Vietnamese Style Garlic Noodles

These savory garlic noodles are quick and easy to make of a quick weeknight meal.

Vietnamese Style Garlic Noodles are a uniquely San Francisco dish. Rumored to have been created by a San Francisco Vietnamese restaurant sometime in the 1970’s, typically served with roasted Dungeness Crab (another very San Francisco delicacy).  Garlic Noodles can now be found all around the city with every restaurant having their own unique recipe. My take on these addictively tasty noodles is quick, simple and can feed my hungry family for less than a single takeout order. While they are delicious on their own, adding Dungeness Crab makes this an amazing meal.  Unfortunately, crab is only available seasonally so adding some Sous Vide Chinese Five Spice Chicken Thighs make this a complete meal any time of year. 

Ingredients for Vietnamese Style Garlic Noodles

·      2 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

·      1 Tablespoon oyster sauce

·      2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

·      2 teaspoons fish sauce

·      1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

·      4 Tablespoons butter

·      1 head of garlic, 8 to 12 cloves, crushed

·      1 package of noodles (you can use spaghetti pasta in a pinch)

·      Green onions

·      White sesame seeds

·      Garlic chili crisp (optional)

Directions

1.     Mix soy sauce, oyster sauce, Worcestershire, fish sauce, toasted sesame oil in a small bowl and set aside.

2.     Melt butter in a large pan (you will want something large enough to add your cooked noodles to the sauce and still be able to mix it together). Add crashed garlic and cook until your whole house smells of garlic, about 2 minutes. You don’t want the garlic to take on any color. Garlic will burn quickly and becomes very bitter.

3.     Add reserved sauce, turn off heat and mix into the garlic butter.

4.     Cook your noodles according to the package instructions, the noodles I use take about 5 minutes and need to be rinsed under cold water after cooking.

5.     Add noodles to your pan of butter garlic sauce and mix until all the noodles fully coated. If your sauce has become too cold rewarm gently as your mix.

6.     Serve noodles in a bowl, top with sesame seeds, green onions and garlic chili crisp, if using.

7.     Add Dungeness crab or Sous Vide Chinese Five Spice Chicken Thighs, if using.

Enjoy these simple, tasty Vietnamese Style Garlic Noodles and don’t miss the takeout food. Remember life is too short to eat bad food so make some for these savory garlic noodles for your family tonight.