Garlic Noodles

Making Garlic noodles is incredibly easy and quick. These buttery, chewy noodles have tons of umami from Asian sauces and parmesan. Serve it as a side dish or build it to a main course with some protein and veggies.

Butter Garlic noodles are the best of both worlds. Chewy noodles tossed in butter, tons of fresh garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and then a very unusual ingredient i.e. parmesan cheese. So, next time when you are in a fix and can’t decide whether to have Italian pasta or Asian noodles, then give this no-fail recipe a try. I have taken this recipe to the next level by adding crispy fried garlic on top while serving.

These garlic noodles are made popular by Thanh long restaurant, in San Francisco and are worth a try because of their simplicity and ease of making. You need a few basic pantry ingredients that I bet you have on hand, you might end up making it in rotation.

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Ingredients(with substitutions)

Here is a quick rundown of the ingredients you need to make these noodles. This garlic noodle recipe is forgiving, you can play around with the ingredients and use whatever you have in hand.

Noodles – I prefer chewy egg noodles, even better if fresh but dry will also do. But any other kind of long pasta/noodles like instant ramen, spaghetti, or angel hair pasta will also work here.
Butter and oil– A good amount of butter for a rich sauce. Use unsalted butter to control the salt in the dish. Oil prevents the butter from burning.
Garlic– tons of garlic. Fresh garlic minced fine.
Soy sauce– Preferably low sodium soy sauce.
Fish sauce – Fish sauce has a deep flavor and adds a layer of umami. It gives a Vietnamese twist to the noodles.
Oyster sauce– again for the umami. You can swap oyster sauce with soy sauce. If you follow a vegan diet, you can use oyster mushroom sauce instead.
Parmesan cheese– Here comes the Italian twist to the Asian noodles. Parmesan makes the noodles creamy.
Green onions
Sugar- There is a lot of salty sauce in there, so to balance it off just a little bit of sugar. Honey or brown sugar will also work in a pinch.

How To Make – Step by step

Perp

After gathering all the ingredients and prepping, the first step is to make the sauce. Combine soy, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and sugar. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook noodles as per package instructions. Save 1/2 cup of noodles cooking water ( we might need only 1/4 cup ). Drain noodles and keep them aside.

Prep the stri fry sauce and cook noodles.

Time to build flavor

I like to use a wok, as it is easy to toss around the noodles. Or use a large skillet. Melt oil and butter together. Reduce heat and add minced garlic. Cook garlic until it is light golden in color. It will take 2-3 minutes for the garlic to crisp and get the desired color. Keep a close eye towards the end to prevent garlic from burning. Reserve 1/2 tablespoons of garlic to garnish while serving.

Toss and serve

To the wok add the prepared sauce and reserved noodle water. bring to a simmer. Then toss cooked noodles until coated with the sauce. Switch off the flame. Add freshly grated parmesan, freshly ground pepper to taste, and sliced green onion. Toss again for the parmesan to mix and make a creamy sauce.

Cook sauce. Toss noodles, parmesan cheese and green onion.

Helpful tips

Though the recipe is pretty simple, a few expert tips will sail you through without any issues

The garlic noodles are done in no time, so having a mise-en-place is helpful. Keep everything measured and ready before you start cooking.
For perfectly crispy garlic, always mince it fine, and while cooking cook it on low heat, stirring in between. Avoid crushing garlic to a paste, as it will stick to the pan. You can alternatively use thinly sliced garlic.
I didn’t salt the water while cooking the noodles, as all the sauces are quite salty and also the parmesan. Towards the end after adding all the ingredients, you can check seasoning and adjust salt if needed.
Use freshly grated parmesan cheese for a better flavor.

Storage and Reheating

Garlic noodles store well and can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Upon storing noodles might dry up a little bit. While reheating sprinkle little water and microwave it. You can also grease a skillet/wok, add leftover noodles to the hot wok, sprinkle a little water for the noodles to loosen up, and toss it for a couple of minutes.

Make it a meal

This dish works both ways. You can easily bulk it up and make a filling meal out of it. Add some cooked shrimp, seared leftover chicken, and crispy tofu, to make it protein-rich. Vegetarian options would be sauteed or air-fried broccoli, crispy cooked mushrooms, snow peas, etc.

Serve with

A perfect side dish to serve along with a fried egg or any Asian mains like Honey Garlic Salmon, Korean Chicken, sesame chicken, Honey sriracha chicken, and with a side of greens.