Saucy Gochujang Noodles with Chicken
A spicy, peanutty, noodley bit of super easy comfort food! These gochujang noodles require just a handful of ingredients – like ramen noodles, peanut butter, sesame oil, and soy sauce – and come together in just 20 minutes.
Summer has summer-ed and the outside shouldn’t hog all the heat for itself, let the sauce have some! Thank you ever so to the subtle heat of the gochujang sauce and rich creaminess of the peanut butter, thank you to the twisty twirls of the little ramen noodle bricks, and bless those piles of fresh herbs on top.
This new pal is so easy to throw together you might just find yourself making it again and again and ok yes sure, why not one more time this week. For this recipe, we actually used a gochujang sauce which is premixed with other ingredients, mostly because it is almost always available at our local grocery store. But also because it is a little less potent than the paste, closer to a mild sriracha, whereas the paste is thicker and spicier.
If you happen to have the paste, it is definitely a deep and interesting flavor and can of course be used here! But you might consider adding a splash of soy sauce and honey to balance out the flavors.
Ingredients:
Gochujang Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2–3 tablespoons gochujang sauce (like this one*)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1–2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 1–2 cups broth or water for thinning the sauce
- Ramen:
- 1 pound ground chicken (could also use pork)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 packets ramen or stir fry noodles (just the noodles)
- a couple big handfuls of fresh spinach
- chives, scallions, cilantro, basil, or whatever herbs you like for topping
- salt, chili oil, or sesame seeds for finishing