I’m SO EXCITED about this one… this is one of those recipes that turned out so good that I couldn’t keep out of it while I was shooting photos. I kept stuffing in mouthfuls in between shots!
I wanted to make a stir fry this week because they’re just so quick, easy and packed with goodness. This is one of those cases where it was actually less expensive to buy the frozen, pre-chopped mix of vegetables than to buy each vegetable fresh. Red peppers alone were $2.50 each and I got a whole bag of vegetables for $1.94. Plus, this way I won’t have tons of left overs. Frozen vegetables are a wonderful asset to those eating on a budget. They don’t go bad quickly in the refrigerator, there are a ton of varieties and most don’t contain any added salt or preservatives (check the label to be sure). Sure, the frozen weren’t as crunchy as fresh would have been but the dish was so good over all that I didn’t care.
I added soba noodles (buckwheat noodles) to the stir fry for bulk and fiber. I paid $3.94 for 8 oz. of soba noodles and I’m quite sure they can be purchased for far less else where, probably even at Whole Foods. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to drive across town that day. Check ethnic markets for an even lower price. Oh, AND my hoisin sauce was organic so I’m sure you could get that for less too. Moral of the story: you can probably make this recipe for a few dollars less than I did.
Peanut Soba Stir Fry
Peanut Soba Stir Fry
Servings 6Ingredients
- 2 inches fresh ginger ($0.20)
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter ($0.66)
- 1/2 cup hoisin sauce ($1.20)
- 1/3 cup hot water ($0.00)
- 1/2 tsp sriracha hot sauce ($0.04)
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil ($0.06)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.12)
- 1 lb. frozen stir fry vegetables ($1.94)
- 8 oz. soba noodles ($3.94)
- 2 sliced green onions, optional ($0.36)
Instructions
- Prepare the sauce first. Peel and grate one inch of ginger into a bowl. Add the peanut butter, hoisin sauce and sriracha hot sauce, and 1/3 cup of hot water. Stir or whisk until smooth. Set the sauce aside until it is needed.
- Prepare a very large skillet or wok with 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil. Grate another inch of ginger into the oil. Mince two cloves of garlic and add to the oil as well. Turn the heat up to medium high and saute for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the bag of frozen vegetables and cook until heated through. Use as large of a skillet as possible so that the residual moisture from the vegetables will evaporate quickly. Over crowding the skillet will leave you with a soupy mess. Frozen vegetables are blanched prior to freezing so they will already be slightly cooked and soft. Stir fry vegetables should still have a slight crunch and vibrant color. Do not cook them until they are very soft and dull in color.
- While the vegetables are cooking, bring a medium pot of water up to a rolling boil. Add the soba noodles and cook until soft (5-6 minutes). Drain the noodles in a colander.
- Once the vegetables have cooked, add the drained noodles and peanut sauce. Stir until everything is combined and coated with sauce. Garnish with sliced green onions if desired.
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Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
I find the easiest way to prepare ginger is to peel it with a vegetable peeler and then grate it using a small cheese grater. A microplane would probably be too small and get clogged easily.
Grate about one inch of the peeled ginger into a bowl and add the hoisin sauce, peanut butter and sriracha hot sauce.
Add 1/3 cup of hot water and stir or whisk until smooth.
Add 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil to a very large skillet and add 2 cloves of minced garlic and another inch of grated or minced ginger. Turn the heat up to medium/high and cook the garlic and ginger for about 1-2 minutes (after the pan is fully heated).
Buying a bag of the frozen stir fry mix was far less expensive than buying each vegetable, and I won’t be left with a bunch of leftovers. The mix contains nothing but broccoli, onions, red bell peppers, mushrooms, carrots and water chestnuts. No salt, no preservatives, just yummy veggies.
Add the frozen veggies to the skillet and cook just until warmed. Using frozen vegetables does not give a nice crunchy end product like fresh vegetables do, but it is still really tasty and worth the savings to me (money and time).
This is the package of soba noodles that I bought. It was a really small package (8 oz.) and I didn’t think it was going to be enough, but the noodles expanded quite a bit during cooking.
Cook the soba noodles in boiling water until soft (5-6 minutes). This can be done as the vegetables are cooking. Drain the noodles in a colander when finished.
Add the drained noodles to the cooked vegetables…
Then add the peanut sauce…
Stir it all together and you’re good to go!
You can garnish with green onions or cilantro if desired.
This recipe was so seriously delicious and filling… I know I’ll be making it often. Because I used pre-cut frozen veggies, this recipe took less than 30 minutes to make! If you have ginger paste or a jar of minced garlic, it’ll go even faster!
Enjoy!
wowza this was too sweet for me! I would maybe swap some of the hoisin for soy sauce because the recipe needs some salt as well. Still satisfying though.
This is pretty good! I used frozen stir fry veggies and added some frozen shrimp I had in the deep freezer. Instead of hoisin sauce, I used oyster sauce, and I ended up adding a little honey to the sauce to up the sweetness.
I didn’t add sriracha to the sauce, so I put a few squirts of it on top to serve the adults… this was a nice and quick weeknight dinner.
Made with fresh veggies (red pepper, edamame, carrots, celery) and water chestnuts for crunch. Taste was great. Found sauce to be a bit thick and will thin it out next time. Flavors rock: creamy, a little heat a, little sweet.
Easy to make if you mise en place the sauce and fresh veggies
Really liked this recipe! I made it with vegetables I had on had — carrots and Napa cabbage. So good.
If you’re doing this as a meal prep or planning to eat it the next day, I’d recommend storing the sauce separately and adding right before you nuke/eat it. I didn’t, and the noodles kinda mushed together and the sauce wasn’t as…saucy. Still delicious, though.
Hoisin sauce does have high fructose corn syrup. Maybe if you scour the Internet you can find some that doesn’t, but they only had one brand at my local grocer’s.
Made this recipe and it was absolutely DELICIOUS. I used PB2 to save calories and because I have a ton of it. Used vermicelli noodles because I couldn’t find soba. I don’t think I have your skill with cooking but not overcooking frozen vegetables (I kept worrying they’d still be frozen). I used half frozen broccoli and half fresh carrot. They had Asian frozen veg mixes but I really don’t like water chestnuts.
I made this receipe yesterday, it was delicious. The sauce was just perfect, It’s going to be on of my go-to recipe from now on
FREEZE YOUR PIECE OF GINGER IN A JAR. WHEN YOU NEED IT, USE MICROPLANE TO GRATE IT.
IT IS SO EASY AND THE GINGER “SNOW” DOESN’T CLING TO THE MICROPLANE AT ALL.
GINGER LASTS A LONG TIME IN JAR IN FREEZER.
Made this last night and it was delicious! I really liked the hoisin in it. It makes a ton of sauce though, so I think next time I will use 12 ounces of noodles instead of just 8 and maybe add some different veggies.
This sauce was a bit to peanut buttery for us . I think we’d make it again, but with the pntbtr cut in half. The sauce was just too thick and sweet to be as enjoyable as we expected.
Absolutely amazing. Threw some tofu in for protein and used fresh vegies. Yum. I’m going to enjoy this for lunch the next few days.
I made this as a surprise dinner for my boyfriend and we loved it. Definitely making this again. Already craving it.
Simply divine and sumptuous. Can’t wait to try the peanut crusted version II. http://www.juicingforhealthlifestyle.com
Thanks so much for this recipe- my family LOVES it! My 15 month old can’t get enough of it- it’s pretty funny, actually, and my hubby, who is not a huge fan of veggies, loves it and requests it as well! I used some Asian noodles that I found locally, and left out the hot sauce for my son’s sake (but we add it later!) and it’s delish- thanks!!
I keep forgetting that there are great frozen veggie assortments out there as my crisper is the cliched ‘place where vegetables come to die’ waiting for inspiration and this is a very tasty recipe. I would go with tahini instead of peanut butter though, as I’m not a big fan, and only have the standard purchased peanut butter jar in my fridge and am reluctant to buy something just for one dish. Love the soba.
Hmm, try rinsing the noodles after draining them to remove some of the starch. Also, you can try thinning out the peanut sauce just a little bit more with water. I hope that works for you :)
I made this tonight- very tasty! One thing though… My soba noodles turned out very sticky; is one big clump. Any suggestions?
I guess this just wasn’t my thing :( I thought it was terribly sickly sweet and even with how broke I am it went in the garbage after three bites. There was no sugar in the peanut butter or anything- I guess I’m not a hoisin fan.
I am a regular visitor to your blog and just wanted to say Congrats! I was browsing Shape.com for recipes and came across this. So excited to get your own recipe printed in a popular magazine! I will be making this very soon!
http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/meal-ideas/6-stir-fry-recipes-better-takeout?page=4
I made this last night and it was awesome! I substituted red pepper flakes for the hot sauce and used two bags of veggies. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Thank you for posting this recipe! I’ve had soba noodles on hand for a while but wasn’t sure what to do with them. I made this last night using fresh veggies and skipped the sriracha sauce (didn’t have any on hand so I threw in a teaspoon of some grocery store brand spicy asian bbq sauce).
Delicious. Simply delicious. I might tweak it a bit for our use (maybe substitute splash of veggie or chicken stock for the water), but really, so good. We’re adding this to our weekly rotation.
Yep, you probably could use oyster sauce! It will taste different for sure, but probably still good. I think hoisin has more of a sweetness to it than ouster, so you may want to add a touch of sugar. Just give the sauce a tadte first to see if it needs it.
this looks so good. But, do you think I could use oyster sauce instead of hoisin sauce? Or do you have any ideas for other replacements?
Hi made this tonight for a few of my friends and they loved it! thank you so much for the recipe :)
This was delicious and easy to make. I used fresh veggies – carrots, red pepper, broccoli and zucchini. Any tips for keeping it from being one big blob of sticky noodles?
Sounds delicious. I love stir fry. I have all the ingredients on hand except the soba noodles so think I’ll try this recipe with a different Asian noodle.
Beth, this was really delicious. I think there was too much sauce though. Next time I’ll make maybe half of what you call for. Excellent dish though!
I make this all the time and I love it! I usually add chicken for the picky meat-eating men in my family and often have to use linguine noodles (tiny Oklahoma town has a sad Asian selection) but it’s always fantastic. Someday I’m going to add tofu and see if they notice.
This was incredible!
This was really good. I upped the sriracha and chopped up some chicken breast and wok-fried it pretty much dry, before doing the veggies. Really good. Next time I may try fresh vegetables because the frozen ones I got came out of the packet with a lot of ice and so in the wok they got pretty soggy, though I did my best to dump that water out. Anyway, it tasted really good, but then I got depressed that I spent this time cooking and was eating alone and there’s no point to life.
Anon – I ate it all week reheated in the microwave. It’s pretty good but the broccoli gets a little stinky as it sits in the fridge! :P Also, the noodles will soak up some of the moisture so it’s quite a bit dryer the next day. I would suggest keeping the sauce separate until just before you serve it the next day. Then, just warm up the sauce and pour it over top. Hope that helps!
I am thinking about making this for a lunch with the ladies at work. I will have to make it the night before, so I am wondering if you think this would reheat well in the microwave? Thank you!
I’ve found that whole-wheat spaghetti works well as a noodle bed for Asian dishes.
I skipped the hot sauce since my 15 month old was eating this. I made it with pork tenderloin, and cooked that first.. then added the veggies.. drained, etc. I should have put less sauce in the food.. it was a little much, my bad for not thinking before dumping it all in! haha.. Is there some other sauce I can use with this combo?? My husband didn’t like the PB my daughter and I LOVED IT….
Erin – I’ve never had gochujang! I’m going to have to try it… the sriracha plays a fairly small part in this so it’s worth trying to swap it out with something that you like :)
Beth, I’m not the biggest fan of sriracha, how would gochujang be instead? It may be too thick, but what do you think?
Jen – Yes, you should definitely try it with oyster sauce! Oyster sauce is much more mild and just a little bit sweet. I think it would go great with this dish. Then, just give the peanut sauce a quick taste before you add it to everything so that you can adjust it if needed. I think hoisin is a bit saltier than oyster so you may want to add an extra splash of soy sauce. But, you can leave that up to your taste buds :) I hope it turns out better next time!
Hi beth,
I was looking forward to trying this one for awhile, and I finally did tonight. To be honest, I wasn’t too crazy about it…I think it’s the hoisin sauce, for some reason hoisin is not my favorite asian condiment to put it lightly. I’ve tried making cashew chicken before and I was disappointed in it for the same reason. It just imparts such a strong flavor. Maybe if I try this again I will cut back on the hoisin a lot, or sub half oyster sauce? Oh well, I have always been amazed by your recipes and I will still continue to try them! Thanks so much for sharing! I’m sure if your other readers enjoy or don’t mind the strong flavor of the hoisin they will loooove this recipe. The soba noodles are yummy!
This was last night’s dinner and it was AMAZING! We just used the chunky peanut butter we already had, and i thought the peanuts in it really added to the texture. I’m so glad we’ve stumbled upon your blog, we’re looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
HUGE success, loved by my whole family. This is the first dish I cooked that came out good. I actually LIKE cooking now.. IT WORKS
This recipe was delicious! I’m always on the lookout for inexpensive meals that I can throw together on crazy weeknights that’s tasty when I haven’t been organized enough to make something ahead of time. This fit the bill perfectly. I also discovered that my 2 year old son LOVES soba noodles…it was his first time eating them and while they were everywhere, he was happy as a clam. We will be making/eating this dish regularly!
I keep forgetting to comment on your recipes, but I make one of them for my family of 5 at least once a week! This one was amazing. My kids generally hate stir-fry, but they all enjoyed this one. I did add some chopped chicken, since we had some in the freezer. Again, thank you for your awesome blog and wonderful recipes.
Well, it definitely has a different flavor but so little is used here that you *might* be able to get away with it. So, give it a shot!
Can I use a Mexican hot sauce as a substitute for sriracha?
This was so good! I substituted hoisin with oyster sauce since that’s what I had at hand and added a few more fresh veggies. The sriracha really added a nice kick. Since I used fresh ground peanut butter that many grocery stores have in those self-grind machines nowadays, the sauce turned out a bit thick, but adding additional water thinned it out. Also threw in some shrimp. The boyfriend had seconds and thirds. TASTY!
Whole Foods brand peanut butter is a lighter peanut butter that is way cheaper than all natural PB at Target, which might make this recipe slightly cheaper. Trader Joe’s roasts their peanuts – which makes a much better PB&J sandwich.
loved this recipe! it was delicious! thanks!
Is there a PRINT button anywhere? I’d like to print this recipe, but can’t figure out how…
I made this dish last night and it was very tasty. I used used an unsalted peanut butter from Trader Joe’s that was extremely dark and way too thick…so the sauce didn’t come out as great. I WILL be making this again with a lighter peanut butter. So easy and so delish. Will be searching for more recipes on your site!
thanks for sharing! I will be making this for the family this week!!
This looks so good! I’m totally going to have to try this peanut sauce recipe next time.
Yum. Peanutty goodness. I enjoy using peanut butter for various peanut based recipes. It all started when I noticed that the satay sauce I bought had less than 5% peanuts in it. Mighty unimpressed, I turned to peanut butter instead.
THat looks amazing!
I “star” almost every one of your recipes in my RSS feed — and I’ve yet to be anything but thrilled with the many I’ve tried. You should publish a cookbook – even if it’s just a matter of laying out the recipes in “book” format and making it available to print on demand through Apple or something like that!
I have all the ingredients standing by to fix tonight! I think I may have gotten my Facebook friends to drool over your blog as well!
Thanks for the recipes!
Melissa
alienbody.blogspot.com
i used thai stir fry noodles because I had them in my cupboard but i think they were a little bit sticky…blah.
This looks delicious! I’ve made plain peanut noodles as a side dish but I’ve never tried them with vegetables or using soba noodles. By the way, I think the microplane works very well for ginger, if you don’t have a cheese grater handy. You get a very fine ginger paste, so there’s not much texture, but the flavor is still excellent. Just make sure you don’t grate your fingers.
This is like Chinese Thai Japanese fusion! Very funky. Soba noodles do have a lot of body, and are usually used standing on their own in soups or salads. Never tried stir frying them though!
Yeah, you could put chicken in it… but I would suggest just doing something on the side because the noodles already have so much going on. You could buy some teriyaki sauce, coat your chicken in it and then just grill or bake it. Super easy and it could cook while you’re making the stir fry.
I made some salmon to go along side the stir fry… will be posting the recipe either tomorrow or Monday!
Since I am a carnivore, is there a meat I can add that will go well with this? I was thinking chicken.
Yeah, it will be a little different… but I’d give it a shot! It will likely be just a little sweeter and a little less peanutty. Luckily, JIF is one of the better not-natural peanut butters. If it was Peter Pan or something I’d say forget about it! hahahha
This looks so awesome! I don’t eat peanut butter that often, so the only kind I have is a small bottle of Jif that’s been relegated to the back of the cupboard. Do you think the sugars and oils will make this taste differently?
OOOHHHH! That looks SO good!