I've been eating a lot of noodles lately and I finally tried a Taiwanese noodle called a knife pare or ribbon noodle. I actually lived in Taiwan for a year and somehow never crossed paths with this noodle - I don't know how this is possible. What I learned is that this is my favorite noodle above all others. This is a true story. The texture is smooth and silky and they are surprisingly light. These noodles are absolutely gorgeous and so delicious. So let me show you how to make my spicy garlic chili noodles.
Taiwanese Knife Pare or Ribbon Noodles Work Great for this
Even though I am now swearing by knife pare (aka ribbon noodles), I realize you might not be able to get your hands on those. Thick spaghetti (also known as No. 8) or linguine will work too. But if you do live near an Asian market, it would be worth the trip to see if they have the Taiwan knife pare/knife cut noodles. I am fortunate enough to live in an area with a ton of amazing Asian markets. My favorite is the H-Mart where you will find anything and everything under the sun. This is where a buy my thinly sliced rib-eye for my Korean bulgogi w/rice and my Korean bulgogi sandwich w/spicy cucumbers and cheddar. This is also where I have tried three different brands of knife pare noodles - all of them were excellent.
It is also a great place to buy gochugaru, guchujang, dark soy sauce, and black vinegar to name a few. The H-Mart produce section is extensive with excellent pricing on fresh herbs. They even have a small kitchen supply section with bowls, chopsticks, pots, pans and rice cookers. I LOVE this place if you can't tell. And no, this is not a sponsored post. I just genuinely love H-Mart.
What Ingredients Do You Need to Make this?
There are a few things you will probably already have on hand - kitchen staples if you will. Garlic, oil, salt, ground beef, scallions, and linguine. There are a few special ingredients, which again, you can find at a local Asian market. They are:
- Gochugaru (Korean chili powder)
- Gochujang (Korean Chili paste - I go for the "mild" version)
- Oyster or Hoison sauce
- Fresh ginger
- ABC Indodesian soy sauce (optional, but delicious)
- Dark soy sauce
- Taiwan knife pare/knife cut noodles
The only reason I put ginger on the "special" list is to remind you of something. Yes, you can obviously find this in your local grocery store very easily. However, if you are going to an Asian market anyway, buy your ginger there. I have found that the ginger available at Asian markets is so much better. And for me, my local supermarkets have been putting out low-quality, poor-looking ginger far too often. This recipe is highly customizable and you can bypass the meat altogether and go vegetarian with this.
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Add-ons and Substitution for Spicy Garlic Chili Noodles
For the substitutions:
- Ground pork or chicken instead of beef
- Regular chili powder (instead of gochugaru) - know your spice level here
- Kashmiri red chili powder if you don't want this to be spicy at all
- If you want vegetarian, skip the meat and see veggie ideas below
- Regular soy sauce (lower sodium) instead of dark soy
- If you can't find the knife pare noodles, linguine or thick spaghetti works.
For the add-ons:
- Gai-lan (chinese broccoli)
- Sliced radish
- Sliced zucchini
- Chopped asparagus
- Chinese cabbage
- Regular or baby bok choy
When I visited my friend on Martha's Vineyard and her son and I made his awesome choriqueso recipe, we made these noodles one night. She didn't want ground beef, so we made a separate vegetarian version for her with zucchini, asparagus and radish. It was awesome!
Easy Steps to Make Spicy Garlic Chili Noodles
Spicy Garlic Chili Noodles
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
If you’re craving some spicy garlic chili noodles I’ve got the perfect recipe for you. Silky Taiwan knife cut noodles with a kick.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons garlic, finely diced (5-8 cloves depending on size)
- 1 tablespoon ginger, finely diced
- 8-9 scallions, chopped & divided
- ½ tablespoon gochujang
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce, divided (plus extra)
- 6 bundles of knife cut noodles (or ¾ lb of linguine or thick spaghetti)
- 1 ½ pounds ground beef (85/15 blend)
- 2 teaspoons gochugaru chili powder
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce or hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon ABC Indonesian sweet soy sauce, optional
- Olive oil
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Instructions
- At the beginning of the process, you should be heating a large pot of water with two teaspoons of salt to cook the noodles. You want it boiling by the time you cook the garlic/ginger.
- Peel, then finely dice your garlic. I usually slice it into thin rounds then dice it down into smaller bits from there.
- Same with ginger. Peel a chunk (thumb-sized) of ginger. Slice into thin rounds and dice it down into smaller bits from there.
- Chop 8-9 scallion stalks total. Four will go in the pan with the noodles. The rest you can use to serve on the side.
- Mix the gochujang with 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce. Mix slowly at first so it doesn’t splatter – make sure it is well combined.
- Cook the ground beef in a large pan on medium-to-high heat. Chop the beef into small crumbly bits. This will need to happen throughout the cooking process – keep breaking it down with a large wooden spatula. Should take 7-8 minutes to cook the beef. I used 85/15 beef blend and didn’t need to drain the fat. If you use and 80/20 blend, drain the fat from the pan when it’s finished cooking.
- Once beef is crispy and crumbly, add the gochujang and dark soy sauce mixture and stir to coat all the beef with it. Taste and add another splash of dark soy if needed. Transfer beef to a bowl and don’t wash the pan – we’re using it again.
- Water should be boiling so drop six bundles of the Taiwan knife cut noodles in the water. They cook in five minutes. After a minute a minute in the water, use tongs to toss. You should toss a couple times while they are boiling. If you are using linguine – allow for 10 minutes or so to cook the pasta.
- Heat olive oil (1-2 tablespoons) in the large pan on medium heat and cook the garlic and ginger for a minute or two until fragrant. Then add the gochugaru (Korean chili powder) and mix well for another minute. (my video shows this well.)
- Add oyster sauce or hoison sauce if that is what you have on hand (or a little of both) and mix together. I add a little bit of Indonesian sweet soy sauce as well (ABC brand), but it is totally optional. Mix well.
- Noodles should be ready so add them to the pan with the sauce. I didn’t strain them – I went straight from the pot of water to the pan with the sauce. Yes, I made a slight watery mess, but oh well!
- Once noodles are in the pan, add a tablespoon of dark soy on top then mix the noodles with the sauce to coat. You may need two tools to do this. Tongs and a spatula work well.
- After noodles are coated, add the ground beef and scallions and toss everything together. Make sure to rotate the noodles and beef around the pan so everything is coated.
- Add another splash of dark soy if you need it and warm water if you want it a bit more wet. Don’t use the pasta water here because it is salted. Warm tap water works fine.
- Serve immediately with extra scallions on the side.
- To reheat for lunches: add noodles to a bowl with a splash of water and cover with plastic wrap. Heat in microwave and toss with a fork after re-heated. The water helps reconstitute the sauce.
Notes
- If you cannot find knife pare/knife cut noodles at your local Asian market, you can use linguine or thick spaghetti. A whole box will be slightly too much. Use ¾ of a box of linguine for this – don’t use the full pound there won’t be enough sauce. Thin noodles like angel hair or vermicelli will not work for this recipe.
- All knife cut noodles are packaged into small bundles. I used 6 bundles for this recipe. My video shows the knife pare/knife cut noodles well.
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