Meow Recipes

Monday, June 6, 2022

Saucy Gochujang Noodles with Chicken

Spicy, peanutty, noodley bit of super easy comfort food coming your way with these saucy gochujang noodles!

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Summer has summer-ed and the outside shouldn’t hog all the heat for itself, let the sauce have some! Thank you ever so to the subtle heat of the gochujang sauce and rich creaminess of the peanut butter, thank you to the twisty twirls of the little ramen noodle bricks, and bless those piles of fresh herbs on top.

This new pal is so easy to throw together you might just find yourself making it again and again and ok yes sure, why not one more time this week.

Ingredients For Gochujang Ramen Noodles

Ingredients in bowls for spicy gochujang noodles.

A handful of pantry/fridge staples probably already on hand for this baby, but then round up the rest and get ready. We’re using the standard crinkly ramen from the little packages (minus the spice packet) but any stir fry noodles would also work great here!

For the sauce:

soy sauce
gochujang sauce (like this one*) or gochujang paste (will be spicier)
tomato paste
peanut butter
brown sugar
sesame oil
garlic
broth or water for thinning

For the noodle paradise:

ground chicken (ground pork could work too!)
ramen noodle bricks (just the noodles)
fresh spinach
fresh herbs, chili oil, and sesame seeds for topping

The type/brand of gochujang sauce will also determine your spice level. When testing with the P.F. Chang brand, it was definitely on the mild side and was totally kid-able. But other brands like Bibigo packed more heat.

What Is Gochujang?

If you’re not familiar, gochujang — a staple ingredient in Korean cooking with an absolutely delicious lingering heat and strong umami flavor — mixed with some other ingredients like soy sauce, vinegar, and a sweetener. Gochujang itself is a spicy-sweet-savory paste that is made from fermented soybeans, red chile pepper flakes, sticky rice, and salt and it is commonly used to flavor meat dishes, soups and stews, and sauces. You can read a little more about how it’s made and used from Christina Chaey over at Bon Appetit.

For this recipe, we actually used a gochujang sauce which is premixed with other ingredients, mostly because it is almost always available at our local grocery store. But also because it is a little less potent than the paste, closer to a mild sriracha, whereas the paste is thicker and spicier.

If you happen to have the paste, it is definitely a deep and interesting flavor and can of course be used here! But you might consider adding a splash of soy sauce and honey to balance out the flavors.

Let’s Make These Delicious Weeknight Noodles

Easy peasy is the name of the noodle game here so you could definitely whip these up on a weeknight. Or multiple weeknights in a row, should your heart to desire. Let’s get to it.

Sauce. Whisk the sauce ingredients (minus the extra broth) in a small bowl or just give them all a jar-shake until thick and creamyish.
Chicken. Get your ground chicken browned up in a skillet and season generously.
Noodles. Again, we just used the wavy noodle ramen bricks and cooked until softened.
Magic. Once the chicken is done add your fresh spinach and the cooked/drained ramen, cover in sauce and toss everything over heat to combine. Add extra broth as needed to get to your optimal sauciness.

Serve those noodles piled in a bowl, absolutely showered with fresh herbs, green onions, sesame seeds, maybe a little chili oil. YES.

Just a quick textural note, these noodles will get stickier (still very delicious!) the longer they rest, so you may have to add a little water to loosen things up and get back their silkiness when you’re returning for seconds, thirds, fourths or leftovers.

Subs and Jazzers For This Noodle Pile

What is truly great about a weeknight wonder like this is that you can really make it your own! You can swap ground pork or ground turkey for the meat, or if you want to make it vegetarian you could try:

vegetarian crumbles
crispy tofu (try this technique)
or just pile in the veggies (peppers? roasty brocc? mushrooms? could all be great!)

If you don’t have or can’t find the gochujang sauce or paste, you could certainly sub in some sambal oelek, sriracha or any other chili paste you might have. Just check the spice levels as you go!

And this would not be a noodle wonderland if you did not jazz it up with piles of fresh herbs on top — basil, cilantro, chives, green onions, or all of the above. Are you going to drizzle with sesame oil and squeeze on some lime juice and sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds on top? Man, we hope so.

Please report back on how often you are making these so we can feel totally normal and non-obsessive about how often we’re making these, ok? Carry on, noodle lovers.

Lifting noodles out of a bowl with chopsticks.

Sources: Sesame Gochujang Noodles (BA) and Spicy Short Rib Noodles (POY)

Gochujang Noodles: Frequently Asked Questions

How does this hold up for leftovers?

This makes for a very delicious lunch the next day! The texture does get stickier the longer it rests, so you may just need add some more water to loosen everything up and make it saucy again.

What’s the difference between gochujang sauce and gochujang paste?

Gochujang sauce is premixed with other ingredients, thinner in consistency, and more mild. Gochujang paste is thicker, spicier, and more potent than the sauce. We’re using sauce in this recipe!

How could I make this gluten-free?

Rice noodles would work great here!

How spicy is this recipe?

If you’re using gochujang sauce, they have a kick (because, well, gochujang!) but still somewhat mild. If you’re using the paste, definitely higher on the spicy levels.

How can I make this vegetarian?

Skip the ground chicken or sub in your favorite vegetarian sub (like tofu!).

Source Notes: This recipe was inspired by these Gochujang-Sesame Noodles by Zaynab Issa at Bon Appétit. You can also read a little more about gochujang and how it’s made from Christina Chaey over at Bon Appetit.

Saucy Gochujang Noodles with Chicken

Author: Lindsay
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4-6 servings

Print Recipe

Description

Spicy, peanutty, noodley bit of super easy comfort food coming your way! These gochujang noodles require just a handful of pantry ingredients – like ramen noodles, peanut butter, sesame oil, soy sauce, and more – and come together in just 20 mins. Weeknight win!

Ingredients

Units

Gochujang Sauce:

3 tablespoons soy sauce
2–3 tablespoons gochujang sauce (like this one*)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons water
1–2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 clove minced garlic
1–2 cups broth or water for thinning the sauce

Ramen:

1 pound ground chicken (could also use pork)
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 packets ramen or stir fry noodles (just the noodles)
a couple big handfuls of fresh spinach
chives, scallions, cilantro, basil, or whatever herbs you like for topping
salt, chili oil, or sesame seeds for finishing

Instructions

Whisk the sauce ingredients (except the extra broth) in a small bowl or shake together in a jar. It should form a thick sauce.
Cook the chicken in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Boil the noodles for just a few minutes to soften. Drain and set aside.
When the chicken is done, add spinach, cooked noodles, and sauce to the pan, keeping it over medium high heat. Toss to combine; heat until the spinach is wilted. Add extra water or broth to thin the sauce, a little at a time, to get the sauciness that you like (I usually add about 1 1/2 cups total).
Serve topped with fresh herbs, scallions, chili oil, sesame seeds, and whatever else you like.

Equipment

The equipment section may contain affiliate links to products we know and love.

Notes

The type of gochujang used will determine how spicy the noodles are. I’ve used both the Bibigo brand and P.F. Chang’s brand. With the P.F. Chang’s gochujang sauce, I felt like it was mild enough to serve to my kids. If you want to be sure, you can reduce the overall amount of gochujang and then just add a bit of extra heat with chili oil or the gochujang sauce for the spicy lovers right before serving.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Category: Dinner
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: Korean-Inspired

Keywords: gochujang, noodles, stir fry, ground chicken, spicy noodles, weeknight dinner

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Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Elote Style Quinoa Salad

That’s it! Summer is on its waaaaay! And just in time for this bright, nutty, totally satisfying, creamy dream salad.

Elote quinoa salad in a bowl with cotija cheese and a fork

This post is sponsored by ALDI

It packs a real nutritional punch thanks to the quinoa and black beans, but then OH, DOES IT GET ZAZZED. Velvety peppers confit, piles of fresh juicy sweet corn, and a homemade dressing bringing the best of the best elote (Mexican street corn) flavors together like zippy lime, salty cotija cheese, and chili powder. And as always, we have big love for ALDI for having everything we need for this dream to come true, including all of the fresh (like, “it gets delivered every single day” fresh!) summery produce packed into this salad delight.

Mexican street corn, served either as elote (on the cob) or esquites (kernels in a cup), is a staple snack in Mexico, and rightly so. This beautifully savory grilled corn is either stuck on wooden sticks or shaved from the cob and served in little cups depending, painted in mayo, lime juice, cotija, and chili powder, and joyfully carried around and munched on by many. The very best of grab-and-go!

We’re taking inspiration from all those beautiful delicious flavors, shaving that fresh raw sweet corn right off the cob, and piling and tossing and mixing with some other chompable greats. Warning: highly addictive salad ahead.

In This Post: Everything For Elote Quinoa Salad

Ingredients for Elote Quinoa Salad
How to Make This Salad
Why Raw Corn
Best Ways to Cook Quinoa
Mayo Alternatives
What to Serve with This Salad
Elote Quinoa Salad: Frequently Asked Questions

Ingredients For This Elote Quinoa Salad

The ingredient list here is simple, don’t need much to deliver big on flavor. And so we’re going to our affordable and high-quality faves over at ALDI for the entirety of this list.

They have such a wide variety of delicious fresh produce, lots of organic options, and you KNOW we love that ALDI cheese section (seriously, it’s amazing), so of course we’re hitting that up here! Here’s what you’ll need:

For the salad:

Simply Nature Organic Quinoa
fresh sweet corn
Simply Nature Organic Black Beans
mini sweet peppers (cooked into pepper confit)
cilantro

For the dressing:

Burman’s Mayo
Pueblo Lindo Grated Cotija Cheese
Stonemill Chili Powder
buttermilk
garlic
limes

Let’s Make This Fresh Summery Salad

Alright, let’s get this summer star ready.

Quinoa and prep. Use your fave method to cook quinoa and get your sweet corn shaved from the cobs.
Pepper confit. Drizzle a generous amount of olive oil in a skillet and add the pepper rings. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes or until very soft and roasty-looking. For a flavor bonus, you can squeeze a little lime juice in the pan to lift all the browned bits off the bottom of the pan when you’re done!
Homemade dressing! You’ll whisk all the ingredients up and then taste and adjust as necessary. It might taste super salty and that’s okay! It’s going on a bunch of raw, unseasoned ingredients so you’re going to want it to have lots of flavor.
Toss and serve. Throw everything in a bowl (or okay fine, arrange nicely if you are a star) just before serving. Drizzle with all that beautiful creamy dressing. Yum!

That’s it! Pretty easy peasy. Then you can continue to doll it up as you like.

But Raw Corn? In a Salad?

Yes! Raw sweet corn is quite delicious! It’s crunchy, bursty, and has an almost creamy sweet taste. It really is quite a dream!

You’ll just take a sharp knife and run it right down your cob and get all those yummy pale golden gems off and into your salad bowl. Yes and yes.

If you’re not feeling like taking the raw corn adventure (be brave! you can do it!), you can of course totally cook your corn first. Get a nice char on it from the grill to really up those elote flavors or you could sauté it in a hot skillet for a similar effect.

If you’re really in a pinch, you could sear up some frozen corn, but it won’t have quite the same crunch or sweet pop.

Elote quinoa salad in a bowl with a fork

The Best Ways To Cook Quinoa For This Salad

The stovetop method is a good way to go:

Rinse for at least 30 seconds under running water or toast your quinoa first! It helps get rid of the natural bitterness on the outside quinoa (thanks to the naturally-occurring saponin coating).
Use a 2 parts liquid to 1 part quinoa ratio (using broth instead of water can add more flavor!).
Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer until all liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, cover, and let steam for a few minutes until those little curly coils bust out.
Remove lid and fluff with fork. It should smell nutty, fluff easily, and no liquid should be left!

If you’re making larger batches, it can also be done in a rice cooker or Instant Pot! Make sure you still rinse or toast your quinoa first!

Rice cooker: Still a 2 parts liquid to 1 part quinoa ratio and it is usually done in about 30 minutes.
Pressure cooker: 1.5 parts liquid to 1 part quinoa. Cook on high for 3 mins, natural release for 10 minutes.

Mayo Alternatives

If you don’t want to go the mayo route, even though its salty creaminess can’t be beat, you certainly have other options for your dressing. You could try:

Greek yogurt
sour cream
Mexican crema
maybe an avocado?

You may have to adjust your buttermilk and cheese ratios to get the right consistency you’re looking for depending on what you use, but certainly play around with it!

What To Serve with Elote Salad

Between the quinoa and the black beans, this makes a really lovely and satisfying meal. But if you’re looking to bring some friends to the table, some grilled or rotisserie chicken would be delicious. A little bowl of salad and then all the chips and all the salsas and all the guac? Yes, please.

Serve this salad on the side of a taco party? THANK YOU FOR ASKING. Maybe some of these would be nice:

What we’re saying is, summer is coming, this salad is so, so good, and you are never going to want to stop.

Elote Style Quinoa Salad: Frequently Asked Questions

What should I serve with this?

This salad works great by itself and is incredibly filling, but if you wanted, some grilled chicken would be delicious to serve the salad alongside.

I’m out of buttermilk. Any substitution ideas?

Buttermilk is actually very easy to make at home! Read how to make your own here.

Any other kinds of cheeses to sprinkle on top?

Cotija cheese is our #1 pick here, but if you can’t find it, queso fresco can also work. It just crumbles a bit differently and is saltier.

Can this salad be prepped ahead of time for the week?

It sure can! Just save your dressing drizzles and cheese sprinkles for right before serving.