Chilli Garlic Noodles are a quick Asian Chinese-style stir-fried noodle dish made with plenty of garlic, red chillies, spring onions and sauces. The flavors are moderately spiced and bright, yet the recipe uses only basic pantry ingredients. Everything cooks fast on medium heat, making it ideal for a weekday meal. Serve the Garlic Noodles on their own or pair them with any light stir-fry or a simple soup.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 10 minutes
  • Total time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 2
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Chinese, World

Ingredients

  • 150 grams noodles (or 2 noodle packets each of 75 grams)
  • 3.5 to 4 cups water
  • 3 tablespoon sesame oil (or any neutral oil)
  • 2 to 3 dry red chilies (broken and deseeded, swap with 1 to 2 fresh red chilies or green chilies that have been sliced)
  • ⅓ cup spring onion whites (– chopped or ⅓ cup finely chopped onions or shallots)
  • 1 tablespoon or 5 to 6 large garlic cloves
  • 2 teaspoons celery (– finely chopped, optional)
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce ((naturally brewed), add as required)
  • 2 teaspoon red chili sauce (or red chili paste, add as required)
  • 1 teaspoon rice vinegar (or rice wine or ½ teaspoon white vinegar)
  • ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar (or add according to taste, optional)
  • 2 to 3 tablespoon spring onion greens (– chopped)
  • salt (as required)

Method

Cooking Noodles

  1. In a pan or wok heat water until it comes to a boil
  2. Add the noodles and stir. Cook noodles as per the instructions on the pack or until they are al dente.
  3. Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse with water. Rinsing with water stops the cooking process. Strain them well and set aside.
  4. When the noodles are cooking, you can prep the other ingredients – finely chop garlic cloves, spring onion, and celery. Also break or halve the chilies and remove the seeds. Set aside.

Making Garlic Noodles

  1. Heat sesame oil or any neutral tasting oil in a wok or kadai. Keep the heat to medium and add the finely chopped garlic and the dry red chilies.
  2. Stir fry for a few seconds. No need to brown the garlic.
  3. Next add the chopped spring onions and celery. Celery is optional and if you do not have then omit adding it.
  4. Stir fry on a medium heat till the onions turn translucent and soften.
  5. Next add the sauces one by one - soy sauce, red chili sauce or red chili paste. Also add rice vinegar (swap with rice wine or white vinegar). Mix well.
  6. Add salt according to taste and sugar. Keep in mind to add less salt as the sauces already have salt in them. Stir and mix again.
  7. Now add the cooked noodles. On a medium heat, mix and stir so that the sauce coats the noodles very well. Do a taste test. Add more salt or the sauces as required.
  8. You can decrease or increase the quantity of the sauces as per your taste. You can also add black pepper or white pepper. Switch off the heat.
  9. Finally add the spring onions greens and stir to combine.
  10. Serve Chilli Garlic Noodles accompanied with vegetable manchurian, mushroom manchurian, cauliflower manchurian or sweet and sour vegetable.
  11. While serving Garlic Noodles you can also sprinkle some red chili flakes or red chilli oil on the noodles for an extra kick of heat.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.