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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!
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!
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
Servings: 4
Calories Per Serving: 477 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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.
Just checking before I make this – 1/4 cup of sesame oil sounds like a lot when I’m used to only using a tablespoon or so. I love sesame oil but doesn’t this amount overwhelm? Thanks!
Hi Patti! You can definitely use less sesame oil in this recipe if you’d like! 🙂 xT
Honestly such a tasty recipe and so easy! I’ve made this multiple times and everyone I make it for also raves about it – chefs kiss
Hi there! SO happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for trying it out, and have a cozy week! 🙂 xT
A tasty and fairly quick dish to make. As with any recipe I tailor it to my own likes.. for this one you could omit the butter and use reduced sodium soya sauce to make it a bit healthier. I made this for a meal prep and left the noodles a little under cooked and skipped step 3. The noodles will finish cooking and the flavors will meld when it gets warmed up. I added a tablespoon of reduced sodium soya when reheating then topped with basil.
Thanks for trying out the recipe Ashley! xT
It’s my new go-to recipe. I like it even better with chicken instead of beef. Sooo gooood.
Hi Gretchen! Thank you so so much! Love to hear that you enjoyed this recipe 🙂 xT
Do you have any recommendations for replacing the broccoli? Would Brussels sprouts work? If so, would you roast those separately and add them in at the end?
Hi Sarah,
Totally, that would be a great idea!! Let me know how this recipe turns out for you, I hope you love it! xx
Flavors were good, but the meat had so much grease it never caramelized. I buy fairly lean meat, so I think I’d have to adjust some things next time to avoid soggy meat/veggies. But flavors were great!
Hi Laura,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! So sorry you had a lot of grease from the beef, but glad to hear the flavors were good! xx
Easy to make and delicious
Hi Lisa,
Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your comment, so glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT
Delicious
Thanks so much Myriam!!
Hi! I am just learning all about Half-Baked Harvest and this was the first recipe of yours I tried just last week. It was absolutely delicious! My kids said it was “fire” and have been requesting it again. Such great unique flavors! I have been perusing your site and have already made the easy apple cake 3 times: 2 for my home and one for my son and his roommates at college! It didn’t last one night! I love your recipes and look forward to exploring everyday!
Haha wow thank you so so much!! love to hear this! xT
I followed exactly but this one is a miss for me. I can’t put my finger on what I think is missing, but whole family said this wasn’t quite right for them either. I’d like to try a couple more of your noodle bowls before giving up. They all look so gorgeous!
Hey there, I’m so sorry about that! Thank you for letting me know! xT
This was delicious!! It’s hard to explain how good the flavors meld together so harmoniously. It’s definitely an addition to easy comfort food for us!!
Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try! Have a great day! xT
Delish! The entire family loved it and it will definitely become a regular rotation in our menu planning! I was a bit confused as to how to incorporate the egg, wasn’t sure if it should be scrambled (like you do for fried rice) or just beat into the hot ingredients to thicken the consistency??
Hi Theresa,
I appreciate you trying this recipe and your review, so glad it was delish! You could do either with the egg, I just add it right to the skillet! xT
This recipe is totally delicious! I usually go for recipes from culturally Asian recipes writers but someone cooked it for us recently and man, it’s fantastic. We’re making it ourselves this week, we loved it so much.
Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try! Glad to hear you enjoyed it! xT
Yummmm! I was worried when it was coming together that there wasn’t enough oil left to coat and bring flavor to the noodles but I was glad to be wrong! It’s very good and we will be making again.
So glad this turned out for you! xT
I liked this recipe, and both my kids (ages 7 and 11) declared it “not bad” so I will call that a win! I thought it was a little too….oily? Greasy? So next time I’ll cut back on the olive oil a little and use ground chicken instead of beef. But otherwise quick, easy and delicious!
Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it! xT
Loved it. Used rump steak as we don’t really eat mince in our house. Didn’t have peanuts so used pine nuts. My husband who doesn’t like Thai food went back for seconds. Your recipes never fail, thank you for sharing this.
Thank you so so much for giving this recipe a try! And thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! Have a great day! xT