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We love these 20 Minute Red Curry Basil Garlic Oil Noodles on the busiest of nights. Homemade basil garlic oil with Thai red curry and frizzled scallions. All tossed with quick-cooking (and delicious) ramen noodles and ready in just about 20 minutes. Not only is this a healthy (vegan) noodle bowl, it’s delicious for nights you’re craving saucy noodles, but need them to be homemade – and quick.
Lately, my family has been requesting a lot of chicken fried rice or quick stir-fries with a Thai-style sauce. Anything with a little soy and a touch of heat is their favorite. I don’t mind because most of these dishes are pretty quick. But after making chicken fried rice for the third time in one week, I needed a change of pace.
Since they were still looking for something saucy and soy-based, I went the noodle route. Ever since I made chili oil noodles a few weeks ago, I’ve been into making noodles with an oil-based sauce.
They’re so easy to do, and always so delicious.
The noodles I’m sharing today are truly so super simple, but wow, the flavor is so delicious. I really wanted to incorporate some Thai basil flavors and use up all the fresh Thai basil I had in the fridge.
Thai red curry paste with Thai basil and a few dashes of tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) is one of my favorite combinations. So I thought, “why not toss that up with some noodles?”.
These ended up coming together in just minutes and they really are so delicious.
The details
The oil is the heart of this recipe. The noodles are, of course, important, but it’s really the oil that adds all the flavor. You’ll want to start out by warming together the sesame oil and green onions (or scallions, or shallots…what do you call them ??♀️). Warm until the green onions are super fragrant and frizzled up.
Basically, you’re frying the onions in the oil, which creates a really wonderful flavor. Once the onions are frizzled up, stir in the Thai red curry paste. Allow the curry paste to cook a minute or so to really intensify the flavors.
At this point, I start adding the garlic, ginger, and chili flakes to a bowl big enough to toss the noodles in. Then add lots of fresh Thai basil. If your grocery store doesn’t carry Thai basil, regular Italian basil works too.
When the oil is ready, pour it over the garlic and basil. The heat from the oil will cook the garlic and you’ll immediately smell all the fresh basil.
The rest is simple. Boil the noodles. I love using Brown Rice Ramen (which you can find at Whole Foods and in many grocery stores). These taste just like real deal ramen noodles, but they’re much healthier, gluten-free, and vegan.
Toss the noodles with the oil and a bit of tamari, then serve them up warm!
These saucy noodles are currently the go-to favorite. You can even include chicken for added protein. Sautéed mushrooms or greens would be delicious additions too!
Looking for other fun noodle recipes? Here are some favorites:
Crispy Sesame Garlic Chili Oil Noodles
Stir Fried Honey Ginger Sesame Noodles
Creamy Thai Turmeric Chicken and Noodles
Lastly, if you make these 20 Minute Red Curry Basil Garlic Oil Noodles, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
20 Minute Red Curry Basil Garlic Oil Noodles
Servings: 4
Calories Per Serving: 376 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sesame or peanut oil
- 1/3 cup green onions, sliced
- 1-3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
- 3-4 cloves garlic, grated
- 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
- crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh Thai or regular basil
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 4 squares brown rice ramen noodles, or 6 ounces rice noodles
- 1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
Instructions
- 1. In a skillet, cook the sesame oil and green onions over medium heat until very fragrant, 3-5 minutes. Lower the heat, stir in the red curry paste, cook 2 minutes.2. in a large bowl, mix the garlic, ginger, basil, cilantro, and season with chili flakes. Pour the hot oil over the herbs.3. Cook the noodles according to package directions, then drain. Toss the warm noodles and tamari/soy sauce with the oil.4. Serve the noodles with additional green onions.
I wish I would have read the comments before making them. I love all your recipes but this just didn’t work out for me. Very salty, weird aftertaste and I had to cook double the amount of noodles for the amount of sauce it made. Bummed because the picture looked so good.
Hi Jessica,
So sorry to hear that this recipe didn’t turn out for you! I appreciate you giving it a try, let me know if there is anything that I can help with! xT
I don’t know what happened but this did not taste good. Waaaay too salty. The 1/3 c. of tamari/soy at the end was way too much and it ruined it. 🙁
Hi Eva,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, so sorry to hear it was so salty for you! Let me know if I can help in any way! xx
This one is easy to mess up and the proportions don’t seem to be quite on point! But I finally made it right tonight so I urge you to read on if you’ve never made it before:
First time making it: The oil was too hot and burnt the green onions, even though I put it on medium heat on my gas burner as the recipe said. Whatever no big deal. Before I made it, some people were complaining in the comments here that the recipe amount is too much soy sauce and it’s too salty. So, for the soy sauce I used 1 Tbsp instead of 5 Tbsp, which is the suggested recipe amount and equal to 1/3 cup, and only 1 Tbsp of curry paste. Well, that ended up being not salty enough the first time but it was still good. But I finally got it right tonight! Here’s some things that will save you some trouble and perfect amount of saltiness:
For the oil I put it on medium low instead of medium, the onions should basically be simmering lightly and not “boiling”. If it’s too hot the oil will cook them too quickly or burn them, and you’ll hear loud crackling. And when you add the curry paste it will make the oil start popping/crackling and splattering everywhere! So on med low the onions were cooking perfectly with a steady light simmer. After 2.5 minutes I reduced to the lowest setting on my gas burner and put in 1 1/2 Tbsp of curry paste. No splatter! Stirred it in and cooked for 2.5 minutes. I gave it a quick blast of heat on medium to med high for about 30 seconds before pouring over the other ingredients in the bowl. This time, I used 2.5 Tbsp of soy sauce and 1.5 Tbsp of curry paste. It was the perfect amount!
For the basil, cilantro, garlic and ginger, those proportions are on point. I mixed it all up well in the bowl before pouring over the oil, and added extra chili flakes. If you like spicy, go with a good amount of chili flakes.
Definitely serve with extra chopped green onion, I also recommend adding a little siriacha or chili sauce and some crushed peanuts. Fantastic!! This would be even MORE amazing if you added some kind of seasoned chicken to go along, but is totally awesome just on it’s own! The cook time is about 10 minutes for everything, I used rice noodles which took 4 minutes. As with most half baked harvest recipes, the prep time takes much longer than what the recipe says, took me about 35 minutes to prep by myself, FYI.
I hope this helps someone! Thank you Tieghan! Will be making it regularly, super delicious automatic 5/5!
Hi there,
Wow!! Thanks so much for sharing all of these handy notes, how awesome! So glad you have been able to adjust this recipe to your liking:) Have a great Sunday! xT
Really great flavor and easy! I added peeled shrimp for protein with the green onions. Delicious!
Hey Lisa,
Happy Wednesday!🌈 I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your comment, so glad to hear it was a winner! Great idea to add shrimp! xx
Holy moly, these are my new favorite lunch! So many topping options to add too! Thanks for this amazing recipe!
Hi Kate,
Wonderful!!🍀 I love to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks so much for trying it out:)
okay… so this tasted great the second time I made it (the first time was a bit too much soy sauce and oil in my opinion, used 1/4 cup instead of 1/3 of soy sauce and also used 1/3 cup instead of 1/2 cup of the sesame oil). BUT I don’t know if this is just me, but the second time I made it caused some… sickness of the bowels…. None of the ingredients used were rancid, I think it was just because there was too much oil for my system, hahaha. Although it did taste really good, I probably wouldn’t make it again. I’m sorry 🙁
Hi Anna,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear it didn’t go over well for you! Let me know if there is anything that I can help with! xx
This is so yummy! My husband loved it. I added sesame/soy sauce marinated air fryed tofu. I’m making the peanut noodles next!
5 stars!
Thanks again:)
Hey Kathryn,
Happy Wednesday!! I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear it was tasty! xx
Well I still love this recipe. I just don’t use the soy sauce. I add a little veggie broth to make it a little brothier if needed. It’s delish.
Hey Karen,
Happy Wednesday!! I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear it was tasty! xx
I love your recipes. The pad thai has changed my life, so I was so bummed this didn’t work. My noodles stayed white and didn’t taste good. I used soy sauce. Hmm. Don’t know what I did wrong
Hi Asia,
So sorry to hear this! Was there anything you adjusted? Is it possible the sauce just needed to thicken more? xx
While for our crew, this was definitely a tad salty, I will just add a little less tamari next time! We did add chicken and it was eaten by the whole family, including my 3 year old. We love curry in our home and this was amazing with SO MANY fresh flavors! We will definitely make it again!
Hey Alexis,
Happy Friday!!🍀 I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your comment, so glad to hear it was delish! xT
We have loved making other recipes from your website and couldn’t wait to try this.
Sadly we were disappointed. The sesame oil was overpowering and left a bitter after taste and the dish was way too salty. I think using some olive oil or adding coconut milk might help neutralize the sour aspect of this dish. We loved the basil and cilantro with the noodles but we will need to adjust the recipe the next time we make it:
Hey Gina,
Thanks so much for giving this dish a try and sharing your review! So sorry to hear it was not enjoyed, let me know if you give it another try with something that works better! xx
The first recipe that has been a miss from HBH. We found that this was WAY WAY too salty, the oil was too thick and made it taste so oily! We wanted to love it but couldn’t get past the salty taste! I would like to try it again with less oil, less tamari and maybe add chicken broth or something. Not sure!
Hey Courtney,
Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your feedback! So sorry to hear it was salty for you. I would try coconut aminos next time! I hope that helps! xx
I agree, was a bit salty for my husband and I’s taste!
So sorry to hear this Kira!!
Such a great, flavorful add to the under 30 category of dishes! Another hit!
Question: do you have a fave brand of Thai Red Paste & also yellow curry?
Thank you! Have a blessed week!
Nicolette
Hey Nicolette,
Happy Monday!!🌞 Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your review, I love to hear that it turned out well for you! I like Thai Kitchen brand and Simply Organics yellow curry powder. xx
I thought it was really salty too. I couldn’t even finish it. I keep going over what I put in, but I can’t find the error. 🤔
It could have been the soy sauce. So sorry Lauren!!
How well will these hold up if you make a big batch …lets say for the week??
Hey Kandis,
I would say for about 3 days sure, I don’t know about 1 week:) Let me know if I can help in any other way! xT
I loved the recipe! I only added 1 tbsp of the curry paste. I also added about a half cup of the water from the noodles to lessen the saltiness
Hey Lauren,
Fantastic!!🌺 I love to hear that this recipe turned out well for you and thanks so much for making it! xT
Omg 10/10! We loved this. So easily and literally 20 mins. We added beef on the side because I didn’t know if it would taste good mixed in. I think chicken would be better!
Hey Amanda,
Wonderful!! I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear it was a winner! Have a great Wednesday! xx
Can I use Cantonese egg noodles if I have them on-hand? I imagine they’d be okay as long as I just prepare them according to the directions and combine at the end. Thanks longtime follower, first time commenting!
Hey Katie,
Sure, sounds like a great idea! Let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xx
I have a gift of Walnut Oil that I’m looking for recipes to use in, do you think this is a good one or should I try it elsewhere?
Hey Tiffany,
So sorry, I’ve never used walnut oil so I’m not sure the best use for that. Please let me know if I can help in any other way! xx