Tofu Drunken Noodles
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Tofu Drunken Noodles! Spicy, succulent Udon noodles made with Tofu and an array of bright veggies. An easy and addictive meal!
I regret to inform you that although the name of this dish is Tofu Drunken Noodles, no alcohol was actually used in the making. Why are they called drunken noodles you ask? One theory is that they are so spicy, people get drunk in the process – trying to quench their thirst. Even though drunken noodles have no alcohol in them, that doesn’t make them any less delicious!
I just love the idea of these noodles – they are so simple to put together and create an outstanding dish that is both flavorful and filling! In my opinion, making your own noodles at home beats take out any day!
The benefits of tofu
Tofu is made from soy bean curds and is an excellent source of protein (especially for vegans and vegetarians) – it also contains all nine essential amino acids!
Tofu is a valuable plant-based source of iron and calcium. A diet that contains a variety of plant-based foods helps contribute to overall health and wellbeing, and lowers the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. It can enhance your skin and hair, boost energy, and help maintain a healthy weight!
If the mere thought of eating Tofu turns you off, then by all means use chicken, beef, pork or whatever you fancy for this recipe!
Ingredients in drunken noodles
Keep scrolling down to the printable recipe card for FULL ingredient amounts and instructions or click the “Jump to Recipe” button at the top of the page!
Sauce
- Sesame Oil – You can substitute for any nut or seed oil. A light oil like vegetable or peanut oil mixed with toasted sesame seeds will work as well.
- Soy Sauce – I used low sodium.
- Fish Sauce – If you don’t like the taste of fish sauce, you can add extra soy sauce or substitute with tamari.
- Brown Sugar – To sweeten the sauce.
- Honey – You can substitute with maple syrup or agave.
- Sriracha – You can substitute with your favourite hot sauce.
- Dark soy sauce – This is slightly sweeter than regular soy sauce, but it’s usually used to darken the color of sauces. If you can’t find it, you can replace it with regular soy sauce. I usually find this in my local Asian store.
- Oyster sauce – This sauce is made from oysters and it tastes like a combination of soy sauce and barbecue sauce. You can use hoisin instead.
- Garlic – Fresh is best! Minced.
- Water
Stir Fry
- Sesame Oil – You can substitute for any nut or seed oil.
- Olive Oil – You can substitute vegetable oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil or avocado oil.
- Udon Noodles – I used cooked, Japanese udon.
- Tofu – Firm, chopped into small 1 inch pieces (you can substitute with chicken, shrimp, beef, or pork)
- Onion – I used a small onion, thinly sliced.
- Bell Pepper – I used a red bell pepper, thinly sliced.
- Additional Veggies – I used baby corn, broccoli florets, mushrooms and snap peas.
- Green Onion – Chopped.
How to make tofu drunken noodles
- Make the Sauce: In a small bowl whisk all the sauce ingredients together.
- Cook Tofu and Veggies: In a large skillet or wok heat olive oil and sesame oil. Cook the tofu on all sides over medium-high heat, should take 3 to 5 minutes. You might have to do this in a couple batches. Add the onion to the skillet and cook until the onion begins to soften a bit, another 2 to 3 minutes. Next, bell pepper and mushroom and continue sautéing the pepper starts to soften and mushrooms begin to brown a bit, stirring occasionally. Finally, add the broccoli, baby corn and snap peas. Toss everything together and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Finish and Serve: Add the cooked udon noodles to the skillet and pour in the sauce. Toss and cook for 2 to 3 minutes then remove from heat. Sprinkle with green onions and serve.
How to serve
Another reason I love these drunken noodles so much is because the ingredients are so interchangeable! You don’t have to use the veggies I listed above – you can use whatever you have at home! Try throwing in some water chestnuts or chopped carrot for a little crunch! One thing you do have to do, eat this hot! The aroma will make you want to eat it before it’s even out of the wok, trust me.
Leftovers
Store leftover drunken noodles in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-5 days. To reheat, toss in the microwave or back into a skillet/wok until heated through.
You CAN freeze your drunken noodles to have them keep longer but keep in mind they might lose their quality and are best served fresh.
More great recipes to try:
- Mongolian Chicken
- Easy Fried Rice
- Hoisin Chicken Udon Noodles
- Instant Pot Cashew Chicken
- Chicken Lo Mein
- Skillet Chicken Satay
- Chow Mein
- Shrimp Shiitake Noodles
- Chicken Ramen Stir Fry
- Easy Beef and Broccoli
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Tofu Drunken Noodles
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Total: 40 mins
Serves: 4
Tofu Drunken Noodles! Spicy, succulent Udon noodles made with Tofu and an array of bright veggies. An easy and addictive meal!
Equipment
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/4 cup soy sauce low sodium
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp sriracha sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup water
Stir Fry
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 21 oz udon noodles cooked (3 packages, 7 oz package)
- 12 oz firm tofu chopped into small 1 inch pieces (substitute with chicken, shrimp, beef, or pork)
- 1 small onion sliced
- 1 medium red bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup baby corn
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 1 cup mushrooms sliced
- 1/2 cup snap peas
- 2 green onions chopped
Instructions
- Make the sauce: In a small bowl whisk all the sauce ingredients together.
- Cook the tofu: To a large skillet or wok add the olive oil and sesame oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the tofu and cook until browned on all sides, should take about 3 to 5 minutes. You might need to do this in batches.
- Cook veggies: Add the onion to the skillet and cook until the onion begins to soften a bit, another 2 to 3 minutes. Next, bell pepper and mushroom and continue sautéing the pepper starts to soften and mushrooms begin to brown a bit, stirring occasionally. Finally, add the broccoli, baby corn and snap peas. Toss everything together and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Finish and Serve: Add the cooked udon noodles to the skillet and pour in the sauce. Toss and cook for 2 to 3 minutes then remove from heat. Sprinkle with green onions and serve.
Recipe Notes
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-5 days. To reheat, toss in the microwave or back into a skillet/wok until heated through.
- You CAN freeze your leftover noodles to have them keep longer but keep in mind they might lose their quality and are best served fresh.
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 497kcal (25%)Carbohydrates: 69g (23%)Protein: 23g (46%)Fat: 17g (26%)Saturated Fat: 2g (13%)Sodium: 2226mg (97%)Potassium: 478mg (14%)Fiber: 8g (33%)Sugar: 19g (21%)Vitamin A: 1490IU (30%)Vitamin C: 94mg (114%)Calcium: 151mg (15%)Iron: 3mg (17%)
Marianne says
This looks so good! I love udon 🙂
But I’m almost vegan (haven’t given up milk chocolate and some types of pastries that contain milk/ eggs completely yet) so I was wondering; If you don’t have/ don’t want to use fishsauce and honey, what do recommend as substitutes?
Joanna Cismaru says
A salty broth made, preferably, with mushrooms and a hint of soy sauce should be a perfect substitute.
Desi says
The tofu tasted deliciously, I can’t really describe it other than cake-like. I marinated it in sauce for 1 hour. I also didn’t add any veggies. Since I didn’t have the noodles, I replaced it with thin linguini. I don’t think it worked as well because the pasta didn’t absorb the sauce. I highly recommend this recipe.
Richard Seto says
Easy and fast! Love the sauce, super simple but tastes great.
tiksu says
I have made this two times now. Fast to make and so good. Even my meat lover husband loves this. Great recipe. Greetings from Finland. 🙂
Joanna Cismaru says
Hello Finland! Happy you like the recipe! 🙂
LR says
Just made it, and it’s super delicious! I didn’t have any udon on hand, so I used spaghetti noodles instead, and it came out great. Thanks for sharing!
Karyn says
We have a sesame allergy, any thoughts on what I can use to replace the sesame oil?
Thanks!
Joanna Cismaru says
How about peanut oil or just vegetable oil but you will lose a bit of that sesame flavor.
Kaitlin says
Is it okay to leave out the fish sauce? It’s not an ingredient that I keep in the house much.
Joanna Cismaru says
Sure, you can replace it with soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce.
Erica says
Made these a few times now and it is super easy and tasty. I always make double the sauce and pop heaps more sriracha in. Thank you for this recipe. I don’t have to spend a fortune on Asian takeaway all the time now.
Joanna Cismaru says
My pleasure, I’m so glad you liked it!
Shahed says
Hi! How can I cook the udon noodles?
Joanna Cismaru says
There should be instructions on the udon noodle package on how to cook them. It depends, some come precooked already and in that case you just need to add them to boiling water for about a minute or two until they separate.
Shahed says
Thanks
Debbie says
So yummy! My entire family loved it. Both my daughters, aged 9 & 11 asked me to make it again.
Vivian says
This is sooo good! I substituted some veggies with what I have in my fridge and it turned out great! I also used shiitake mushroom for added Asian flavor and marinated the tofu with the same sauce for a few hours to allow the flavor to seep through the tofu. No doubt, I’ll do this again! Thanks for this recipe!
Kiwi says
For a vegetarian option substitute vegemite or marmite for the fish sauce. It gives the same savory flavor (Which in japanese dishes is called ‘umami’ if I’m remembering correctly) which gives the finished sauce a bit more thickness whereas more soy will just make a watery kind of sauce instead.
Another note for anyone mourning the loss of brown gravy for mashed potatoes- vege/marmite simmered in a vegetable stock with shittake mushrooms and thickened with something like gravy flour gives an almost identical sort of flavor/texture and looks identical!
Nina says
Thank you so much, this recipe is awesome. I make it all the time at home!
Fish sauce isn’t vegetarian, so if you’d like to omit it, then you’d need a salt based subsitute. Fish sauce gives the saltiness to this recipe, so maybe at a little more soy?
Linda says
Thank you for the yummy recipe. My toddler loves it and so do I. Will be my go to recipe for baby girl. Thanks!
Beth says
Sounds good, except “fish sauce” doesn’t sound vegetarian (and I’m pretty sure it’s not). Got any ideas for a good vegetarian substitute for fish sauce?
mamieo says
This recipe for drunken noodles has my mouth watering! Can’t wait to gather all the ingredients to try it myself! Thanks for sharing!
Kulsum says
I made these on Saturday and my family LOVED them!! They have asked me to make them again tonight!!! Thank you!
Lindsey @ American Heritage Cooking says
Dinner tonight!!! Heck yes! I don’t have as many veggies as I’d like to put in like you but I want them now, so sacrifices must be made! YUUMMMM. And I pinned it so everyone else can try it too 🙂
jo says
Thanks Lindsey! 🙂
Jessica says
These look delicious! Reminds me of what I get at my favorite Thai restaurant – pad kee mao
Giselle says
It looks delicious and quick! I cannot wait to try this on a weeknight. Thanks for sharing the recipe!