The Easiest Peanut Butter Noodles Ever!

Author Notes

You probably have all the main ingredients in your pantry already: peanut butter, pasta, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and sugar. You literally don't even need measuring spoons for this; the sauce is made up of 3 parts peanut butter, 3 parts soy sauce, 1 part vinegar, 1 part sesame oil, and a pinch of sugar. If I'm just making enough for myself, I use a small spoon, and if I want to make more than one serving, I'll grab a larger spoon to measure. I prefer to use smooth peanut butter, but this works just as well with chunky. For the vinegar, rice wine vinegar is suggested, but regular white vinegar or cider vinegar would do in a pinch. For the noodles, I would suggest soba or spaghettini to stand up to the sauce, but you can also thin the sauce with some of the pasta water if you want to use a more delicate pasta.

Depending on what else you have on hand, you can add a plethora of toppings: toasted sesame seeds, sliced almonds, chopped scallions, shredded chicken, baked tofu, and shredded cucumbers are just a few ideas. You can serve this dish cold or at room temperature so it's easily packable for lunch, picnic, or potluck. See, I told you it was easy! The hardest part about this recipe might be trying to mix the peanut butter into the other liquids without splashing, but if you stir carefully and long enough, you'll end up with a smooth, luscious, homogenous peanut sauce. —Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy