This Thai-inspired peanut butter noodle casserole with tofu and a sweet and spicy creamy peanut butter sauce makes for the perfect easy one pot weeknight dinner. Gluten-free.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 35 minutes
  • Total time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

For the tofu:

  • 2 teaspoons oil
  • 7 ounces firm or extra firm tofu, (pressed at least for 15 minutes and then cubed or cut into whatever shapes you like)
  • 2 tablespoons green onion (the white part, keep the green parts for garnish)
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • 2 teaspoons minced ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

For the noodles:

  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced bell pepper (red, green or both combined)
  • 4 tablespoons smooth peanut butter (, 1 tablespoon more for drizzling)
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce (, tamari for Glutenfree)
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup or sugar
  • 2 tablespoon sambal oelek or asian chili sauce of choice
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 4 ounces rice noodles (I use pad thai noodles or thai rice linguini which are thicker and take longer to cook - the bake time will depend on the noodle used so choose accordingly)
  • 2 cups of water
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced green cabbage

for garnish

  • peanuts, green onion for garnish
  • optional peanut butter for garnish

Method

  1. Add the oil to your baking dish (9 by 11 inch or similar size) and add in the tofu, green onions, garlic, ginger, salt, and pepper. Toss well to coat so that the tofu is coated well with oil, and spread it around. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (205 c) for 10 minutes or until the tofu is crisp to preference(depending on the tofu and pan this can take upto 20 mins)
  2. Then remove the baking dish from the oven. Mix peanut butter in 1 cup warm-hot water until well combined then pour that in slowly.(it’s essential to use warm hot water here, 1 to mix the nut butter,2, you are adding it to a hot dish and pouring in cold mix might crack it.)
  3. Add in the carrots, bell pepper, soy sauce, lime juice, maple syrup, sambal oelek, sesame oil, and mix well.
  4. Distribute the noodles all over and drizzle the rest of the 1 cup of the water over the noodles.
  5. Then put the dish back in the oven to bake. Cover the dish with parchment paper and bake for 20-25 minutes.
  6. Check after 20 minutes if the noodles are done or al dente and then remove the dish because the noodles will continue to cook in the hot sauce after you take it out and you don't want to overcook the noodles.
  7. Add in the cabbage and toss well so that the cabbage softens a little bit with the heat of the noodles and the sauce.
  8. Taste and adjust salt and flavor by adding more salt or soy sauce and mix in. Add in some lime juice. Let sit for 2 minutes for the noodles to absorb more sauce then serve. Garnish with peanuts and green onion. Add a drizzle of softened peanut butter for additional peanut flavor if you like.

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.