These sweet, salty, and rich Garlic Noodles are an absolutely addictive dish that you’ll want to make again and again. Serve them as the bed for glazed meat, like my Sticky Soy Ginger Glazed Chicken, Honey Sriracha Tofu, or simple stir-fried vegetables. With a super short ingredient list of pantry staples, this delicious garlic noodles recipe will become a staple in your menu.
See this recipe used in my weekly meal prep.
Where Do I Find Oyster Sauce?
Oyster sauce can be found in the International aisle of most major grocery stores (look near hoisin sauce). If you can’t find it there, it’s worth it to seek out an Asian market, where oyster sauce is likely to be much less expensive than in chain grocery stores.
What Can I Use in Place of Oyster Sauce?
I personally feel that the salty rich flavor of the oyster sauce makes this dish what it is and I wouldn’t suggest substituting it. That being said, several readers have said they’ve used hoisin sauce, which is much sweeter, and have enjoyed the results. Substitute the oyster sauce in this garlic noodles recipe at your own risk.
What Else Can I Add to Garlic Noodles?
This is a great base recipe to which you can add all sorts of other ingredients! Garlic noodles are great as a side dish, but you can add protein and vegetables to make it a meal. Try adding some Teriyaki Chicken or Honey Sriracha Tofu on top, or check out my Garlic Noodles with Beef and Broccoli for some inspiration.
Looking for a spicy noodle recipe? Check out my Spicy Sriracha Noodles!
Quick & Easy Garlic Noodles
Servings 4Ingredients
- 8 oz angel hair pasta ($0.54)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.24)
- 1/2 bunch green onions ($0.35)
- 4 Tbsp butter ($0.50)
- 2 tsp soy sauce ($0.20)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.05)
- 1 tsp sesame oil ($0.40)
- 2 Tbsp oyster sauce ($0.26)
Instructions
- Add the oyster sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil to a bowl and stir until combined.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles according to the package directions (boil for 7-10 minutes). Drain the cooked noodles in a colander, then set aside.
- While the pasta cooks, mince the garlic and slice the green onions. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Once the butter is melted and bubbly, add the garlic and onions (save a few for garnish) and sauté until they are soft and fragrant (1-2 minutes).
- Remove the skillet from the heat. Add the drained pasta and oyster sauce mixture to the skillet, and stir well to coat the pasta. If your pasta is stiff or sticky making it hard to stir, sprinkle a small amount of hot water over the pasta to loosen it up. Garnish the pasta with any reserved sliced green onions, then serve.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
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How to Make Garlic Noodles – Step by Step Photos
Mix the easy noodle sauce before you begin. In a small bowl stir together 2 Tbsp oyster sauce, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 2 tsp soy sauce, and 1 tsp toasted sesame oil. Stir until combined.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and set aside. While the pasta is cooking, mince four cloves of garlic and slice about four green onions (1/2 bunch).
Heat 4 Tbsp of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Once melted, add the minced garlic and most of the sliced green onions (save a few for garnish). Sauté the garlic and green onions until soft and fragrant (1-2 minutes).
Remove the skillet from the heat, then add the cooked and drained pasta and the prepared sauce.
Toss the ingredients in the skillet until the pasta is evenly coated with sauce. Garnish the garlic noodles with the reserved green onions and serve.
This easy Garlic Noodles Recipe is totally addictive… BEWARE.
I’ve cooked these quite a few times now, because this remains one of my very favorite recipes I’ve ever fixed, and I’ve tried a few variations for laziness, health, etc. :)
Basically, the two ways to add stuff to it would be to add something that needed to be cooked a little to the garlic and green onions, or something that just needed to be heated in with the noodles. I’ve added bok choy using the former method to get it a little wilted and garlicky – and I think tofu would work just as well – and tonight, when I was all by myself and super lazy and without green onions anyway, I made the sauce in the bowl I was going to eat out of, added a little garlic powder to the sauce to skip sauteing, and dumped some frozen stir fry veggies into the water with the noodles just before I strained them. Both mods are super easy, and you can pretend you’re eating healthy with some vegetables!
Amazing! And SO beginner-friendly! And I mean really really beginner friendly. This is the FIRST time I’ve made pasta without relying on a jar of sauce :)
I made this twice! First time following exactly (yum!) second time I felt comfy to make a few changes – I used 1 tbsp less butter (I think I’m going to slowly try to cut more to find the least amount of butter I can get away with!) and added mushrooms and cabbage saute along with the garlic & onions in butter.
What a fantastic meal! I added some chicken that I marinated for an hour or so in soy, ginger and a touch of brown sugar and tossed in some green beans as well and it was delicious! It added about $1.99 to the total cost of my recipe, still a great low cost meal at just about $0.91 per serving!
Thanks so much for all your great recipes!
Oh yeah, I loved these. I served them with teriyaki salmon and an orange and cucumber salsa. And I thought I’d done all right by not eating too many, but then BAM all the noodles hit my belly and I realized I’d eaten two helpings…and finished off my littlest’s plate. Good stuff.
A quick and tasty lunch. As always your recipes are easy to follow and tend to include ingredients I always have on hand. Thanks.
These were the perfect foil for my Sriracha Grilled Chicken. Substituted unsalted butter and honey for the brown sugar. I love your blog!
Edie
I just let these noodles cooked breakfast. They really great. Thank you!
I keep trying your recipes and I have yet to be disappointed! Although I will probably tweak my salty/sweet ratio next time (I used low sodium soy sauce and packed the brown sugar, so it was a little on the sweet side for me), I will certainly be making this again. Such a versatile dish! I will likely try adding more veggies (broccoli, bell pepper, snow peas, bok choy) as well as some meat next time to beef it up a little and make it more of a main dish.
I absolutely love these noodles! They are so simple and taste wonderful. They are now one of my 5 yo daughter’s favorite foods. We are huge fans of Asian food and these noodles go with just about every dish I make. Thanks for the recipe :) ~Angie
OH MY GOD, THESE NOODLES. Jiminy frig, these were some of the best things I have fixed in… well, this is definitely one of the best results I have gotten out of any recipe ever, let’s leave it at that. I used vegetable oil for the green onions and garlic powder, for the record, and am now going to have to make myself not fix this every day for the rest of the semester. AMAZING.
You’ve convinced me to go buy some oyster sauce and some fish sauce. I see them as ingredients in a bunch of asian recipes I want to make, but I’ve skipped them because I thought the sauces were expensive and wouldn’t last long. Thanks for the info!
Just FYI, these taste really good with the sriracha sauce from your Thai meatloaf :) I accidentally poured that glaze over the noodles instead of the sauce for this one, but it still turned out OK! And this sauce tastes great on the meatloaf, too :)
Made this using shirataki noodles (cutting back on the carbs) and adding in some fish tofu and baby bak choy. My mum and I loved it for lunch. However, next time I’m thinking less butter as even with half the butter it ended up being a tad bit too much.
Taste really good and look simple to make. I can’t wait to try it. Thanks!
I just made these noodles for lunch. Thank you for sharing your recipe.