This family size noodle stir fry is a complete meal with protein and plenty of veg, made from scratch in just 15 minutes – and it’s seriously tasty. I know there are faster noodle recipes out there…….but do they tick all those boxes??
The fastest noodle stir fry I know
I’ve got a 12-minute chilli-garlic noodle recipe in my second cookbook Tonight, but it’s 100% carbs, bit generous on the oil and zero veg (apparently garlic doesn’t count). Hits high on the delicious scale, but not the most balanced recipe I know!
That’s why today’s recipe is a bit of a gem. It’s quick, thanks to my latest shortcut 2-ingredient stir fry sauce (fish sauce + kecap manis for the win!) and selection of fast-chop veg (green onion and cabbage), but also a well rounded meal complete with chicken and a good amount of vegetables.
Some days, the thought of peeling and dicing onions, and sweeping up a gazillion tiny green broccoli confetti pieces all over the kitchen just breaks me – I need simple chop things! 😅
Ingredients in this speedy noodle stir fry
Here’s what you need to make this.
1. TWO INGREDIENT STIR FRY NOODLE SAUCE
Fish sauce and kecap manis are the ingredients here that make dinner possible so fast. 🙂 Fish sauce for salt and flavour that’s way more interesting than soy sauce, while syrupy kecap manis adds sweetness, caramel-y soy flavour and shine, as well as acting as a thickener. (Don’t worry, it’s at your local grocery store!).
Fish sauce – These days, it’s fairly well known that this adds a stack of depth of flavour into anything it’s used for! Don’t fear fishy flavour, it gets cooked out as the noodles are tossed with abundance.
Kecap manis (aka sweet soy) – a thick, sweet Indonesian soy sauce with a syrupy consistency and a rich, caramel-y soy flavour. Find it in the Asian aisle of regular grocery stores, pretty common these days!
White pepper – Not critical, but nice to add a pinch if you’ve got it. White pepper is typical of Asian cooking over black pepper, but feel free to use black if that’s what you’ve got.
I also add a dollop of chilli crisp for a grown up touch, but this is entirely optional.
2. STIR FRY NOODLE INGREDIENTS
And here’s what I put into the stir fry. Green onion over dicing regular onions, and cabbage because it’s so fast to chop a huge mound!
Hokkien noodles – or other fresh noodles from the fridge for stir frying, such as lo mein, Singapore noodles, Shanghai noodles. Just avoid the thin ones coated in powder, they’re intended for soups. You’ll need 500g/1lb to serve 4 people.
Fridge v dried vs vac packed noodles – Fresh fridge noodles are best, they’re closest to what you get at good noodle shops with the signature chewy texture and slippery surface. Dried noodles work too and are my next choice – use about 350g / 12oz (once cooked, this equates to 500g/1lb of fridge fresh noodles). Shelf stable vac packed noodles – use 500g/1lb, but these are my least favourite. I find the texture of most are not great – too mushy and gummy.
Chicken thighs – my preference over chicken breast, because it’s a juicier, tastier cut. However, chicken breast works fine too, and it won’t overcook with the short time it’s on the stove. You also have the option to tenderise it, Chinese restaurant style (“velveting”) – head here for directions!)
Green cabbage – Lasts “forever”, cheap to buy, fast to chop and quick to cook! Very deliberately chosen. (Bonus: Love the way the strands mostly disappear into the tangle of noodles. You can lie to the kids.😈)
Green onion – Serves the same purpose as onion, without the effort of peeling, dicing and crying. Tell me all the creative ways you’ve tried to solve the onion-tears issue! 🤿👓
How to make the fastest noodle stir fry I know
As with all stir fries, have all the ingredients prepared and ready to toss into the pan. The cook moves fast!
Sauce – Mix the kecap manis, fish sauce and pepper (if using) together until the syrupy kecap manis is dissolved.
Flavour chicken – Use 1 tablespoon to toss with the chicken. This will add a little flavour to the outside. There’s no need to leave it aside to marinade to flavour the inside because the strips are so small, there’s no need, we just want to coat the surface.
Prepare noodles according to packet directions (usually a 1 minute boiling water soak) then give it a rinse under tap water to remove excess starch. This is important to ensure the surface of the noodles don’t get gummy when tossed with the stir fry sauce. Also, be sure to drain off excess water well – give the colander a good shake and leave the noodles in there!
Chicken first – Heat the oil over high heat until smoking then cook the chicken for 2 minutes until it’s mostly cooked. Then toss the garlic and white part of the green onion in, and cook for 30 seconds until the chicken is fully cooked and the garlic smells amazing.
Use a large 30cm /12″ non stick pan. Because of the volume we’re cooking today, it won’t work well in a wok. Everything will just stew instead of sear, become watery and dilute flavour!
Cook cabbage – Next, add the cabbage and cook for 1 1/2 minutes until it starts to go floppy.
Noodles and sauce – Then add the noodles and half the sauce. Toss for a minute until the sauce is absorbed and no longer pooling in the pan (~ 45 seconds), then add the remaining sauce, tossing again until no liquid remains (~ 1 minute). Add chilli crisp or chilli sauce towards the end (add and taste, add and taste) and lastly, just toss the green part of the green onion through until it’s wilted – it takes literally 20 seconds. Then, serve!
❓ Why add sauce in 2 batches? Because it reduces faster than putting it all in at once. On weaker burners, it can take too long for the sauce to reduce, to the point where noodles start to break from excessive tossing. A problem we ran into ourselves. Just safer to put the sauce in two batches.
There you have it – my speediest, dinner-worthy noodle stir fry!
Or….. have I shared one just as fast before? Maybe I have. I’ve certainly published my share of noodle recipes!! Consider this your challenge: let me know in the comments if I’ve already beaten this one. Rules – the recipe must be:
nutritious enough for dinner
made from scratch
enough to serve 4 people
In any case, this is a great excuse to round up everyone’s favourite quick noodle recipes. – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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The fastest noodle stir fry I know – from scratch!
Ingredients
- 400g/14oz chicken thighs , skinless boneless, thinly sliced 0.75cm/1/4" thick (or breast)
- 500g / 1 lb hokkien noodles, lo mein, other noodles , from the fridge, prepared per packet, rinsed well, drained (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp peanut oil (or any other neutral oil)
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 7 green onions , cut into 5cm/2″ lengths, soft dark green parts separated from the white / pale green firmer parts
- 5 cups green cabbage , sliced ~1cm / 0.4″ thick (Napa/Chinese cabbage also works)
Sauce (just 2 ingredients!):
- 2 tbsp kecap mani (sweet soy) (Note 2)
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1 pinch white pepper (sub black pepper)
Optional grown up touch:
- 1 tbsp+ chilli crisp, chilli paste or sriracha (add > taste > add > taste!) (Note 3)
Instructions
ABBREVIATED RECIPE:
- Toss chicken with 1 tbsp sauce. In a large 30cm/12" non-stick pan over high heat, cook chicken first, adding garlic and white part of green onion towards the end. Cabbage 1 1/2 minutes, then noodles, sauce (add in 2 batches) and chilli crisp. Wilt green onion, serve!
FULL RECIPE:
- Sauce – Mix the ingredients in a small bowl.
- Toss the chicken with 1 tablespoon of the sauce (no marinating time needed).
Cooking:
- Cook chicken – Heat the oil in a large 30cm/12" non-stick pan over high heat until very hot. Add the chicken and cook for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and white part of the green onion, cook for another 30 seconds until chicken is just cooked.
- Cabbage – Add the cabbage, toss for 1 1/2 minutes or until it starts to go floppy.
- Sauce and noodles – Add the noodles and half the sauce, toss for a minute until the sauce is absorbed and no longer pooling in the pan (~ 45 seconds). Then add the remaining sauce and toss again until it's all evenly coated and no liquid remains (~ 1 minute), adding chilli crisp towards the end, if using. (Note 4)
- Serve – Toss through the green part of the green onion until it's wilted (barely 20 seconds), then divide between bowls. Noodle slurping time!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More speedy dinner-worthy noodles
I have a deep and possibly unhealthy love for noodles – and no plans to change that! Here are some more speedy dinner-worth noodles recipes – and find the full collection here.
Life of Dozer
Who’s the best boi at the beach 🥰 Also realised his life jacket is handy to easily pick him out of a pack of Goldies!!
Made noodle stir fry last night, so quick & easy, loved it.
Making cheese scone recipe today,
Look forward to new recipes each week.
Thank you Nagi 😋
Just made this for dinner and it was delicious! Nagi your recipes are always a winner. Even my daughter who isn’t a fan of stir fry loved it. I threw in carrot and capsicum as well. I’ll def be making this again!
Hi Nagi. Retired chef Rodney here. I know a way to peel onions the NO tears way taught to me by a chinese Master Chef years ago. Email me if you want to know. Regards, Rod
Made it.
Loved it.
It’s a keeper!
Thankyou Nagi once again…
Terrific! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know you enjoyed it Philip! N x
Ok this is delicious. So quick and easy but tastes sooo good. I did use packet coleslaw to speed things up but absolutely unreal! Thank you
I love how you have “ GROWN UP TOUCH” in the recipe! I love spicy food but with two young kids it can be difficult to have something that satisfies my cravings sometimes…!
I get it! My friends say the same 🙂 N x
Nice one, thanks, Nagi.
Pretty close to my “eyes-closed” stir fry. Kecap manis gets a showing in most of my stir-fries because of its sweetness.
A lazy-cook tip: I’m mostly cooking for myself, so a full cabbage is usually overkill, half cabbages are too expensive (Supermarkets..I’m looking at you…grrrrr!)
Rather than that, I usually buy a packet of the most basic coleslaw mix. All the supermarkets here have one at around $2. It’s one of my swiss-army-knife ingredients because I almost never use it for coleslaw (boring) but handy in stir-fries, Indian veg dishes, quick pastas, etc. Works great for me.
Also: Re the onion slicing question…
I have super-sensitive eyes and struggled for ages. (And eg, my Sri Lankan seeni sambol (spicy caramelized onions) starts with dicing 5 large onions. Whoa!)
Then I saw a suggestion about chopping the onions next to a flame, which seems to kill the vapours from it.
I tried chopping them, positioning my chopping board next to stove wok burner turned on, and hallelujah! never looked back (and this was years ago)
As always, your tearage may vary, but works a treat for me.
Cheers!
“Eyes closed” stir fry!!! I LOVE THAT! Yes, I agree the pre shredded veg are such a great dish for quick meals. Have NEVER heard about the flame onion trick! I am totally trying that! – N x
Made this tonight for dinner and it was absolutely delicious for the grown up part 😀. I added 2 tablespoons of Broad Bean sauce in Chili Oil and it banged up the spiciness level to perfection, it’s definitely a keeper!
Thanks as always.
Phil x
Now THAT’s a great idea!!! Thanks for the tip Phil! N x
Perfect way to make this great dish even more interesting Phil! Good job!
I made the Everyday Hokkien Noodles last night. WONDERFUL. Easy, quick, and delicious.
Hi Dozer 👋
Ooh yum!! I love those noodles too! N x
Hi Karen, thanks for your feedback 🙂
Will make this tonight! Our veg garden is going nuts now, so will add other veggies… zucchini, kale, snow peas.
Perfect!! Hope you love it Kathy! N x
It was good. Used fresh noodles (1st time) they are definitely a time saver. I had a lot of water in the bottom of my pan. Which I think watered down the flavor of the sauce. Maybe I didn’t have the heat high enough?? Still, it was good, and I will make it again.
Your link to googles don’t work if you wear glasses, you need an adjustable elastic strap (like a bra strap!). I think mine are called welding goggles – I bought them off Amazon UK within the year. They fit around your head + glasses and are still tight fitting to not let the sulphur fumes into your eyes. Still keep a tissue handy for your nose! As I say the goggles that look like glasses – your suggested link were absolute useless. Goggles with an adjustable strap are the real lifesaver!
Sounds yum, can’t wait to make. Oh Dozer looks so sweet…such a standout!!🤣
I do not like thick noodles. Can I use thin egg (dry) noodles? As for your onion issue. As stated before use a very sharp knife. Blunt ones are dangers. I cut the stem part off. The end away from the roots. Now you have a flat surface. Then I cut it in half through the the roots. Just peel the onion away from you, no tears. From there you can cut it vertically to make 1/2 rings (do you really need to have full rings?) Horizontally to make cubes, or horizontally then vertically to the root, to make diced pieces. This works every time.
Hi Geoff, you can definitely use dry egg noodles. 350g will be enough for this dish 🙂
I’m convinced age of onion is the real issue, not knives. I have tried my standard (probably cheap, I inherited them) serrated knives, not serrated knives that probably need sharpening (again inherited but still usable) and “the world’s sharpest knife” says the box (American pre twin towers tragedy says the box) serrated knife which is scary sharp. They all produced onion tears at one time or another.
Interesting!! I have not read about age being a factor!
Wow,
I was wondering how to feed the fam on 400gms of chicken, leftover from another Nagi meal! You must have read my mind! Will be making this one tonight.
Ha ha perfect timing! Let us know if you like it 🙂
Delish!
I’m obsessed with Asian meals lately! I’ve made a number of the RTE ones and they have all been delish.
loved this one too. Will be making it again tonight.
Hi Nagi
I wear monthly contact lenses and never have a problem working with onions 😁
With onions, I keep mine in the fridge and make sure I use a sharp knife. The sharpness ensures you are slicing rather than crushing the onion and the fridge…well I don’t know what that does but it has worked for me (and my kids) for years now.
The cabbage, pasta and bacon recipe from your first book is pretty good…in fact we had it twice in the last fornight. So comforting!! I will look into fridge noodles, I have been wondering what was “wrong” with my noodle stirfries recently. (Vac pac noodles! ugh.)
I love this recipe too and I cook it often at home as well 🙂
Bloody hell Naga, this is an absolute ripper! My local takeaway is not going to be happy with this, as I’ll be making this from now on rather than shelling out for their offerings. BTW been using your velveting technique for years whenever I do a chicken or beef stir fry – which is also a gamechanger.
He’s too sexy for his life jacket, too sexy for his life jacket, too sexy for his life jacket
Lookin’ good Dozer!!
P.S. noodles were yummy and easy!!!
Use a fan to blow across your cutting board and slightly away from you, no tears.
Can I make this with gluten free noodles and if so which ones. I live in New Zealand. Thank you Nagi.