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Weeknight 20 Minute Spicy Udon Noodles! Extra saucy Asian inspired noodles with bell peppers, chicken, fresh basil, and an addicting sweet and spicy sauce. All made and ready for eating in just about twenty minutes. Doesn’t get better than these noodles on a busy night.

overhead photo of Weeknight 20 Minute Spicy Udon Noodles with chop sticks

Welcome to my Super Simple Thursday night dinner, NOODLES! Salty, sweet, spicy, and veggie filled noodles…my favorite.

I just thought of this now, but should we make Super Simple Thursday a thing? Like every Thursday I share a new super simple dinner recipe? Maybe as a new series for the summer? Let me know your thoughts on this and what you might want to see too. I’m liking this idea though!

OKAY so it’s Thursday, and even though it’s been a short week, I am already very ready for the weekend. It’s just been one of those weeks in the kitchen where nothing is really turning out how I pictured it in my head. When I develop recipes, I expect them to be nothing short of delicious. I also expect them to photograph beautifully and create mouth wateringly good photos.

I am firm believer that we eat with our eyes first (this is why there is a photograph with every single recipe in the HBH cookbook) and if something doesn’t look good in the photo, it’s never going to see the light of day on the blog.

It can be a really, really hard thing to have a recipe that’s delicious and pretty, and this week it’s just been a struggle. I’m trying my hardest not to be discouraged and just keep working, working, working…well swimming is what I actually say in my head (you know, finding Memo)…

But sometimes it’s hard!

close up overhead photo Weeknight 20 Minute Spicy Udon Noodles in skillet

Anyway as much as I love rambling on with you guys, let me tell you about these weeknight udon noodles that I happen to LOVE…and find pretty too!

Not sure if any of you remember my better than takeout peanut noodles, but this recipe was semi-inspired by those noodles.

Well let me back up a bit. I love the the idea of takeout. It’s fun, it’s quick, it’s mess free, and it’s just EASY. What I don’t love about takeout? The fact that I am eating cartons full of food that’s most likely full of ingredients that are not good for me. Read mass amounts of salt, sugar, weird meats, and fats.

Um? No thank you to all of that.

Enter these udon noodles. They taste like takeout, look like takeout, but are better, healthier, and quicker than takeout.

Promise it’s not too good to be true.

angled photo of Weeknight 20 Minute Spicy Udon Noodles with chopsticks

Let’s talk details.

First things first, you (of course) need udon noodles. These are the ones I use and love (you can get them at Whole Foods and I have bought them from my local Kroger grocery store too). You boil them just like you would pasta and they’re delish.

While the noodles boil, make a quick soy, hoisin sauce and stir fry up some ground chicken (which you can omit if you prefer), lots of bell peppers, ginger, and fresh chilies. By the time the noodles are done boiling, this stir fry should also be done cooking. All you need to do is marry the two together and dinner is done.

Yes, it’s that simple and that easy.

And it’s SO GOOD. My favorite part of this dish? The bell peppers, 100%.

I personally love bell peppers, but for whatever reason I don’t use them enough in recipes. I realized this the other week and am now making a serious effort to include them in any recipe I see fitting, which as you can guess, is a lot of recipes!

Using peppers in Asian inspired dishes is my favorite though. They pair so well with the salty, gingery flavors, and I love the pop of color they add.

All that said, you can truly use whatever combo of vegetables you have on hand. It’s all about using what you got! Zucchini, broccoli, and mushrooms would all be great! With summer right around the corner, have fun and use all the farmers market veggies you can grab!

close up photo of Weeknight 20 Minute Spicy Udon Noodles

OH! And the other major bonus of this recipe is the fact that it requires zero oven time. This isn’t really a huge bonus for me since I don’t mind using my oven during the warmer months of the year, seeing as it rarely creeps above eighty degrees here (and dips into the 30’s at night), but for those of you who have hot, hot temps during the summer, this recipe is for you!

So to recap…

No oven, easy, 20 minutes, healthy, colorful, and delicious.

Yup, I think you guys needs this for dinner tonight. Give a try and then don’t forget to let me know what you think about the idea of Super Simple Thursdays in the comments!

side angled photo of Weeknight 20 Minute Spicy Udon Noodles with fork

Watch the How To Video:

If you make these 20 minutes noodles, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I love hearing from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every one of you. Oh, and of course, if you do make this, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram so I can see! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!

Weeknight 20 Minute Spicy Udon Noodles

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Calories Per Serving: 503 kcal

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

Ingredients

Instructions

  • 1. Cook the udon noodles according to package directions. 
    2. Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, hoisin sauce, and 1/4 cup water in a bowl. 
    2. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the sesame oil and the chicken. Season with black pepper and brown all over, breaking it up as it cooks, about 5 minutes. Add the bell peppers, ginger, and fresno pepper, and cook another 2-3 minutes. Slowly pour in the soy sauce mixture and basil. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the sauce coats the chicken, about 3-5 minutes. 
    3. Stir in the noodles and remove from the heat. Add the green onions and sesame seeds. Serve the noodles warm, topped with green onions. Enjoy!
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overhead horizontal photo of Weeknight 20 Minute Spicy Udon Noodles

Noodles are always the best.

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Comments

    1. Hey Sanju,
      Maybe it was the brand I used, but they are udon noodles:) I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan

  1. 5 stars
    So good!! I threw in a zucchini and a shallot, and made a little extra sauce (with just a tiny bit of honey added) because I had a 14oz package of udon noodles. It was perfect – looking forward to my leftovers tomorrow.

  2. Finally, a stir-fry recipe that my kids loved! This recipe is a keeper for sure and I’ll be adding it to the regular dinner rotation. Thank you!

  3. I just want to confirm if we put 1/4cup of rice vinegar or water? The ingredients list say 1/4 cup rice vinegar but in the recipe instructions I only see 1/4 cup water. Won’t 1/4 cup rice vinegar make it too tangy? Thanks.

    1. Hi Praneet,
      Like stated in step 2, you are going to combine soy sauce, hoisin sauce, 1/4 cup of rice vinegar and 1/4 cup of water. I hope this clears things up, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan

    1. Hi Heather,
      You can use homemade hoisin! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan

  4. 5 stars
    This was delicious!! I already had all of the ingredients except for the Fresno chili ? so I subbed it for the 1/4 of a jalapeño I did have and it turned out great. Really fast, really tasty, minimal dishes to do after. I will definitely make this again. Thank you Tieghan!

    1. Thank you Nora! That is so great to hear! I hope you continue to enjoy my recipes! xTieghan

  5. 5 stars
    We used baby bok choy, jalapeños and serranos instead of the bell peppers because #quarantine but it still turned out so good! Also went with ground chicken which was delicious! Yum and easy!

  6. Made this last night and used ground turkey. Whole family loved! Will be on our meal rotation for now on! Plan to use a variety of seasonal veggies as spring rolls around:) (and the snow melts in CT!)

  7. 3 stars
    1/4 cup of rice vinegar in ingredient list but instructions call for 1/4 cup of water and no rice vinegar?! Glanced at instructions but went with ingredients list until it was too late… Very vinegary!

    1. Hi Cassi! The 1/4 cup water is in addition to the soy sauce, vinegar, and hoisin sauce. Did you not add it? I would love to help! xTieghan

  8. 4 stars
    I made this tonight with many modifications. I had next to nothing in the fridge and was looking for a way to make tasty udon with little else. For meat I subbed chopped wieners, for veggies I julienned a carrot and added a bunch of baby spinach. I made my own hoisin sauce (found a recipe online), and instead of hot peppers I added kimchi hot sauce. I also chopped a garlic into the mix. I had no basil so I garnished with fresh cilantro along with the green onions. The noodles were extremely flavourful. This is a delicious recipe and it will only be improved by making it with minced chicken or pork (wieners were handy but a sad substitute). I will be saving it!

    1. Thank you so much Beau! I am so glad this turned out so well for you! I hope you love others of mine as well! xTieghan

  9. 4 stars
    I’m glad I found this recipe and will be making it again. I made it with cabbage, broccoli, and ground turkey. I do have to say that the sauce was too salty for our tastes, and that was despite the fact that I had diluted it with extra water and not used all of it. Next time, I think I will try using 1/4 c low sodium soy sauce and 1/2 c water, along with some corn starch to thicken it up. As some other commenters have also mentioned, I added a little brown sugar and chili paste to the sauce since I couldn’t find a suitable pepper.

    One additional note–if you’re using frozen/fresh udon noodles, you’ll need like 16 or 20 oz. In a major facepalm moment, I put 8 oz of frozen noodles in the pot and was like “no way is that enough, this recipe is so wrong about noodles” and then finally I realized that fresh/frozen noodles are more dense than dried noodles.

  10. 4 stars
    This was so easy to make, and it was definitely delicious. The flavors were complex and the dish was filling. I suppose I was a bit disappointed in the spice-level. It was not even a little spicy even though I subbed in a jalapeno for the fresno pepper, which should have added a bit of heat. But I’ll probably try adding some szechuan peppercorns or a spicier pepper next time. Thanks for a delicious recipe!

  11. Your every dish is inviting Tieghan. We made vegetarian, so added a few other vegetables. Dinner was perfect; thank you for a great recipe!