Drunken Noodles

There’s something about drunken noodles that hits every craving at once: chewy rice noodles, spicy aromatics, sweet Thai basil, and just enough umami to make you keep going back for more. This vegan version has all the restaurant-style flavor without fish sauce or complicated ingredients. It’s quick, colorful, and one of my favorite dinners when I want something saucy and satisfying. Inspired by the endless number of Thai restaurants in my university town, check out this recipe to make your own drunken noodles at home!

This recipe makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

For the Sauce:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce

• 1 tbsp hoisin sauce (or vegetarian oyster/mushroom sauce)

• 1 tbsp miso paste, dissolved with 2 tbsp of warm water

• 2 tbsp packed palm sugar (or brown sugar)

• 1 tbsp chili garlic sauce

• 2 tsp rice vinegar

For the noodles:

• 14 oz packet of rice flakes (or rice noodles)

• 3-4 tbsp vegetable or sesame oil

• 2-3 green Thai chilies, sliced in half longways

• 1 medium white onion

• 6 cloves of garlic

• 1 red bell pepper

• 1 head of broccoli

• 1 medium carrot

• 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes

• 2 cups of Thai basil

• Fried tofu (soy chunks)

• 1-2 tbsp of pickled jalapeno juice (optional)

• Chili flakes (optional)

Instructions

Prepare all your ingredients before starting to cook the noodles because the rest of the steps happen quickly one after another!

1. Prepare the sauce by combining all the listed ingredients in a bowl and put it aside.

2. Prepare the rest of the ingredients: Mince the garlic cloves. Cut the Thai chilis. Cut the vegetables to your desired size — I prefer a long cut for the onions and peppers, diagonal slices for the carrots, and small pieces of the broccoli. Cut the cherry tomatoes in halves. Cut the tofu chunks in halves. Roughly chop the Thai basil leaves.

3. In a large pot start boiling water for the noodles and cook by instructions on the package. I prefer to go a few minutes beyond the time listed till the noodles are soft and chewy. Make sure to test the texture of the noodles before draining them so that they are the texture that you prefer.

4. While the water is boiling for the noodles, start heating up your oil in a separate pan with a large base or wok, sauté the Thai chilies and garlic in the oil on high heat. Let them cook for ~1 minute.

5. Add the rest of the vegetables and half of the Thai basil to the pan and let everything cook uncovered for a few minutes mixing frequently.

6. Drain the water from the noodles and without rinsing, add the noodles to the wok/pot with the veggies.

7. Add in the sauce immediately and mix to incorporate. Turn off the heat after 2 minutes.

8. Add in the tofu pieces, pickled jalapeno juice/brine, and the remainder of the Thai basil leaves.

9. Toss in the tomatoes and give the noodles one last mix!

Additional Notes

• If you want to swap out the rice flakes for the rice noodles, I recommend cooking them just slightly under perfect because as they cook in the sauce, they will start to break if they become overcooked.

• Aim to immediately add the noodles once they are drained into the veggies so that you can avoid large clumps of noodles. This may require to you start cooking the veggies a few minutes before starting to boil the noodles.

• If you cannot find fried soy chunks, you can also use regular firm tofu and pan fry that. For a healthier alternative, you can bake the tofu pieces or air fry it!

• Feel free to swap in mushrooms or plant-based chicken instead of tofu for protein variation.

• Leftovers reheat well, but add a splash of water to loosen the noodles when warming.