Creamy sesame noodles ready in just 15-minutes. It’s made with a handful of ingredients to make the most rich and savory sauce. Simply boil your noodles, prepare the sauce, and toss everything together!

Table of Contents

This recipe was from 2022, and is still one of the most popular noodle recipes from the website!

I’ve since added slightly more content to help out with your cooking, including ingredients with some substitutions and a FAQs (frequently asked questions) section.

Sesame Noodles

Many of you know just how much I love noodle dishes for it’s simplicity and tastiness.

Whether you’re busy with work, classes, or just need a quick and easy meal, this noodle dish will become your new go-to recipe!

The best part is that this recipe is incredibly versatile. If you wanted to make this dish a more complete/heavy meal, you could always incorporate more sliced veggies into the mix or even serve it alongside some protein.

As always, be sure to adjust the sauce according to your tastes.

I’m absolutely hooked onto the sesame sauce. It’s creamy, rich, and savory, the perfect dressing to coat our chewy noodles with. Give it a try and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients

Noodles: for this recipe, I used fresh Korean somyeon noodles. Sometime’s they’re labelled as “vermicelli” or “wheat” noodles (they’re usually found in the refrigerated section).

Substations: Feel free to use any other noodles of your preference. Knife-cut noodles, udon, or ramen work amazing with the sesame sauce!

Sesame paste: the star of this dish. It tastes somewhat very similar to peanut butter, in that they’re both very rich and savory. For this recipe, we’ll be using Chinese sesame paste (more details below).

Substitutions: Peanut butter is your next best option, or you could try experimenting with other unsweetened nut butters (e.g., almond, cashew). Others have suggested tahini, which may also work, but just expect the flavor of the sauce to be much milder since the seeds during processing aren’t toasted as much as the Chinese brands do.

Chinese sesame paste — My favorite brand of sesame paste is “Wangzhihe”

Sesame oil: the toasty, nutty sesame oil will further enhance and concentrate the sesame flavor.

Peanut butter: we’ll be adding a small amount of peanut butter to our sauce, just enough to lend the sauce its richness, but not enough to overpower the main flavor of the sesame!

Soy sauce: this will boost those savory and umami flavors of our sauce. It will also add some slight saltiness.

Sugar: sugar will help to balance out the richness of the sesame/peanuts and the saltiness of the soy sauce. Feel free to adjust the amount more or less according to your preference.

Substitutions: Other cooks suggested they used maple syrup as a sugar substitute, or even brown sugar for a more molasses-tasting sauce. Most sugar substitutes should work for this recipe otherwise.

Black vinegar: this type of vinegar is slightly more earthy and “smoky” than your typical white vinegar. Try to look for it in your local Asian groceries. This will help add some brightness and tang.

Substitutions: Most standard white vinegars may work. You could also use rice vinegar or coconut vinegar.

Ginger, garlic: freshly grated ginger and garlic adds those delicious aromatic flavors to the dish. You could also substitute this with powdered/dried ginger and garlic!

Chili crisps: this ingredient is totally optional, but highly recommended! You could mix this directly into the sauce or just save it as a garnish on top. It adds a nice kick and mildness to the noodles.

Sesame paste

For this recipe, we’ll be using Chinese sesame paste. I love this stuff because I can use it virtually everywhere. From dips, to marinades, stir-fries, and in this case: sauces.

It’s essentially toasted sesame seeds that’s been ground/processed into a paste, resulting in a dark, rich, and creamy texture. You can typically find these being sold in glass containers from most Asian groceries.

You might be familiar with Tahini, which is another sesame condiment that’s popular in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. But is Chinese sesame paste and tahini the same? The short answer is no.

While Chinese sesame paste is made from heavily toasted sesame seeds, tahini is typically made with lightly-toasted (or even raw) seeds. The resulting flavor of the Chinese sesame paste is therefore more toasty and robust.

Neither is necessarily better than the other, just that the two kinds of pastes work better in their respected dishes with specific flavor profiles.

Instructions

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to its packaged instructions. Just before draining the noodles, reserve some of the noodle water for the sauce and set aside.

Prepare the sesame sauce by whisking all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

Add in the cooked noodles and toss to combine until fully coated.

Garnish with sesame seeds and julienned cucumbers. Enjoy!

Garnishing with sesame seeds and cucumber

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Can I add protein to this?

Yes! To make the dish even more filling, you can add anything from cooked shredded chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, tofu, tempeh, or even salmon.

Can I add veggies to this?

Some of my favorite vegetable additions to this include shaved carrots, red pepper, and fresh cucumbers. To make the noodles taste even more refreshing, feel free to throw in some mint, cilantro, or parsley.

How do I store leftovers?

Leftover sesame noodles can be stored refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Do note that the noodles can dry up fairly quickly when chilled, so to reheat, I usually like to add a small splash of water prior to microwaving or gently heating it over stovetop. You can re-adjust with more sesame paste and/or other seasonings if you prefer afterwards.

Can I store the sauce?

Another thing I like to do when meal-prepping is simply keeping the sauce stored in my fridge.

The sauce itself can last for 5 days in an airtight container, so whenever I get a craving for noodles (or simply want a sesame-based dip) I can just pull these out and mix them together straight away.

How to Serve

You can definitely serve the noodles as-is since it works great as a stand-alone dish, but you could also serve it as a side dish with many other mains.

Depending on your preference, you can serve these either cold or warm. Personally, cold is the way to go since these are super refreshing especially on warmer months.

For a colder version, simply rinse the cooked noodles under cold water for about 30 seconds and drain. Mix it along with the sesame sauce as you normally would, and enjoy!

Here are some of my favorite mains to serve alongside these noodles!