Spicy Sesame Garlic Noodles

These Vegan Spicy Sesame Garlic Noodles are gluten-free, protein-packed, easy, and so so tasty!

I was super lazy one night and didn't feel like making dinner. I know, it happens to me too, more often than not actually. I went back and forth between the fridge and the pantry twenty times debating if cereal would be enough to eat until I saw brown rice noodles and peanut butter. We get inspiration from the weirdest places don't we? If you're feeling SPICY, scroll to the bottom of the recipe to see how you can LEVEL-UP this recipe with some easy changes. Anyways, like I said, no jargon, so here's the recipe... Scroll down friends.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 bricks of brown rice ramen noodles (I use these ones)
3 tbsp sesame oil (don't heat too hot)
3-4 cloves garlic (pressed, a.k.a., chopped reaalllly small)
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce (or less to taste), you can also use tamari
4 tsp brown sugar (I use palm/coconut sugar)
2 tsp sriracha (to taste)
1/4 cup water
1 head broccoli
1 red pepper
1 carrot (or whatever vegetables you have to use up in the fridge*)
1 tbsp olive oil or coconut oil
Fresh lime (garnish)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F.
Chop vegetables to the desired size (probably bite-sized but you do you. See picture above for an idea).
Toss in oil and spread out on a baking sheet, bake for 15-20 minutes or until desired crispiness is achieved.
Sauté minced garlic in sesame oil on low-medium heat for one minute, if it starts to smoke, lower the heat.
Add in peanut butter, stir in until slightly melted.
Whisk in the soy sauce, sriracha, brown sugar, and stir together. Then add water and whisk until smooth, turn heat to the lowest setting to keep it warm. Do a taste test (it might taste a bit salty but remember you're adding noodles and vegetables).
Cook brown rice noodles according to package directions and rinse well.
Add cooked noodles to sauce mixture and stir until they are coated, add in vegetables, top with a squeeze of lime and enjoy!

Want to level this recipe up? Scroll down...

LEVEL-UP: Every week I am going to try and give you some extra tips that can take the recipe to the next level. I want to keep the original recipes simple so that more people have the skill-set to recreate them with success but I know lots of you are probably ready for something slightly more advanced. Let's go.

1. Bulk it up: Try adding some crispy tofu to add some extra protein, my top tip for getting the crispiest tofu is to press all of the liquid out by squeezing it in a clean tea-towel, dicing it into cubes, coating it in corn starch (I just shake it up in a Tupperware container), and pan-frying it in a little bit of oil. Toss the fried tofu in with the sauce when you add the rest of the vegetables.

2. Up your garnish game: Load up the sesame seeds, they are full of healthy vitamins, add some crushed peanuts, finely chopped green onion, or even some fresh cilantro (coriander for you non-Canadians).

3. Use up your vegetables: Don't feel limited to red pepper, broccoli, and carrot! If you've got some red cabbage, onion, orange peppers (etc), mushrooms, peas, spinach, or anything else that might be going bad soon, toss them in and see what you come up with.

Tag me on Instagram if you make this recipe so I can feature you.

@KaitlynDickie

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Want some more easy, prep-ahead recipes, check-out the 5 Day Vegan Meal Plan I just launched. This meal plan includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks that all have gluten-free options as well. Many of the recipes can be prepped ahead and frozen to help you save even more time. In this meal plan, you will get a full categorized grocery list that includes exact measurements to allow for bulk shoppers and solo-diners alike. Click HERE to check it out!