Stir Fry Noodles are a perfect 25 minute stovetop dinner. They come together so easily and the whole family will love this recipe!
This simple Stir Fry Noodle recipe is one of my favorites to make for our family. It is really just chicken, veggies, noodles, and sauce, but it is so delicious. We rotate through a lot of meals in our house, recipe creators that we are, and sometimes I forget about certain recipes.
This is one such recipe. Every time we make it for our family, I think to myself, “Why don’t we make this more often?” It’s just so flippn’ good! There is something about it that feels like comfort food, but I’m also giving my kids protein and veggies. It’s such a winner dinner.
I hope you make it for your family and find it as comforting, delicious, and crowd-pleasing as I do.
How to Make Stir Fry Noodles
Here is a brief overview of how this simple chicken noodle stir fry comes together. For the full recipe including all measurements, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Cook the noodles. Boil the water and cook the ramen noodles according to the package directions.
- Cook the chicken. Add the sliced chicken to a hot skillet and cook until it is no longer visibly pink, about three to four minutes. It doesn’t need to be fully cooked through, it will finish cooking in the sauce.
- Add the vegetables. Add the diced peppers and broccoli to the skillet. Stir to combine. Cover and cook until both are tender and the chicken is cooked through.
- Make the sauce. Whisk together the sauce ingredients. When the vegetables are tender, pour the sauce into the pan over them and allow to thicken, about one to two minutes.
- Put it all together. Toss in the drained noodles and serve.
What Noodles to Use
This chicken stir fry with noodles uses packaged ramen noodles (without the flavor packet) because they cook so quickly. They are very inexpensive and done in just three minutes!
It’s an element of this recipe that helps keep it under 25 minutes. That being said, if you prefer other noodles, go for it. Soba noodles or udon noodles would be a great option. Both are found in the international food aisle of your grocery store. If you can’t get enough ramen, try my Peanut Butter Stir Fry Noodles recipe and Easy Ramen recipes.
Stir Fry Sauce
I love the sauce in this recipe! It is a combination of different flavors I threw together one day, I loved how perfectly it turned out. Since then, I’ve used this stir fry sauce it in lots of other dishes.
Tangy, sweet, and with a little kick, this stir fry sauce ties this dish all together and can be used in all of your favorite stir fry dishes.
- Water: Bulks up the sauce without changing the flavor.
- Teriyaki sauce: Adds great flavor to the sauce. This easy homemade teriyaki sauce recipe has alterations for lower sugar, gluten-free, and less sodium. You can buy it, but making it is super easy.
- Hoisin sauce: Brings a nice tang to the sauce and is made with fermented soybean paste.
- Soy sauce: Adds its signature flavor that is almost always found in stir fry recipes. Because of the other ingredients, you will want to use a low-sodium soy sauce.
- Garlic: Perfect flavor in everything, including this sauce.
- Ginger: Adds a flavor profile that I absolutely love without being too strong. See your options for ginger below.
- Chili paste: This wonderful ingredient is made from hot chilis and is where the dish gets its kick. I share more about spice level below.
- Cornstarch: Thickens the sauce while it cooks.
Stir Fry Sauce
Buying Ginger
This recipe calls for ginger, and I love the way the flavor balances with the Teriyaki sauce. When buying ginger you have two choices:
- You can buy a tube of grated ginger that is kept in your refrigerator. It can be a little more expensive, but it is nice for how long it keeps and for convenience.
- You can buy fresh ginger. Peel the tough skin off and then grate about one to two inches. If you buy fresh ginger, you can freeze the remainder for up to three months and it will keep for the next time you make this delicious recipe. You can grate it right from the freezer.
Spice Level
The joy in making your own sauces for recipes is that you can adjust things like salt and spice. The sauce calls for chili paste which gives it just the smallest little kick. You can find chili paste in the international aisle of your grocery store or order it from Amazon.
If you like your dishes spicy, double the chili paste in this! If you are nervous about heat, I recommend starting with one teaspoon of chili paste.
Cooking Time
This is a very simple recipe, but it does require a little multi-tasking if you want it done quickly.
- Make sure to start the noodles first. While you are waiting for the water to boil, you can start other things like chopping the vegetables and cooking the chicken.
- Make the sauce while the chicken and vegetables are cooking. Those don’t require non-stop stirring, so it is a great time to make the sauce.
Tips and Tricks
- If your noodles are all stuck together, run lukewarm water over them in the colander you used to drain them. They will come unstuck, you can shake out the water, and they are ready to get mixed into the rest of the recipe.
- Stretch the recipe. To make more servings, you can add a third pack of ramen to stretch the recipe or add more vegetables. If you do either of these things, you may want to consider doubling the sauce. It is not necessary but will keep all of your ingredients flavorful.
- Swap out the chicken for shrimp. To make a shrimp stir fry with noodles, use shrimp instead of chicken. To avoid overcooking the shrimp, remove them from the skillet at the end of step two, being careful to cook them only for 2 to 3 minutes. Cover them loosely with foil and add them back to the pan when you add the noodles.
- Make it vegetarian. Use tofu in stead of chicken! Some firm tofu that is well drained and cut into cubes would be a great substitute for the chicken.
Using Frozen Vegetables
If you want to cut the time even more on this recipe, you could buy a bag of frozen stir fry vegetables. You would save time on chopping the bell pepper and broccoli as well as some of the cook time.
Add the frozen vegetables after the chicken is no longer pink. Cook until the vegetables are soft and warmed through. Then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
Other Additions For Stir Fry
This ramen noodle stir fry is pretty great as is, but if you are looking for other things to throw in, these are my suggestions.
- Water chestnuts: These give a great crunch, and would go in with the noodles.
- Green onions: I love the added flavor of fresh green onions. Add them right before serving.
- Chopped peanuts: Another great way to add some crunch, add them at the same time as the green onions.
- Sesame seeds: You can see black sesame seeds here used as a garnish. We love adding them to this dish.
Other 30 Minute Dinner Recipes
If you love meals that don’t start up the oven and are done in under 30 minutes, try these:
- Southwestern Mac and Cheese
- Beef and Broccoli
- Skillet Chicken Pesto Pasta
- Chicken Spaghetti (okay, this one is 35 minutes, but try it anyway)
If you make this chicken stir fry noodles recipe or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment and let me know!
Noodle Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 2 packages ramen noodles (seasoning discarded)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound chicken cut into thin bite-sized pieces
- 1 medium red bell pepper diced (see note in the post about making this recipe easier)
- 1 head of broccoli cut into florets
Sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon ginger (or 1 to 2 inches freshly grated)
- 1 teaspoon chili paste
- 1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
Instructions
- To ensure this is a quick dinner, read all the instructions before starting, and consider reading my section above on multitasking in this recipe.
- Bring water to a boil to cook the ramen noodles. Cook according to package instructions (without using the seasoning packet), drain and set aside.
- While the water is coming to a boil for the noodles, heat the olive oil in a large 12 inch skillet. Add the sliced chicken and cook until it is no longer visibly pink, about 3 to 4 minutes. You don't need to make sure it is cooked through.
- Add the diced peppers and broccoli to the skillet. Stir to combine. Cover and cook until both are tender and the chicken is cooked through, another 5 to 7 minutes, stirring once or twice.
- While the chicken and vegetables are cooking, mix together the ingredients for the sauce. When the vegetables are tender, pour the sauce over them and allow to thicken, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Toss in the drained noodles and serve.
Jann says
What would be a good veggie for chicken to make this a vegetarian dish?
If I were making this vegetarian, I would consider adding carrots, and snap peas. You could also sauté some firm tofu. If you didn’t want to add tofu, but you did want to add protein, you might consider adding some peanut butter to the sauce.
Jan says
This looks delicious!! Is the 1 T. ginger you call for in the recipe, dried ground ginger?
Nope, you need fresh ginger. In a pinch you could use dried ginger, but cut it back to 1 teaspoon.
Karen says
Maybe a silly question, but do you think rice noodles could work for this instead of ramen? I have a ton of rice noodles.
Not a silly question at all! Rice noodles would be DELICIOUS in this. I would just make sure to give them a light rinse after cooking them (in warm water), so they don’t stick together when you add them to the dish.
Karen says
Ah yes. Thanks. That was sort of my worry. I thought they might be too sticky to work properly! Perfect. I have most of the ingredients now. I’ll make this!
Thank you
Ann Callan says
OMGoodness….this looks delicious. I will make it for dinner this coming week. Thanks Lisa!
I hope you love it Ann! Be sure to come back and let me know what you think!
Bryan Coates says
HELP, I love your recipes and I enjoy making them, but I have a problem, my wife will NOT allow any type of pepper, red,yellow or orange, in the meals that I make! Your suggestions for replacements please would be appreciated.
I love peppers myself, so I eat them raw in a dip. I have used celery!
I totally understand. I live in a house where onions are banned (!!!). In this recipe, I would swap out the peppers for some snow peas! You could use carrot slices too, but they will take a little longer to cook. If you want some dded crunch throw in some water chestnuts!
Carl Pirro says
Thanks Lisa for the noodles recipe.
Ruth says
Hi I have made this with rotisserie chicken cut in bit size pieces and a bag of stir fry veggies…I used the costco brand…it turned out great!! I fried up a little minced garlic and ginger…threw in the rotisserie chicken…I drizzled this with a bit of sesame oil, and had 5 spice so sprinked a little of that on…heated this up…added the bag of stir fry veggies and added a little water and covered it to cook the frozen stir fry veggies..gave it a stir..then added the cooked noodles warmed them up a bit and added the sauce…but if you do not want to make the sauce…a few shakes of soy, a nice squirt of hoisin and if you like a little siracha…it is fantastic…this is so quick and so good…
Marian says
Love your recipes. My favorite site!!
I’m so glad you are enjoying it, Marian!