Last night I was in the mood for something quick and easy, so I scoured the fridge for something with said qualities. A few seconds later, I emerged triumphant with pre-soaked rice noodles in hand and a smile on my face. After a crazy day of writing, I’d forgotten that I’d actually planned ahead for once. It was time for some vegetable lo mein, except, you know, without the “mein” part because all I had were rice noodles.
(Since I’m gluten free I always use rice noodles anyway and they taste as yummy as mein noodles, they’re just flat instead of round and made of rice instead of wheat flour). In a pinch, if you don’t have rice noodles and aren’t worried about eating gluten, feel free to substitute rice noodles with spaghetti.
I’d made Szechuan-style beef lo mein the night before (that recipe can be found here) so my extra non-seasoned, pre-soaked noodles were ready to go. (If you don’t have pre-soaked noodles already, fear not. It only takes about 8-10 minutes to soak them in warm water.) With that task out of the way, I got to work prepping my veggies.
On hand I had green onions, shredded carrots, a little celery, and shelled edamame. You can add any veggies you like–mushrooms, bok choy, Napa cabbage, etc. You can also add some shrimp, chicken, or beef really easily if you’d like to add a protein boost.
Tip: I suggest making extra garlic ginger sauce because the noodles really soak it up (even after you’ve finished cooking them). Doubling the recipe is easy and will give you enough sauce to divide in half for cooking, plus some more deliciousness for your plates.
Here’s what you’ll need for dinner tonight:
Vegetable Stir-Fry Noodles with Garlic Ginger Sauce
Ingredients
For the noodles:
- 1 package of rice noodles (or sub: 1 box of spaghetti)
- Water for soaking
For the veggies:
- 1 cup shelled edamame
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 6 green onions, sliced into 1-2 inch pieces
For the garlic ginger sauce:
- 4 TBSP brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 TBSP garlic powder
- 1/2 TBSP onion powder
- 2 TBSP ground ginger
- 2 TBSP Sriracha
- 1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 1/3 cup liquid aminos (or sub: soy sauce)
- 1/3 cup water
Instructions
- Add your noodles to warm water and pre-soak according to directions on package (usually 8-10 minutes), then drain.
- Combine all ingredients for sauce together, set aside.
- Toss veggies with a little oil in a large skillet and sauté until desired doneness (I like to stir fry mine for about 8 minutes, adding a few tablespoons of water at the end to soften them a bit.)
- Next add your sauce to the veggies, stirring until it bubbles.
- Toss stir fry noodles with veggies and sauce, mixing until well coated.
- Serve and enjoy!