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
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!
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.