Sauce for stir fry spaghetti
The ingredients for my stir-fried spaghetti sauce are very basic and traditional chow mein seasonings:
– Sugar: for a subtle sweet taste. If you want to achieve a real Chinese stir-fried noodle flavor, don’t skimp.
– Light soy sauce: for a savory flavor. Light soy sauce is golden brown in color and rich in taste to add flavor during marinating and seasoning stage.
– Dark soy sauce: for a brown and shiny look. Dark soy sauce is used to add deep colors to meat stews and casseroles and often paired with light soy sauce to achieve the perfect taste and color.
– Oyster sauce: for a rich and complex caramelized savory flavor. Oyster sauce is so often used in Chinese stir fry dishes. Vegetarian version of oyster sauce is made from mushrooms. Other than that, it’s hard to find another substitution of oyster sauce. You may try using hoisin sauce instead if you can’t find oyster sauce anywhere.
Check out my homemade oyster sauce recipe.
Chinkiang vinegar: to intensify the aroma of spaghetti stir-fried in oil One tablespoon of vinegar won’t make your noodles taste sour because most of it will evaporate while you stir-fry them, giving Chinese restaurants their distinctive, wonderful aroma. If Chinkiang vinegar is unavailable, you can substitute it with any other black rice vinegar or even cooking wine. Since the cooking wine will also evaporate and give your stir-fried spaghetti a more traditional Chinese cuisine aroma
– Sesame oil: to avoid sticking and to give off a nutty scent When preparing stir-fried noodles, the last thing you want to see is the noodles sticking together. Not only will this dish smell better when the noodles are coated with sesame oil, but it will also keep the noodles from sticking together.
Which Noodles to Use for Stir Fry
Let’s start with the recipe’s namesake: the noodles. We have options here.
I suggest using any type of longer, thicker noodles for this recipe so they can withstand being tossed around a lot in the pan. Whenever feasible, I also like to use whole grain options to increase the nutritional value of the recipe.
- Soba Noodles. Buckwheat flour gives the noodles a subtle earthy flavor.
- Japanese Udon Noodles. Neutral-tasting, thick, chewy wheat noodles that are ideal for stir fries
- Egg Noodles. This can be turned into an egg noodle stir-fried chicken dish. Look for Chinese egg noodles (lo mein-style noodles).
- Spaghetti, Linguine, or Fettuccine. Indeed, spaghetti can be used to prepare a stir-fried noodle dish. This is what we use 95% of the time. Other long, Italian-style noodles like fettuccine and linguine work also.
- Rice Noodles. This type of noodles cooks up quickly and has a texture that is delightfully soft. However, they tend to disintegrate rather quickly, so if you do use them, I would save them for last, right before serving.
For these stir-fried noodles, feel free to use any vegetable in your fridge, including bok choy, broccoli, mushrooms, bell peppers, snap peas, and that suspicious-looking head of cabbage.
- Cut Veggies Small. To ensure that your veggies cook quickly, cut them slightly smaller. To guarantee that tougher vegetables like broccoli and carrots cook in roughly the same amount of time as everything else, this is especially crucial.
- Prep in Advance. Prepare all of your veggies in advance by chopping and prepping them, as stir fries cook quickly.
I like my stir fries, especially the vegetable ones, to be very veggie-heavy, so I add a full cup of vegetables. One of my biggest complaints about the noodles in stir-fries at restaurants (both the sit-down kind and the small takeout variety) is that there are only 2097% noodles and a few scant veggies here and there. Not with this veggie-packed Vegetable Lo Mein or my stir-fried vegetable noodles!
Ben said he would have liked more noodles, but I felt the recipe was perfect.
- To make a stir fry with lots of veggies, add 6 cups of veggies and 6 ounces of noodles.
- To make a stir-fry that is both balanced and still primarily composed of vegetables, increase the amount of noodles from 6 cups to 8 ounces.
Stir Fry Noodles Sauce
The sauce I use in my other clean-out-the-fridge best friend, homemade fried rice, serves as the inspiration for the noodle stir fry sauce.
While the recipe for the stir-fry sauce isn’t particularly spicy as written, you can leave out the Sriracha entirely and add it to individual dishes if you want to make sure these are kid-friendly.
- Hoisin. An actual secret weapon for stir fries, this little jar is bursting with flavor and essentially does all the work for you.
- Soy Sauce. Another stir fry staple that helps create our addictive sauce. To avoid it tasting too salty, I suggest using low-sodium soy sauce.
- Garlic + Ginger. An essential ingredient for stir-fry sauces (ask Sweet and Sour Chicken).
- Rice Wine Vinegar. Easy to find and a worthy addition to your pantry. This stir fry regular brings balance.
- Sriracha. Gives the sauce a little kick. You can omit it if you’d rather have a less spicy stir fry.
- Green Onions. A small amount is mixed into the sauce, and the remainder is sprinkled over the finished dish to add a hint of freshness.
I went with boneless, skinless chicken breast for my stir-fried noodles, but any type of protein—vegetarian or not—works well.
- Beef Noodle Stir Fry. Use sirloin steak and thinly slice it into 1-inch strips against the grain.
- Pork Noodle Stir Fry. Use pork tenderloin for this Pork Stir Fry, chopping it into 3/4-inch cubes.
- Tofu Noodle Stir Fry. Swap out sautéed tofu cubes. This Crispy Tofu is my favorite way to cook tofu for stir fries.
- Stir-Fry Noodles with Egg. Although the two eggs in this stir fry recipe do a magical trick and thicken the sauce even more, you can add extra scrambled eggs at the end if you’d like to add even more protein.
