Sweet and Sour Noodles — 🍜🫛🌶️ Ready in 30 minutes and made with a homemade sweet and sour sauce! Perfect as a side or main dish, even picky eaters will adore this EASY noodle recipe!
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Easy Asian Noodles with Sweet and Sour Sauce
There are layers and layers of flavors in these Asian-inspired noodles that are ready in 30 minutes. Soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, lime juice, ginger, and Asian chili-garlic sauce (found in the Asian aisle of most major grocery stores) make up the sweet and sour sauce and coat the noodles beautifully.
They’re sweet and sour, with a very subtle heat from the ginger and chili-garlic sauce.
Red peppers, sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, and baby corn add texture and crunch to these sweet and sour noodles.
Who needs takeout when homemade tastes better and you’re in control of the ingredients!
Ingredients for Sweet and Sour Noodles
These easy Asian noodles call for basic ingredients you likely have on hand. Feel free to mix and match the veggies to use up whatever is in your produce drawer!
Gather the following ingredients:
Noodles
- Thin spaghetti
- Bell pepper
- Sugar snap peas
- Baby corn
- Sliced water chestnuts
- Green onions
- Fresh cilantro
- Sesame seeds
Asian noodle sauce
- Rice wine vinegar
- Honey
- Soy sauce – Use regular or light soy sauce, whichever you prefer
- Sesame oil
- Lime juice
- Chili garlic sauce
- Ground ginger
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Asian Noodles
These Asian-inspired sweet and sour noodles come together in about 30 minutes and require minimal prep work. Win-win!
Here are the basic recipe steps:
- Cook the thin spaghetti noodles until al dente, drain, and set aside.
- Whisk together the sweet and sour sauce ingredients, and keep them near the stove for quick access later. Then, sauté sliced bell pepper in a little sesame oil until crisp-tender.
- To the pan, add the sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, and green onion, and continue cooking until the veggies become slightly tender.
- Finally, add the cooked spaghetti and the homemade sweet and sour sauce to the skillet and toss to coat the noodles fully.
- Cook the Asian noodles stir-fry for a few more minutes to thicken the sauce and heat everything. I like to garnish mine with cilantro, sesame seeds, and more green onion, but you can keep things as simple as you’d like.
What to Serve with Sweet and Sour Noodles
Recipe FAQs
Most definitely! I kept the recipe vegetarian, but you can add the protein of your choice, including chicken, pork, shrimp, or beef. My family never missed the meat, because they were too busy slurping up noodles.
I prefer to use spaghetti noodles for this dish because they’re easy to find and cook easily. However, you could also use rice noodles, thin wheat somen noodles, soba noodles, ramen noodles, or pad Thai noodles. Any thin noodle will work.
The most common reason for this dish to turn out mushy is overcooking the pasta. The noodles will soak up the sweet and sour sauce the longer they sit in it. So, if you overcook the pasta it will turn to mush once mixed with the sauce. To prevent this, be careful to cook the noodles just to al dente!
These sweet and sour noodles are best fresh, but they reheat well as leftovers. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
I don’t recommend it! They will likely be way too soggy once thawed.
Reheat these Asian noodles in a hot skillet with a tiny bit of oil (no more than a tablespoon of oil). You may need to add a tablespoon or so of water to loosen everything back up a bit. Just make sure not to reheat them in the microwave, or they’ll become rubbery.
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Easy Sweet and Sour Asian Noodles
Equipment
- 1 Pot
- 1 Medium Bowl
Ingredients
Noodles
- 1 lb thin spaghetti, cooked and drained*
- 1 large red bell pepper, trimmed, seeded, and sliced into thin strips
- 1 heaping cup sugar snap peas***
- one 15-ounce can baby corn, drained and rinsed (if using whole baby corn, cut into bite-sized pieces)
- one 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained and rinsed
- ⅓ cup green onions, about 4 green onions, trimmed and sliced into thin rounds, plus more for garnishing
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, stems discarded, finely minced
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted if desired, optional for garnishing
Sweet and Sour Sauce
- ¾ cup rice wine vinegar
- ½ cup honey
- ⅓ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons sesame oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon Asian chili-garlic sauce**
- 1 to 2 teaspoons ground ginger, to taste
Instructions
- Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- To a medium bowl, add the rice wine vinegar, honey, soy sauce, 2 tablespoons sesame oil, lime juice, chili-garlic sauce, ginger (some people are sensitive to ginger so add to taste), and whisk to combine; set sauce aside.
- To a large skillet, add the remaining 2 tablespoons sesame oil, peppers, and cook over medium-high heat until peppers begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir intermittently.
- Add the sugar snap peas, baby corn, water chestnuts, green onions, and cook until crisp-tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir intermittently.
- Add the cooked spaghetti, sauce, and cook for about 2 minutes, or until warmed through. Toss well during cooking. Note – Any extra sauce that’s pooling at the bottom of the skillet will absorb into the noodles as time passes so don't be alarmed now.
- Evenly sprinkle with cilantro and toss to combine. Optionally garnish with sesame seeds and green onions. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Asian Noodle Recipes:
Chicken Pad Thai — EASY, ready in 20 minutes, and BETTER than takeout! Tender rice noodles, juicy chicken, with crisp-tender carrots, cabbage, and more for an IRRESISTIBLE and AUTHENTIC chicken pad Thai!
Asian Pork Noodles — An EASY comfort food stir fry that’s ready in 20 minutes with so many textures and flavors in every bite! Juicy pork, tender noodles, crisp-tender veggies in a bath of sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, and chili garlic sauce if you want to turn up the heat!
Thai Curry Noodles — Make these EASY Thai-inspired red curry noodles in either your Instant Pot OR on the stovetop! Either way, these noodles are COMFORTING, flavorful, and ready in less than 10 MINUTES! Faster than calling for takeout! A great MEATLESS MAIN dish or hearty side!
Peanut Chicken with Peanut Noodles — Ready in 20 minutes and is way healthier than takeout. Peanut sauce automatically makes everything taste amazing!
Peanut Noodles with Mixed Vegetables and Peanut Sauce – Fast, easy, fresh, healthy, and ready in 5 minutes!
Chinese Chicken Pasta Salad – Big juicy chicken chunks and texture galore from the rainbow of crispy veggies! Fast, easy, fresh, and healthy! Great for picnics, potlucks, and easy dinners!
hi there
what can I substitute for the wine vinegar?
I haven’t tried the recipe any other way than written so can’t speak for sure about substitutions.
Loved this recipe! Other than the water chestnuts, I used different vegetables and love the flexibility of doing that. Only change I would make next time is to use a little less of the chili sauce. It did seem initially like a lot of sauce but almost all was absorbed so it was great as leftovers (both warmed and at room temp).
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it turned out great for you! And yes, with my sauce too, so much absorbed into the noodles over the next day or so. Glad you enjoyed it with alternate veggies as well as warmed and at room temp!
Did anyone else have a problem with the amount of rice vinegar? I thought it seemed like a lot, but I don’t normally make this kind of dish so I followed the recipe. The smell during cooking and of the finished product were overwhelmingly vinegar-y, and it burned my mouth when I ate it. I felt the vinegar totally drowned out all the other flavors. If I had to make it again I would cut the vinegar by half to three quarters and increase the honey. It didn’t taste “sweet and sour” to me at all…just sour…
Hmmm, that’s interesting about the rice wine vinegar. All brands do vary in their intensity. I usually use on from Trader Joe’s or I have used one from the regular grocery store but the brand name escapes me at the moment. The dish when I made it was definitely not so strong that my mouth was burning! I think something was going on with your vinegar and you had an unusually strong batch! I am always wary of adding too much honey to ‘savory’ dishes because people complain about them reading too sweet but in this situation, given your vinegar, I can see why you’d want more honey. But as written, we really enjoyed it as-is. Thanks for trying the recipe.
oh yummy! I would love this!
you mentioned the noodles absorbing the extra sauce within 30 minutes. Are the noodles suposed to sit for 30 minutes before serving?
Not necessary but I found with the leftovers, that the sauce really absorbed into the noodles. Just something I mentioned as a detail I noticed.
Averie, I love all your recipes.
Thank you!
This recipe is amazing not to mention beautiful! I love the versatility; you can throw any veggie in here and it’d be delicious. Thank you for sharing!
So versatile which is great because I never know what’ll be in my produce drawer!
Averie this looks scrumptious! I’ll have to try it with zucchini noodles and let you know how it goes. :)
I love zoodles, enjoy!
I could go to town on this. Seriously, every dinner you make is a winner!
You’re way too sweet :)
I could eat Asian stir fries every day and be happy with it. I love anything with the chili garlic sauce. OH MAN.
And the baby corns? I used to eat them straight from the can. So good!
I can see you totally loving that chili garlic sauce and I just made another recipe with it since I still had the rest of the jar.
I used to pick out the baby corns at Chinese restaurants from whatever my family ordered and hoard them :)
Our daughters would probably fight over the pasta meals. :) This looks like another winner–I’d be stealing the baby corn and water chestnuts for myself.
I love water chestnuts too but that is definitely an under-rated vegetable that no one else seems to ‘love’ :)
Averie noodles and I are the best of the friends ! I can literally eat them for 3 meals a day everyday and these are noexception! Love the crunchy vegetables in there and the sweet & sour sauce!
Whoa! These look soooo flavourful! Definitely excited to try this recipe!
I have a lone bundle of soba noodles (Jon’s favorite) just waiting to be sauced up! I think he would enjoy some diced pork as well. Between this and the peanut chicken I’m anxious to make, we’ll be having an Asian flavored weekend!
Funny you mention soba noodles…I have a soba recipe coming up in a few weeks! I guess I went on an Asian kick (and slow cooker) recently!
Who needs take out? Love all this sassy Asian flare you have happening here Averie!
Thanks, Erin!
It’s the perfect meal!! I love nothing more than a meal that can be changed up to anyones liking! If someone wants vegetarian, bam there it is, if they like chicken, just add it in! So simple and so dreamy looking! Love it! Thanks
I love versatile meals like that too – add it, or not – either way it works!