like would also work.
- Black pepper: Freshly-cracked is a must here! I also love adding extra to the noodles just before serving.
- Green onions: We will toss these into the noodles themselves, but feel free to sprinkle on a few extras as a garnish.
- Toasted sesame seeds: These are another optional garnish, but I love the extra flavor and crunch that they add. Don’t forget to lightly toast the sesame seeds to bring out their flavor!
How To Make Sesame Noodles:
To make these sesame noodles, simply:
- Cook your pasta. Whatever kind of pasta you choose, just cook it al dente according to package instructions.
- Whisk together the sauce. Meanwhile, as the pasta is cooking, whisk all of your sauce ingredients together in a small bowl until combined.
- Toss everything together. Then once the pasta’s ready to go, drain it completely. Then toss it with the sauce and green onions.
- Taste and season. See if it needs any extra salt, pepper, sesame oil and/or chili garlic sauce.
- Serve warm or cold. Then serve the noodles up right away if you’d like, garnished with your favorite toppings. Or — transfer them to a sealed container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Possible Variations:
Guys, the sky’s the limit with variations on this one! Feel free to:
- Add in protein. Feel free to add in some chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, or tofu to your noodles, either stir-fried in a separate sauté pan or baked separately in the oven.
- Add in veggies. Just about any stir-fry veggies would work well with these noodles, such as asparagus, bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, green beans, mushrooms, onions, peas, squash or zucchini.
- Add in greens. Sautéed bok choy, cabbage, kale, spinach or other greens would also be delicious mixed in.
- Make it peanut-y. Feel free to add in 2-3 tablespoons of natural peanut butter to the sauce to make it more of a peanut sauce.
- Make it sweeter. Sounds odd, but I also love this recipe with a tablespoon of maple syrup added. It makes for a nice sweet and salty balance.
- Make it spicy. Feel free to double or triple the amount of garlic chili sauce in the recipe if you would like an extra kick.
- Use different noodles. Any kind of noodles — from ramen to rice noodles, udon, soba, yakisoba, lo mein noodles or sweet potato noodles — would work well in this recipe.
- Use zoodles. Want to make this gluten-free and healthier? Try subbing in zucchini noodles for half (or all!) of the noodles.
What To Serve With Sesame Noodles:
These sesame noodles would go well with a number of other dishes, including:
- Stir-Fry: Pretty much any kind of stir fry would pair delicious with these noodles, such as my Magical Garlicky Tofu, Chicken and Broccoli, Sesame Beef and Cabbage Stir-Fry, Pineapple Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry, or Sizzlin’ Spicy Szechuan Stir-Fry,
- Soup: I love serving these noodles with my Egg Drop Soup, Hot and Sour Soup or Miso Soup.
- Proteins: Any of your favorite proteins, such as Chicken, Beef, Pork, Shrimp, or Tofu, would be delicious served alongside (or mixed into) these noodles.
- Veggies: The noodles would also pair well with a side of Everything Roasted Asparagus or Miso Roasted Brussels Sprouts.
Enjoy, everyone!
Sesame Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 pound (16 ounces) uncooked pasta (I used linguine)
- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce or sriracha
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper
- 1/2 cup thinly-sliced green onions
- optional toppings: toasted sesame seeds, extra green onions, extra black pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta al dente according to package instructions in a large stockpot of generously-salted water.
- Meanwhile, as the pasta is cooking, whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ground ginger, chili garlic sauce, garlic powder and black pepper together in a bowl until combined.
- Once the pasta is ready, drain it. Then immediately toss the pasta with the sauce and green onions until combined.
- Serve warm or cold, sprinkled with your desired toppings. Or transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
Delicious!! This was a perfect, fast dinner tonight!! Threw in sautéed spinach, leftover broccoli and corn at the last minute and it was a perfect addition. Thank you!
Thank you Jennifer, we’re so glad you liked it! :)
Do you have nutritional information available?
Hi Lathonia! We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
I made this tonight 01/21/2016 exactly all the ingredients and my family of five loved it. I didnt think i would like the whole wheat linguine but it was actually good. I definitely will make this again. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
We’re so glad to hear that Toya, thanks for giving it a try! :)
This is a great recipe for that authentic “asian” noodle flavor. To the lady who said it was bland, maybe you did something wrong? If you made this dressing exactly as the recipe states, it’s basically impossible for it to be bland. You’ve got your salty/umame flavor from the soy sauce, tang from the rice vinegar, spicy, nutty sesame, savory garlic, spicy/sweet ginger and the great green onion flavor. Maybe you didn’t let it sit together and meld the flavors long enough? Or maybe you just added all the ingredients separately into the cooked pasta? Either way, I would recommend making this sauce even a day or so ahead and then warming it up a bit before you toss with the noodles. Perfection!
Thanks for sharing Paige, we’re happy you enjoyed this! :)
Hi Ali! Do you think this sauce would be cupboard sustainable for a few days? I thought maybe because of the ingredients it might. I’m trying to send my son in the Navy a care package of easy ingredients to put together and he loves Asian noodles:)
Hi Belinda! We think that should absolutely be fine, and that’s so nice of you! We hope your son enjoys it! :)
My kids and I just cooked this for the first time and served these noodles with your Char Sui pork fillet dish ; I can honestly say that together, it was one of the tastiest meals I’ve had for a very long time! The kids LOVED them too and both dishes were so easy that my sons (11 year old twins) could easily manage them by themselves. I also realised that apart from store cupboard bits, the pork and noodles together cos us less than £4.50!! Am certain it will become a staple in our house! THANK YOU!!
Awww thanks so much Lindsey, we’re happy you and your kiddos enjoyed these! :D
Not very impressed with the sauce. very bland. I used Asian Toasted Sesame I had in the refrigerator.
We’re sorry to hear you didn’t care for this Gina, we hope you can find another recipe you like better!
These look amaze!! Says who? Sesame! Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Great pics, thanks for sharing. I added this to my “recipes to eat stat!” list on Pinterest. ; )
Haha! :D We hope you love these Christopher!
Just what we needed to avoid getting take out tonight! Thanks!
Yay, we hope you enjoy it Athena!
Wait! This was super easy and freaking amazing…… Thank you!
Win-win! So glad you liked it!
You’re so welcome Priscilla, we’re happy you liked it!