Spicy Udon Noodle Vegetable Stir-Fry

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This easy to make spicy udon noodle stir fry is a lifesaver when you’re looking for a vegetable heavy dinner and need to use whatever produce you have in the fridge.

A simple stir fry is one of our go-to weeknight dinners as it is always easy to make, warm, comforting, and delicious. Plus, it is highly customizable and can be made with whatever produce or proteins you already have in your fridge or freezer. Whether it’s fresh produce you need to use up, or frozen ingredients you always have on hand, being able to make a pantry meal can really help you handle a long or busy day. 

And since we aren’t always the best at getting enough vegetables in our diets, a veggie heavy meal like this one goes a long way to help us out! 

What This Recipe Entails

Depending on what produce you go with, this recipe may require a decent amount of prep work. It still surprises us sometimes how long it takes to prepare peppers, onions, bok choy, and more for making this dinner. 

• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Cook time: 20 minutes

If you are looking to make this a quick and easy dinner, then we recommend using frozen veggies, something like a stir fry veggie blend works really well, when you are short on time or don’t have it in you to prep all the produce. Just be sure to defrost anything frozen according to package directions before starting this recipe. Leftover produce that you already have prepped also works wonderfully for this stir fry. 

Udon Noodle Stir Fry Ingredients

Vegetarian noodle stir-fry is extremely easy to make for a couple of reasons. One, you only really need 3 main ingredients:

• Udon noodles
• Stir-fry vegetables
• Stir-fry sauce

Two, the veggies and sauce can be customized to your liking and based on what you already have at home, or what looks good at the grocery store. Here’s what we use for our favorite udon noodle vegetable stir-fry:

Our Go-To Udon Noodle Stir-Fry Vegetables

• Snap peas
• Scallions
• Bell pepper
• Yellow onion
• Baby bok choy
• Garlic

Udon Stir-Fry Sauce

• Soy sauce
• Brown sugar
• Rice vinegar
• Sesame oil
• Minced garlic
• Chili garlic sauce

If you decide to customize the vegetables in your stir fry, we recommend sticking to about 5 or so vegetable types to keep the proportions balanced. For some ideas on what other vegetables work well for stir-fry, see the section below on Recipe Variations.

While the sauce provides a lot of flavor, the veggies you choose can greatly impact the flavor and texture of the dish. This makes it easy to have udon veggie stir-fry over and over again with new ways to enjoy it every time!

How To Make Spicy Vegetarian Stir Fry With Noodles

It really just takes 3 steps to make a delicious vegetable stir fry at home: make the sauce, cook the noodles, and stir-fry the vegetables. Then just combine everything together in the wok and dinner is served!

Here’s a complete breakdown for how to make our udon noodle stir fry recipe:

1. First wash and prep the vegetables: cut the bell pepper and onion into thin strips, chop the scallions and baby bok choy (separating out the leafy greens from the white stems, keeping both).
2. Combine soy sauce and brown sugar in a small bowl and mix well until the brown sugar is dissolved, then add rice vinegar, sesame oil, minced garlic, and chili garlic sauce (to taste). Stir well to combine and set aside.
3. Cook the udon noodles according to the package directions. 
4. While the noodles are cooking, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and snap peas, stirring occasionally until snap peas start to soften, about 6 to 8 minutes.
5. Add the bell pepper, onion, and scallion and bok choy stalks to the wok with an additional 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Cook until vegetables soften, about 3 to 5 minutes.
6. Add the scallions and bok choy leaves to the wok. Stir frequently and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
7. Lower heat and add cooked udon noodles and sauce to the wok. Stir well to combine and serve hot.

If you decide to add different vegetables to your stir-fry, here’s the key to ensuring that everything is cooked correctly: group ingredients into similar toughnesses, and cook them in stages (from most to least tough). Just like how we add the snap peas first, followed by pepper, onion, and bok choy stalks, and then finally followed by leafy ingredients. Follow this method and you’ll end up with perfectly cooked vegetables every time.

We also like to cook our veggies a little longer since we prefer them on the soft side. If you prefer more crunchy veggies in your stir-fry, shorten the cook time for each batch of vegetables by 2 or so minutes. 

Lastly, the chili garlic sauce is what gives these spicy noodles some heat. If you want a more mild dish, just reduce the amount of chili garlic used in the sauce. Alternatively, if you want this dish extra spicy, you can add some pure chili oil to the sauce (we love doing this sometimes!).

Spicy Stir Fry Serving Suggestions

While this spicy udon stir-fry can be a standalone dinner for two with leftovers for lunches, we highly recommend serving it with our pork dumplings or your favorite Asian side dish to complete the meal. This stir-fry is also the perfect addition to a family style buffet along with a couple other Asian dishes such as General Tso’s chicken, or spicy Szechuan dumpling soup.

Recipe Variations

Like we mentioned, we love this stir fry because it can easily be customized based on what’s available in our fridge. All you need is a variety of vegetables – we recommend about 5 different types. Here are a few suggestions that work well:

• Carrots
• Celery
• Chili peppers
• Ginger
• Water chestnuts
• Broccoli
• Mushroom
• Baby corn spears
• Snow peas

Alternatively, if you want to always have ingredients for a recipe like this on hand, frozen vegetables work too. That way, no matter what your day or week brings, you know you can make an easy, comforting dinner with what you already have on hand.

Storing & Reheating Leftovers

This recipe is great for meal prepping lunches and dinners to help you throughout the week as it makes a big batch of food. However, that means you need to ensure it is stored properly! This stir fry will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days when stored in an air-tight container.

We like to prep a big batch of stir fry for Sunday night dinner and portion out the leftovers for easy microwave lunches throughout the week. To reheat, simply microwave single servings for about 2 minutes, stirring halfway through.

If you want to reheat a larger batch of stir fry (around 4 servings or more), you can toss it back in the wok over medium heat for a few minutes until warmed through.

Next time you don’t know what to make for dinner, or what lunches are going to be for the week, make a batch of our vegetarian udon noodle stir-fry to solve both problems at once! Let us know what you think by rating, commenting, and sharing below.