This vegan noodles with garlic and chili oil recipe is the perfect weeknight takeout-at-home dish! Ready in less than 20 minutes, all you need for these flavorful sizzling hot chili oil noodles are a few simple ingredients... SO good.
To take it up a notch, you can substitute store-bought noodles for these homemade, hand-pulled ones and make Xi'an Foods' famous biang biang mian!
🍜 Why It Works
Does a (highly-acclaimed) restaurant-quality dish that's ready in less than 20 minutes sound good to you? Me too. That's why I'm obsessed with these aromatic hot chili oil noodles.
We've made them so many times since our first attempt in 2017 and got to develop a truly-bomb flavor profile over the years.
This dish is so unfussy and comforting—yet authentic, that I can't believe people don't talk about it more.
You can use pretty much ANY type of noodles that you like. Don't have Sichuan peppercorns or special chile flakes? Use whichever kind you've got.
Let's get to making one of my top foods of all time! Some friends call me Gonoodle for a reason. 🙂
🌶 Ingredients
- Noodles — You may use wheat, rice, buckwheat, or even kelp noodles. We find that wider Chinese noodles made of common wheat work better than Italian durum wheat pasta. If you have the extra time, homemade hand-pulled noodles—à la Xi'an Famous Foods—are our absolute favorite for this sauce.
- Soy Sauce — Light soy sauce works best. You may dilute regular or dark soy, or tamari, with a splash of water instead.
- Chinese Black Vinegar (zhènjiāng xiāngcù, 镇江香醋) — This vinegar is made from fermented black sticky rice, and has a distinct malty-sweet & acidic flavor. If you need a substitute, go for white rice vinegar. Balsamic is also acceptable in a pinch.
- Scallion — We'll use the green parts of the scallion as a garnish and "cook" the white parts in hot oil for maximum flavor.
- Garlic — I like to use enough garlic that it can keep all vampires away. Besides the hot chili oil and noodles, this ingredient certainly is non-negotiable.
- Ginger — Not everyone likes to use ginger in their hot oil noodles, but please give it a try. A tiny bit of minced ginger makes a huge difference.
- Five Spice — This spice blend is a Chinese classic for a reason. Trying it in this dish brought that something extra we didn't know we were missing. If you don't have any, try using whichever of these spices you've got: we want a mixture of cinnamon, fennel seed, star anise, cloves, and some more of white or Sichuan peppercorns.
- Neutral Oil — We usually use vegetable oil. Any other neutral oil, like canola, will also work.
- Optional: Blanched Vegetables — If you find this dish too indulgent or need something a bit more nutritious and fresh on the side to balance it, serve these noodles with blanched bok choy or cabbage.
🇨🇳 Sichuan Chile Flakes vs. Sichuan Peppercorn
- Sichuan Peppercorn Powder — Remember when I called this recipe unfussy a few paragraphs ago? I still stand by that because this ingredient is totally optional. But give these mouth-numbingly-amazing berries a try in this dish and you won't begrudge the extra few minutes spent grinding them.
- Sichuan Chile Flakes (or regular) — Sichuan chile flakes are very bright red in color and are spicier than your everyday chile flakes. They saturate these noodles to a beautiful color. Feel free to use whichever type of chile flakes you have available.
🥣 Instructions
1. Cook noodles according to package instructions, or make your own easy hand-pulled biang biang noodles.
2. In a large heat-safe bowl, place the cooked noodles, the white part of the chopped scallion, minced ginger, and garlic. Pour in the soy sauce & Chinese dark vinegar.
3. If using Sichuan peppercorns, grind them and place the grounds into a small mesh strainer. Over a small bowl or directly onto noodles, push down on the strainer with the pestle to extract Sichuan peppercorn powder.
4. Layer on the chili flakes, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and five-spice—ideally in the shape of a volcano right in the middle.
5. Heat the oil in a small pan until it just starts to smoke, usually a few minutes on high heat. Pour the hot oil into the bowl carefully, aiming for the spice volcano.
6. Mix it all up, give it a taste, and add salt if needed. Garnish with the remaining scallion slices and devour!
Store any leftover garlic chili oil noodles in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. Simply reheat the noodles in a microwave-safe dish to enjoy!
❓FAQs
Unless the ingredient list has eggs, dry noodles are almost always vegan! With that said, some Asian restaurants cook their noodles in broths that contain animal-based stock.
Vegan chili oil noodles usually have common wheat Chinese noodles, aromatics (e.g. garlic, ginger, green onion), soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, five spice, and of course, sizzling hot oil poured onto chile flakes.
Although it depends on the specific recipe, hand-pulled noodles are usually vegan as the dough itself doesn't contain any animal-based ingredients such as eggs or dairy.
Depending on the recipe, Sichuan chile flakes (Chinese) or gochugaru (Korean) will be best for chili oil.
Any neutral oil, such as vegetable and canola, will work to make chili oil. Some cooks prefer peanut oil.
Sichuan chili is a bright red and particularly spicy type of pepper. Sichuan peppercorn is technically not even a type of pepper—it is a berry—and its unique composition can temporarily numb your mouth!
Named after the sound they make when slapped on the counter to get stretched, biang biang noodles are hand-pulled, wide, and flat noodles. The dish gained fame in the U.S. through New York's City Xi'an Famous Foods.
Unfortunately, the restaurant chain no longer has a vegan biang biang noodle option. While the hot oil biang biang noodles that had all-vegan ingredients used to be boiled in water, they are now cooked in beef/pork stock.
🥡 More Recipes
Did you make this vegan noodles with garlic and chili oil recipe? I'd love to hear about it! Please comment and leave a star🌟 rating below. This helps me run Aegean Delight and I always appreciate it 🙂
Print📖 Recipe
Vegan Garlic Chili Oil Noodles
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 2 Servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This vegan noodles with garlic and chili oil recipe is the perfect weeknight takeout-at-home dish! Ready in less than 20 minutes, all you need for these flavorful sizzling hot chili oil noodles are a few simple ingredients.
Ingredients
- 2 servings (150 grams or 5 ounces) store-bought or homemade noodles (see notes)
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons Chinese dark vinegar
- 1 scallion, sliced, white and green parts divided
- ¼-in piece of ginger, minced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Sichuan or regular chili flakes
- ½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn powder (see notes)
- ¼ teaspoon five-spice (see notes)
- 5 tablespoons neutral oil
- salt to taste
- optional: 1 head of bok choy or small cabbage, blanched
Instructions
- Cook noodles according to package instructions, or make your own easy hand-pulled biang biang noodles.
- In a large heat-safe bowl, place the cooked noodles, the white part of the chopped scallion, minced ginger, and garlic. Pour in the soy sauce & Chinese dark vinegar.
- If using whole Sichuan peppercorns, grind them and place the grounds into a small mesh strainer. Over a small bowl or directly onto noodles, push down on the strainer with the pestle to extract Sichuan peppercorn powder.
- Layer on the chili flakes, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and five-spice—ideally in the shape of a volcano right in the middle.
- Heat the oil in a small pan until it just starts to smoke, usually a few minutes on high heat. Pour the hot oil into the bowl carefully, aiming for the spice volcano.
- Mix it all up, give it a taste, and add salt if needed. Garnish with the remaining scallion slices and the optional blanched bok choy to serve. You may store any leftover garlic chili oil noodles in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. Simply reheat the noodles in a microwave-safe dish to enjoy.
Notes
Noodles — You may use wheat, rice, buckwheat, or even kelp noodles. We find that wider Chinese noodles made of common wheat work better than Italian durum wheat pasta. If you have the extra time, try our easy homemade hand-pulled noodles recipe. Double the garlic chili oil sauce for 4 servings, or halve the noodle ingredients for 2 servings.
Chinese dark vinegar (zhènjiāng xiāngcù, 镇江香醋) — This vinegar is made from fermented black sticky rice, and has a distinct malty-sweet & acidic flavor. If you need a substitute, go for white rice vinegar. Balsamic is also acceptable in a pinch.
Sichuan peppercorns — Unlike any other spice, Sichuan peppercorns give you a tingly mouth feel without tasting "spicy". They are sold either whole or ground. You may skip this ingredient entirely, or use white pepper to substitute.
Five-spice — If you don't have five-spice, try using whichever of these spices you've got: we want a mixture of cinnamon, fennel seed, star anise, cloves, and some more of white or Sichuan peppercorns.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Mains, Pasta, Chinese
- Cuisine: Chinese
Sheila
My boyfriend and I loved it with linguine noodles! We didn't have Szechuan peppercorns or chili flakes either but it still turned out great.
The hot oil was a little scary to handle so I'd recommend using a pan with pour spouts. Thank you for the recipe
Gönül
So happy to hear you enjoyed it! Pouring the hot oil is definitely the toughest part of this dish. Thanks for your comment, Sheila!