Remember that head of purple cabbage from week one of the SNAP Challenge? Well, to my surprise, it still hadn’t gone rotten. Sure, it was a little discolored on the open/cut surface, but I just sliced a thin 1/4 inch off the front, peeled off a couple outer leaves, and it was as good as new! Not wanting to let my precious vegetable to go to waste, I made that purple cabbage into a colorful, delicious, and super easy Vegetable Stir Fry with Noodles.
I bought a couple extra vegetables to add to the stir fry (carrots, green bell peppers, green onion, and cilantro) and used an onion that I already had on hand. In interest of making this stir fry as simple as possible, I made the most basic of basic sauces (just like the sauce on the famous Dragon Noodles) with just soy sauce, brown sugar, sriracha, and some corn starch for thickness. Cook everything up in a super hot skillet and you have an amazingly fast veggie-full meal.
If you’re not into ramen noodles (I know someone is about to leave me a comment about how ramen is the devil), you can spoon the sauced up stir fry vegetables over a bowl of warm rice. That would be just as awesome and just as cheap (maybe even more so)!
I wasn’t expecting this stir fry to hold well in the refrigerator all week, but I have to admit, I kind of like the refrigerated leftovers. The colors definitely aren’t as vibrant after a day or so and everything turns kind of violet from the purple cabbage, but the sauce gets all thick, the vegetables soften a bit more, and it almost tastes kind of rich. If you’re really put off by soft noodles, you may not like the leftovers as much, but I’ve totally been digging them!
For the entire month of September, I’ll be participating in the SNAP Challenge and attempting to eat on $4.50 per day. Read more here.
SNAP Challenge: Vegetable Stir Fry with Noodles
Servings 6 about 1.25 cups eachIngredients
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil ($0.04)
- 1/2 head purple cabbage ($0.91)
- 2 green bell peppers ($1.00)
- 2 carrots ($0.27)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.42)
- 2 -3 oz bricks ramen noodles ($0.54)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce ($0.40)
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.05)
- 2 Tbsp Sriracha or less ($0.18)
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.04)
- 3 green onions, sliced ($0.33)
- handful cilantro (optional) ($0.28)
Instructions
- Remove the core and any wilted outer leaves from the cabbage, then cut it into very fine strips. Cut the onion and green bell pepper into thin strips as well. Use a large holed cheese grater to shred the carrots.
- In a small bowl prepare the sauce by stirring together the soy sauce, brown sugar, sriracha, and corn starch.
- Begin to cook the noodles according to the package directions (boil for 3 minutes, or until tender). Drain the cooked noodles in a colander.
- Heat the vegetable oil over medium high heat in a large skillet until it is hot and shimmering. Add the vegetables and sauté for only a few minutes, or until the vegetables just begin to soften. Pour the prepared sauce into the skillet and continue to sauté for one to two minutes more, or until the sauce has thickened and coated all of the vegetables. Turn off the heat.
- Add the cooked and drained noodles to the stir fried vegetables and toss to combine. Top with sliced green onions and a handful of fresh cilantro, if desired.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Vegetable Stir Fry Noodles – Step by Step Photos
Begin by preparing your vegetables. The cooking process is fast, so you need to have it all prepped ahead of time and ready to go. I used 1/2 head of purple cabbage, 2 green bell peppers, 2 carrots, and one yellow onion.
Cut the cabbage, onion, and bell pepper all into thin strips and use a large holed cheese grater to shred the carrot.
Prepare the sauce ahead of time, too, so it’s ready to pour in when you need it. In a small bowl stir together 1/4 cup soy sauce, 3 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp cornstarch, and about 2 Tbsp sriracha (less if you’re not that into hot stuff, but you want at least some because it provides the acidic vinegar element to balance the sauce).
Cook two 3-oz. bricks of ramen noodles according to the package directions (boil for three minutes), then drain in a colander. I broke the bricks in half so that the noodle strings wouldn’t be quite so long. Long noodles are really hard to stir in and combine with chunky ingredients, like the vegetables. Shorter strands combine easier.
Heat two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil and skillet are very hot (the oil should look shimmery or wavy on the surface, but not smoking), add the vegetables and sauté for a few minutes, or JUST until they begin to soften. They’ll continue to cook a little more in the next couple of steps, so you don’t want to over cook at this point.
Pour the sauce over the vegetables and sauté for one to two minutes more, or just until the sauce has thickened and coated all of the vegetables.
Finally, stir in the cooked ramen until it is well combined with the vegetables and coated in the sauce.
Top the stir fry with sliced green onions and a handful of cilantro (if desired). Enjoy!
Colorful, delicious, easy, and INEXPENSIVE. :D
WOW, this is amazing, so easy and the flavor is unbelievable. Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes. Love this site, thank you.
I found this recipe was a great way to use produce from my CSA basket. I added summer squash as I had several to use. Earlier in the summer I had sliced and bagged a huge head of purple cabbage to freeze so I used some of that. My only regret is that I used 2 tablespoons of sriracha suace. I should have used less.
Made this tonight and it was really good! I mean it’s a “keeper” recipe for me. Thanks!
Add a scoop of chunky peanut butter, and your dressing/sauce is nearly identical to one of my favorites!
I absolutely love this! I’ve been following along on your blog now and again. The SNAP challenge is a real way to create some great cheap recipes for your viewers. You do that already. I really enjoy it!
I’ve decided that cabbage is a miracle vegetable! Sometimes I find a partial head of it in the fridge from who knows how long ago, and it’s still firm enough to cook up. And it’s so inexpensive! Half a head is more than enough for a sizable meal.
Does this stir-fry taste at all like coleslaw? It looks really pretty and I want to try it, but I really don’t like coleslaw and I think it might be because of the raw cabbage.
BTW- I am LOVING this challenge! I’ve noticed that I spend a lot of money on food– mostly because of I don’t prepare enough! I decided this week to really crack down on how much I am spending and how much I am eating.
If you don’t like raw cabbage, you might not like this. BUT you can certainly use different vegetables. :) It doesn’t taste a lot like cole slaw to me, though, because it doesn’t have that cole slaw dressing. You can also cook the cabbage down a little further if you don’t mind cooked cabbage.
Something to consider is that some people who have SNAP benefits are also living in shelters, where there is no private, locked fridge for your goods, and you have to carry all your stuff with you so it doesn’t get stolen.
That can seriously hamper what you can buy, as well as its longevity.
And having health problems sometimes means that special food is more expensive. Gluten free, low sodium, sugar free, etc. It is hard, especially if you are just starting out on that new health regime as ordered by the doctor, to find the right foods at a cheap price.
I’ve lived this for real, with no benefits, growing up. It’s hard. Oatmeal for most meals. Ramen was a treat. My dad supplemented our food by hunting.
Beth, you are doing pretty awesome! This is a great thing to bring awareness to.
Everyone complaining about the lack of protein, this snap challenge put a number of restraints and I think that this recipe is a functional and realistic one for someone who has to live under those standards. Yes, she could have thrown in an egg or some beans, but she’s working on a budget. This blog is named BudgetBytes. Also, vegetables has protein as well.
½ head purple cabbage 6 g protein
2 green bell peppers 2 g protein
2 carrots 1.2 g protein
1 yellow onion 0.8 g protein
2 3-oz. bricks of ramen noodles 18 g protein
28 g protein = 4.67 g protein per serving
Adult women need about 46 grams a day
So, with this recipe, she’s getting about 10% of her recommended daily protein intake. However, she is eating other things throughout the day as well. Sometimes, when you have time and financial constraints, getting your complete, 100% recommended nutritional intake is hard. Just keep that in mind before you judge someone.
I wonder about a price comparison between farmer’s market produce and that at your local supermarket. Many farmer’s markets now have programs that allow some sort of exchange for SNAP credits. Anyone have experience using a similar program?
When I was using SNAP, the fact that farmers markets allowed for SNAP tokens was a godsend. Especially in the summer – quite a few programs allow you to ‘double up’ the amount of money you can spend.
For the critics of low protein and high sugar:
I plugged this recipe into My Fitness Pal and found that each serving has 5 grams of protein and 12 grams of sugar. Both are not unreasonable, considering all the great nutrition you’re getting from the fresh vegetables.
All of that within the nearly impossible parameters of the SNAP challenge and I think you’ve hit this one out of the ballpark!
Thanks for your blog and your book. We eat your genius creations at least 3-4 times a week and have yet to find anything we didn’t like.
I am a ramen fanatic! I bought a case of fancier ramen from Amazon (yeah, yeah, sodium, I know…) and I keep shredded carrots, spinach, pre-cut radish matchsticks, mushrooms and peppers on hand to make bowls like this on busy nights when I feel too lazy to cook real food. If my day hasn’t been high in protein, I will put a couple eggs in it as well, or some leftover chicken if I have it. You could also add a Tbsp or two of peanut butter to your sauce to add a little protein and give it more of a thai flair. I eat a lot of asian/mexican, so I always have scallions and cilantro on hand to garnish as well.
While those on SNAP can’t use their funds for salad bar stuff, it can be a good choice for those cooking stirfry recipes for 1 or 2. The cost per pound is obviously signficantly higher, but it allows me a greater variety of veggies in my stirfrys without worrying about a big pile of veggies going to waste.
Thanks for bringing up cabbage, though… it is a favorite of mine, and something I can easily work into my ramen goodness. :)
Hiya Beth
How do you suppose this dish will reheat and/or freeze?
I can’t wait to try this one too, thanks. (Oh oops, I now see you answered that in your note above, silly me.)
I applaud you (again) for your efforts to see what can be made to fit in the SNAP criteria with your own clever & creative skill.
I admire your dedication to walking the walk through the month and hope that at the end of the process, there will be a variety of menu ideas to make, eat and/or freeze.
Your journey is helping offer real solutions and some good eats for folks who don’t have a choice, but are also walking the walk. (Perhaps you need to be commissioned to write another cookbook that government agencies can distribute to recipients of the program!!)
Yes, I have been reheating it as mentioned, but I don’t think this one would freeze well at all. :)
This SNAP challenge has honestly brought out you at your best in my humble opinion. This recipe in particular is cheap, healthy, vibrant and creative.
I think, however, that the SNAP challenge doesn’t really address the following issues:
1) The grocery gap (inability to buy fresh produce)
2) Lower income people are less likely to know how to cook
3) Lack of your awesome creativity :D (this is actually a major part of making cheap food good… my mother could never do it. Everything was bland, salty and gross)
4) Lack of time to cook food when you work 2-3 jobs
That being said, I love reading this series and fully understand why you’re doing it.
I agree with every one of those points! :) It’s a shame that it’s so difficult for me even with all of those advantages.
To KimL. There is protein in that. Vegetables have protein. Looks good. Love your blog and got your book. Thanks for helping me survive.