Garlic Noodles 蒜蓉撈麵 is a very common and popular dish that possibly every noodle-eating person in the world would have had some form of garlic noodles. I’m going to share my Asian version of it. It is extremely easy and quick to make.
We recently had the one served at Gyu-Kaku, the Japanese Barbeque restaurant chain, and it was quite delicious. We ordered one, along with other items, to share amongst 4 people. It was sooo good that we ordered 2 more! As always, my family urged me to try to replicate it. So, I made it and it tastes awesome, but I can’t remember what the one at Gyu-Kaku tastes like! But my family says it tastes just like it! I’m thinking I’ll have to order some take-out soon just to verify. I really like this job, lol!
On my first try, I blanched some thinly sliced beef, prepared for hot pots, and tossed it in with the udon noodles. I always have hot pot meats in my freezer for hot pot dinners and noodle soup. They’re so convenient when you don’t feel like doing anything complicated. On this first try, I didn’t add enough dark soy sauce and the sauce wasn’t thick enough, so the sauce didn’t adhere to the noodles as well as I had hoped.
Then in my second attempt, I ran out of hot pot meats because we had hot pot during our recent big snow storm here in Vancouver. So, I haven’t been able to replenish my hot pot supplies yet. But I found some frozen mentaiko (marinated pollock roe) in my fridge. I was saving it to make a creamy mentaiko udon, but that can wait. It turned out better than expected! I like the tiny bit of spiciness it added to the dish. The colour and thickness of the sauce was perfect!
I think shredded chicken with some cucumbers would also go well. Even some shredded vegetables would be good too. You really can’t go wrong with anything!
In my Garlic Noodles 蒜蓉撈麵 recipe, I’ll show you how to make a super delicious garlic sauce that you can put on anything, not just noodles.
Check out my section for Copy Cat recipes from some of my favourite restaurants. The most requested dish from my family is the Crispy Chili Garlic Chicken Wings 椒鹽酥炸雞.
Garlic Noodles 蒜蓉撈麵
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Chopped garlic (approx. 4 cloves)
- 1 stalk Green onions , chopped or julienned
- ½ tsp Sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 1 tbsp Unsalted butter (optional)
- ½ tbsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
- 1 ½ tsp Sugar
- 2 tsp Corn starch
- 2 tsp Oyster sauce
- 175 ml Water
- 920 g Frozen udon noodles (4 servings) or your favourite noodles
Instructions
- Chop 4 cloves of garlic
- Julienne or chop green onions. Optional: submerse in water for 15 minutes
soaking in water will help make the taste of the green onions milder and stay crisp - Combine 2 tsp corn starch and 175 ml water. Mix well
- In a pot, over medium heat, add 1 tbsp oil
- Add chopped garlic and stir-fry until aromatic
- Add ½ tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 2 tsp oyster sauce and 1 ½ tsp sugar
- Give the water and corn starch a good mix and pour it into the sauce. Stir until sauce thickens.
- Add 1 tbsp unsalted butter. Turn heat to simmer and let simmer until noodles are ready to go in
- Cook your noodles as per package instructions
- When noodles are cooked, toss them in the sauce along with ¾ of the green onions until the noodles are completely coated.
- Put onto a plate or bowl, add the remaining green onions and sprinkle with sesame seeds
Optional: add some chopped chilis to add some spiciness - Serve
Easy peasy recipe! Most challenging part was getting the oyster sauce out of the bottle 😉. Kids loved it too. This will definitely be a staple recipe in our household!
Hi Leanna, thank you for trying out my garlic noodles! I'm going to be think of more easy peasy recipes for busy families...stay tuned! Happy cooking!