Don’t you just love how I post a pasta recipe immediately after the blog post where I say I’m trying to break my addiction to pasta? 😂 We’re all human. Anyway, This week I threw a spin on my classic Dragon Noodle recipe by adding ground pork and chopped peanuts, using a chunky chili garlic sauce in place of the sriracha, and using some good ramen noodles that I got at the international market. This recipe is ridiculously easy and soooo rich and delicious. Sweet, salty, sticky, crunchy, and all the noooooodles! These Pork and Peanut Dragon Noodles are like comfort food x 100. You’ll never go back to take out. Ever.
What Kind of Noodles Can I Use?
You can use just about any type of noodle for this recipe, but I suggest something kind of light like a ramen or egg noodle as opposed to a traditional spaghetti. The noodles I used came in a huge package, but I used about the equivalent to two standard 3oz. ramen packages. My noodles were quite a bit more expensive than grocery store ramen, so you can probably make this for even less! Woo!
What to Serve with Pork and Peanut Dragon Noodles
And because this dish is so sweet, rich, and indulgent, I highly suggest serving it with something green. I grabbed a bag of baby bok choy while I was at the international market and just sautéed them up briefly until wilted. You could even add some vegetables to the noodles, if you want. Broccoli florets or even some fresh spinach would be awesome. Shredded napa cabbage would be amazing, too. Or serve some Sesame Kale on the side!
Pork and Peanut Dragon Noodles
Servings 3Ingredients
Dragon Sauce
- 1/4 cup chili garlic sauce ($0.53)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce ($0.24)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.16)
Pork and Noodles
- 1/2 lb. ground pork* ($1.50)
- 2 3oz. packages ramen noodles (seasoning packets discarded) ($1.00)
- 3 green onions, sliced ($0.20)
- 1/4 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped ($0.12)
Instructions
- Combine the chili garlic sauce, soy sauce, and brown sugar in a bowl.
- Add the ground pork to a skillet and cook over medium heat until it is fully browned*. Once browned, add the prepared dragon sauce and chopped peanuts. Allow the pork and peanuts to simmer in the sauce for another 5 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced by half.
- While the pork is browning, begin boiling water for your noodles. Once boiling, add your noodles and cook according to the package directions. Drain the noodles in a colander.
- Once the sauce has reduced and the noodles have drained, add the noodles to the skillet and toss until everything is combined and coated in sauce. Top with sliced green onions and serve!
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Notes
Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Pork and Peanut Dragon Noodles – Step by Step Photos
Prepare the dragon sauce by combining 1/4 cup chili garlic sauce, 1/4 cup soy sauce, and 1/4 cup brown sugar.
This is the chili garlic sauce I’m talking about. You can find it in most stores right next to the sriracha. It’s kind of like a chunkier version of sriracha. It’s a mix of red chiles, garlic, vinegar, and salt. Super simple, but easier than adding all of those ingredients to your sauce individually. :)
Add 1/2 lb. ground pork to a skillet and cook over medium heat until it’s browned and cooked through. The ground pork I used was about 25% fat. It had enough fat so that I didn’t have to add any extra oil, but not so much that I had to drain off any excess fat after browning. You want about 1 Tbsp fat in the skillet to combine with the sauce, so if your pork is really greasy, drain some off before the next step.
Add the dragon sauce to the browned pork, along with 1/4 cup unsalted peanuts that have been chopped.
Let the pork and peanuts simmer in the sauce for about five minutes, or until the sauce has reduced by half. The sauce should be just thick enough that you can leave a trail in the skillet when you drag your spatula across, and the trail slowly fills in. While the pork and peanuts are simmering, boil the water for your noodles. Cook 6 oz. noodles according to the package directions. Drain the cooked noodles in a colander.
The pork is almost candied at this point and is SO GOOD that I had a hard time not just eating it out of the skillet. The peanuts kind of absorb the sauce as well. It’s just too good to be true.
Add the drained noodles to the pork and peanut mixture. Toss until everything is combined and coated in sauce.
Once everything is combined, sprinkle a few sliced green onions over top and serve!
So freaking good, guys. So good.
And like I said in the intro, these noods are really rich, so I suggest serving them with something green. Because the noodles are super flavorful you don’t even have to add anything to your greens. Just leave them fresh to contrast the super rich pork and noodles. 👌
Easily converted this to a vegan dish by using crumbled/ chopped tofu fried hard for a crispy texture. Also, I added a couple tablespoons of creamy peanut butter to the sauce mix, and used the chopped peanuts as a topping. When you add peanuts to a sauce it changes the dexterity of the nut and I don’t like it. Awesome recipe that is super easy to modify to your liking! Thanks!!
So delicious! Made this tonight, but we used chopped pork chops instead of ground pork, and we bulked it up with mushrooms and bok choy. This recipe really hit the spicy sweet craving I had. Plus it was so easy!
I want to make this for my family, but have two young daughters who might not like the spice. Any ideas for substitutions for the chili garlic sauce?
I would make this using the sauce from my Garlic Noodles instead. It’s mild, but still a wonderful combo of salty, sweet, and rich. :)
This is SO good!! Like a couple others, I halved the chili sauce and it was the perfect level of spice for me.
I also used ground lean chicken and doubled the meat for higher protein.
This recipe really is the perfect sweet, spicy, umami, and peanut recipe . Putting it on the repeat list!!
I used chopped leftover chicken and almonds – it worked fantastic with the sauce and noodles. Thank for this recipe – my family thinks I’m a rock star now and asked that this be a regular on our menu list.
This recipe is great if you have a noodle craving but I DO NOT recommend using the whole 1/4 cup of chili garlic sauce. I would half the amount of chili garlic sauce if you don’t want to suffer, because you can always add more if you do want it super spicy. With that being said I am psyched to make this again with a little less spice. .
This recipe is soooo awesome! My boyfriend absolutely loved this dish as well and ate it several days in a row. I made a double batch for us to take to work for the week. I also added some additional vegetables to make it feel a bit healthier and to make up for all those ramen noodles.
I made this last night for dinner and it was AMAZING (can’t wait for lunch leftovers)! My grocery store only had 1 lb packages of ground pork, so I doubled everything except for the chili garlic sauce which actually came out to the perfect amount of heat.
Made this for dinner last night and while I over-reduced the sauce it was still delicious. What a kick! This will definitely go in my weeknight dinner rotation along with the beef and cabbage stir fry.
Super tasty! I added cabbage to bulk it up a bit and reduced the heat (I think 1/4 cup would have killed me hahaha) but this is awesome. I used those broadcut noodles from the produce section and they were perfect.
What other meat would you suggest subbing for pork? My partner doesn’t eat pork. This looks awesome! And you’ve gotten me hooked on cabbage, so I’ll ads that too ! Thanks Beth?
This would actually also be great with ground turkey, chicken, or beef!
You never stop amazing me with your recipes (and their low cost!). These noodles seem delicious, I read in the comments someone added cashews too…curious to try that as well!
Everytime I think I need to give up making ramen recipes for one reason or another, you drag me back in with a great sounding recipe and photos that make it hard to forget! Thank you for sharing this one.
Made this tonight using Nongshim Shin Ramyun noodles with roasted sesame and soy broccoli florets. A fan of the dragon noodles and this did not disappoint! Thanks again for a great recipe!
I made this for my husband last night and before he could finish his bowl, he asked me to make it again. I doubled the recipe so we could have leftovers but didn’t double the chili garlic sauce because our 7 year old was eating it too. I’m glad I didn’t because it was plenty spicy with 1/4 cup! I also added mushrooms and cabbage to bulk it up a bit. Definitely a new favorite in our house and will be added to our regular rotation. Thanks for the great recipe!!