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. 👌
This is our new favourite stir fry sauce! We’ve made it half a dozen times in the last few weeks, starting with as written and adjusting it as we went. Both of us found that we had to cut the chili garlic sauce down a lot to be able to handle the spice level, and we double the quantity, so we end up with something like 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup soy sauce, and one heaping tablespoon of the chili garlic sauce. We’ve used it with ground pork, but also chicken pieces, beef strips, and ground beef, and it’s good with all. We like udon noodles the best with it. It’s also really good with broccoli – it soaks into the broccoli and is delicious!
I don’t know what else to say about this recipe except that it is AMAZING! I’d give it a hundred stars if I could.
Will this work with canton noodles; we usually keep them on hand and they are lightweight, like a tastier ramen noodle. I am intrigued by the recipe, everyone seems to really like it.
I’ve never used canton noodles, so I don’t know for sure, but I feel like this recipe is very flexible and many different types of noodles would work.
Do you think the meal prep you made with this dish and the broccoli salad could be froze for later eating?
I don’t think this one will do so well with freezing because the noodles aren’t quite saucy enough to keep from drying out and the broccoli will break down more and just be really limp.
I made this for dinner tonight with some friends! Rave reviews from all, and I had to immediately send everybody the recipe. One of them said “this is one of the best home-cooked meals I’ve had in ages!” I will dedinitely be making this again! Thank you!!
Wow! Thank you for sharing that feedback! <3
Great tasting meal, however it is a bit spicy and salty. In the future I’ll cut back on the Dragon sauce and maybe not reduce it by 50%. I also added more peanuts and veggies.
Made this tonight and it was beyond delicious! The pork I bought came as a pound so I doubled the recipe. Hubby said “definitely make this again, but next time less spicy.” We both found it surprisingly very spicy, and we are Indian :) next time I’ll probably halve the chili sauce.
Thank you for this! This quick and tasty recipe is going into my regular weeknight rotation. Per the comments, I doubled the sauce (while decreasing the chili garlic ratio) and added some tahini for richness. Served it with some bok choy to rave reviews. May try this with tofu next.
Could this be made with tofu instead of the pork?
Yes, you could fry some tofu in place of the pork, just make sure to use enough fat to make up for the fat that the pork contains. Coconut oil would probably be the closest. :)
This was awesome! We had most of the ingredients on hand so it was even cheaper :)
Two changes — we used Japanese udon noodles instead of ramen noodles, and used vegetarian pork bites from Gardein instead of real pork. I am sensitive to spicy foods, and this was surprisingly spicy for me! Cleared my sinuses lol
Do what Beth says and serve it with a green. This was soooo rich. My tastebuds are screaming in a good way (I think)
I definitely will make this again!
My husband and I gobbled this up; it was so good! I couldn’t find nice ramen noodles (not the 50 cent packs) so I used lo mein noodles from the International section and they held up really well for leftovers. I will cut back on the chili sauce next time, though. It was a little too spicy for us!
Just made this last night but swapped out the ramen for potato noodles and used honey instead of the brown sugar.
This is excellent! However, the spicy noodles can reach my husband`s canker sore. Do you think I could freeze this–either in single serving dishes or by ingredient (sauce with peanuts, vs. noodles)? Unfortunately I used brown rice ramen.
I wouldn’t freeze the end product because I don’t think it’s saucy enough to not get dried out in the freezer. You could certainly mix up the sauce ahead of time and freeze that. :)
This was delicious, but 1) I thought it was too much pork for the amount of noodles 2) I apparently can’t handle food that spicy anymore because it made my stomach very unhappy the next day. I might make it again with more noodles and a little less chili sauce.
I made this for the first time tonight. It’s so easy and SO delicious. This is a great recipe. Winner, winner spicy dinner!