bowl of finished garlic noodles with fork nestled in the noodles

Our quick and easy Garlic Noodles recipe is one of my and my family’s absolute favorite recipes on the entire blog! It only requires a few ingredients, comes together in less than 20 minutes and is just so good!

The fish sauce might not appeal to everyone, but I promise you guys it’s SO good and doesn’t make the noodles fishy at all. It gives the dish a really luscious umami flavor. This is my favorite brand. It has a really clean flavor and a tiny bit goes a long way!

How to Make Garlic Noodles

Ingredients

Process

First you start by parboiling and draining the noodles. Set them aside as you prepare the sauce. Whether you’re using fresh or dry noodles, you really just want to slightly soften them, so when you finish them off in the pan they’ll have a slightly crisp exterior.

Cooked Chinese style egg noodles sitting in a colander.

Next, melt your butter in a large wok or skillet and quickly fry the garlic, making sure not to burn it. This should only take about 30 seconds.
Then add the soy sauce, fish sauce and brown sugar and quickly stir everything together until the sugar has just dissolved. You can also stir these ingredients into a small measuring cup first and add them all together into your pan.

Fish sauce and soy sauce in a wok with garlic and butter.

Add the parboiled noodles and toss everything together until the noodles are well coated with a slightly crisp exterior.
Remove the garlic noodles from the heat and toss in the Parmesan and green onion.

Garlic noodle sauce tossed with noodles in a wok.

Cooked garlic noodles tossed with parmesan and green onions.

What are Chinese Style Egg Noodles?

They are wheat noodles with the addition of egg. Depending on what dish you want to create, they’re either boiled and served soft (lo-mein style) or parboiled before being panfried for a crispier texture (chow mein style).

Make Ahead and Reheating Instructions

Our garlic noodles can be made up to 2 days ahead of time, when ready to reheat place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water to skillet. Once water begins to boil, add the noodles and toss together until heated through. The small amount of water will help the starchy noodles to break apart from each other as they reheat.

Finished bowl of garlic noodles with another bowl of noodles peaking in at the top

Variations and Substitutions

I like to add some simple sauteed shrimp to the top of the garlic noodles or even shredded chicken for some added protein.
The noodles are also really delicious with the addition of stir-fried broccoli florets, sliced shiitake mushrooms and snow peas.
If you can’t find Chinese style egg noodles, you can substitute with spaghetti, which work as a great replacement for this recipe.
It’s hard to replicate the umami flavor of fish sauce, but if you can’t find it you can either double the amount of soy sauce, or combine equal parts soy sauce and vinegar (rice, white or cider) together with a pinch of salt and use that as a substitute.

What to Serve with Our Garlic Noodles Recipe

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Garlic Noodles

5 from 63 votes

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A simple and absolutely delicious Garlic Noodles recipe that can be made in under 20 minutes. We use Chinese style egg noodles, tossed in a garlic-butter soy sauce sauce that result in a highly addicting noodle dish!

RECIPE BY Teri & Jenny

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 13

Total Time: 18

Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS

▢ 12 ounces Chinese style egg noodles (spaghetti is fine)

garlic-sauce

▢ 3 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter
▢ 3 garlic cloves, minced
▢ ¼ cup (low sodium) soy sauce
▢ 1 tablespoon fish sauce
▢ 1 tablespoon brown sugar
▢ ½ cup grated Parmesan
▢ pinch white pepper, optional
▢ 2 green onion, thinly sliced on a bias and divided

INSTRUCTIONS

Fill a large pot with water, place over high heat and bring to a boil. Add noodles and boil until soft, 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain noodles into a colander and rinse under cool water. Set aside.
Place a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat and melt butter. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add soy sauce, fish sauce and brown sugar and cook together until sugar dissolves and mixture is boiling, 2 to 3 minutes.
Raise heat to high, add noodles and toss together for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and sprinkle Parmesan, 1 sliced green onion and white pepper (if using) over noodles and continue to toss together until noodles are evenly coated in sauce.
Top garlic noodles with more green onions and serve.

NOTES

Substitutions:

If you’re unable to find Chinese style egg noodles, spaghetti makes a fine substitute.
If you’re unable to find fish sauce, you can either double the amount of soy sauce, or combine equal parts soy sauce and vinegar (rice, white or cider) together with a pinch of salt and use that as a substitute.

Make Ahead

This dish can be made up to 2 days ahead of time, when ready to reheat place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water to skillet. Once water begins to boil, add the noodles and toss together until heated through. The small amount of water will help the starchy noodles to break apart from each other as they reheat.

Calories: 457kcal Carbohydrates: 67g Protein: 14g Fat: 15g Saturated Fat: 8g Cholesterol: 37mg Sodium: 1337mg Potassium: 83mg Fiber: 2g Sugar: 4g Vitamin A: 474IU Vitamin C: 2mg Calcium: 153mg Iron: 1mg