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Almost Instant Red Curry Beef and Garlic Noodles. Homemade garlic oil with Thai red curry and frizzled scallions. All tossed with quick-cooking ground beef, garden vegetables, and egg noodles. This comes together quickly, all in one skillet, with minimal prep work involved. Delicious for nights when you’re craving spicy Chinese noodles, but need them to be homemade – and quick!
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The past couple of weeks here at home have been filled with such nice summer weather. It’s made being in the kitchen so hard! In an effort to spend a little time outside each night, I’ve been making a lot of under-30-minute dinners.
Sometimes it can be fun to spend all day working on an amazing meal. But when the weather is so nice, I really rely on simple recipes like these beef garlic noodles for family dinners. We love this recipe, Creighton even thinks it’s much better than ordering out Chinese!
That’s such a compliment coming from him, he’s a tough critic!!
When creating this recipe, I knew I wanted the beef and noodles to have some spiciness to them. I also knew that incorporating summer produce would be so delicious!
For spice, I took a shortcut and used Thai red curry paste. And for the vegetables, I used red bell peppers and broccoli – two of my favorites!
Ingredients
- Sesame or olive oil
- Butter
- Green onions
- Thai red curry paste
- Garlic
- Shallot
- Lean ground beef
- Egg
- Bell peppers
- Chopped broccoli florets
- Chili flakes
- Chopped fresh Thai or regular basil
- Ramen noodles, egg noodles, or rice noodles
- Tamari or soy sauce
- Honey
Here are details
Step 1: make the oil
The oil is the heart of this recipe. The beef and 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…what do you call them?). Warm until the green onions are super fragrant and frizzled up.
Frying the onions in the oil 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. Then mix in the garlic and an extra pinch of chili flakes. I love to use a Korean-style chili flake, which I purchase at Whole Foods.
Step 2: add the beef
Now, mix the beef into the oil. As it cooks, break it up into smaller pieces. Then add a splash of tamari and a squeeze of honey.
Let the beef caramelize, then mix in an egg.
Step 3: the vegetables
Now it is time for the vegetables. As mentioned, I use red bell peppers and broccoli. I love this combo of veggies, but you can use what you love!
Zucchini would be delicious too. Or try snap peas, corn, and or shredded cabbage. Oh, mushrooms would also be so delicious!
Add the vegetables to the beef, toss, and cook for a few minutes.
Step 4: the noodles
I love using an Asian-style egg noodle (look at Whole Foods for some good options, or Amazon has options too). I love using Brown Rice Ramen (which you can find at Whole Foods and in many grocery stores). These noodles taste just like real-deal ramen noodles, but they’re much healthier, gluten-free, and vegan.
Mix the noodles into the beef and vegetable. Then add the remaining tamari, and let the sauce cook into the noodles until they are coated.
At this point, remove everything from the heat.
Serve the beef and noodles immediately topped with fresh green onions and basil. I like to add peanuts too. So yummy!
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 Almost Instant Red Curry Beef and Garlic 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!
Almost Instant Red Curry Beef and Garlic Noodles
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup sesame or olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup green onions, sliced
- 1-3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
- 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 egg
- 1-2 bell peppers, thinly sliced
- 1 cup chopped broccoli florets
- chili flakes
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh Thai or regular basil
- 4 squares ramen noodles, egg noodles, or 6 ounces of rice noodles
- 1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon honey
Instructions
- 1. In a skillet, cook the oil and green onions over medium heat until very fragrant, 3-5 minutes. Lower the heat, stir in the butter, red curry paste, garlic, shallots, and chili flakes, cook 2 minutes.2. Add the beef and brown all over, 5 minutes. Pour over 2 tablespoons tamari and 1 teaspoon honey. Let the beef caramelize for 2 minutes. Mix in the egg and vegetables.3. Cook the noodles according to package directions, then drain and toss with the beef mix and 1/3 cup tamari. Cooker 2-3 minutes. Then remove from the heat. 4. Serve the noodles with additional green onions and basil. Top with peanuts.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Delicious and so easy!
Thanks so much! xT
How many ounces of egg noodles should I use?
Hi there! I haven’t ever tried out this recipe with egg noodles so I’m not sure! xT
So yummy! We didn’t have any ground hamburger on hand, so I used extra red bell pepper and broccoli and had it as a side dish with tri-tip. It was a big hit with the whole family. My hubby said it was the best thing I’ve made (although he frequently says that when I as using your recipes)!
We will definitely be adding this to the rotation! ❤️
Hi Lisa,
Happy Monday!! I am so glad to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks so much for making it and your review:)
This was really delicious and make a very generous 4 servings! Will definitely make again.
Thanks so much Gail!! Love to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks for giving it a try! xT
Absolutely delish! We had ground turkey instead of beef and it worked just as well (added a bit more oil to make up for the missing fat from the beef). The leftovers were just as tasty! Thanks Tieghan for another slam dunk!
Hey Sarah,
So glad to hear that this dish turned out well for you, thanks for making it! Have a great Saturday! xT
I think I used too much oil unfortunately, and it took over the meal. Would definitely try it again though! Super quick to make.
I also would want to try tamari to see how that tastes as opposed to soy sauce!
Hi Maura,
Thanks for giving this dish a try and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear about the oil! Please let me know if you give this another try! xT
This turned out well, but I think perhaps it needed a bit more sweetener (somebody’s suggestion of adding a little maple syrup was a good one). For some reason, it seemed “salty” to me, although not sure how that could be since I used low-sodium soy sauce; maybe it was because of all the Thai red curry paste? I pretty much followed the recipe but used only 3 packets of ramen, one red pepper and 2 tbsp. of the curry paste. In any case, a good recipe and one I’ll be making again, with a few adjustments!
Hi Helen,
Amazing!! I appreciate you giving this recipe a try and sharing your review, so glad to hear it was a winner! You could tamari in place of the soy sauce! xx
Made this tonight and it was a hit! Thank you! Used mushrooms for the veggie and added a little bit of sriracha on top for an added kick. Family says it’s a “keeper” recipe.
Hey Daylen,
Happy Wednesday!!🫐🍒🍓 I’m so glad to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks for making it and your feedback! xT
I made this as written and it did turned out great! Everyone loved it! This would be great with whatever veggies you had on hand or protein you have thawed. The secret to the success is most definitely the oil and getting the green onions crispy and the chili paste mixed with the garlic, onions, and butter. The Thai basil is an excellent add. Well done Tieghan!
Hi Joy,
Fantastic!! So glad to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks for making it:)
Thanks for the recipe idea. My thai basil is exploding this year, and I’m always looking for ways to use it up. I basically took your idea and then twisted it. I love grilling this time of year, so I took the curry paste, honey, and soy, and marinated flank steak. Then I grilled it. Then I made the noodles as is, but used it as a side for the steak.
Hi Lauren,
What a great idea!! So glad you were able to take the base of this recipe and make it our own:) Jealous of all that Thai Basil! xT
Adding a rating
Thanks again Jill:)
Made this as written (almost) with a little extra broccoli and a little less soy sauce (per my family’s taste). I prepped the vegetables early so when it came time to make dinner it came together very fast. Everyone loved it! I think any Asian noodle, or even linguini would work, as well as ground pork, venison, turkey, or chicken. I used the full 3 Tbs. of red curry paste and mine is spicy (Mae Ploy) so we didn’t need any chili flakes. It was great way to use the Thai basil from the garden…added some mint too. Thank you for another great recipe!
Hi Jill,
Wonderful!! I love to hear that this dish turned out well for you, thanks so much for making it! xT
Just made this. I have liked a lot of your recipes but this was the first that got me to comment. Delicious! I always make recipes “as written” the first time and often end up changing a few things on later recreations. Not with this. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks so much!! Love to hear that this dish turned out well for you:) I appreciate you giving it a try and sharing your feedback! xT
Made this for dinner last night. Added a mushroom medley and some carrots. My entire family loves it- thank you! Wasn’t sure what to do with basil so I chopped and used as garnish. Added a great fresh finish.
Hi Allie,
Awesome!! So glad to hear that this dish was a hit, thank you so much for making it and your feedback! xx
I made this for dinner tonight. I used a wok, sirloin tip steak instead of ground beef, 2 T curry paste, no shallot, 1 T honey, and added green beans.
Since it doesn’t say how long the veggies should cook, I ended up covering my wok with a lid and letting them steam for ~15 minutes. Unfortunately, this made the beef tough. Next time I would cook the beef separately and add it in at the end, since the veggies will soak in what flavor there is.
I was underwhelmed with the flavor, and there was not enough sauce. It did not thicken at all, something I expect for “curry,” so I added 2 tsp corn starch dissolved in 2 tsp water; that helped. While eating, my husband and I added various amounts of soy sauce, sesame oil, chili flakes, and sweet chili sauce until enough flavor was achieved.
I would make it again but with so many tweaks that it would basically be a different recipe.
Hi Elizabeth,
Thanks for giving this dish a try and sharing your review:) So sorry to hear it wasn’t a fave! I would use the ground beef next time to avoid the meat getting tough:) Let me know how that works for you! xx