Chef John’s Drunken Noodles

  4.6 – 67 reviews  • Main Dishes

Excellent mimosa with blood orange and pineapple for any leisurely morning.

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins
Additional Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 40 mins
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  1. 8 ounces dried rice noodles
  2. ¼ cup oyster sauce
  3. ¼ cup soy sauce
  4. 1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
  5. 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  6. 1 teaspoon white sugar
  7. 2 tablespoons cold water
  8. 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  9. 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  10. 1 cup shallots, thinly sliced
  11. 6 teaspoons chile padi (bird’s eye chiles), thinly sliced
  12. 4 cloves garlic, minced
  13. 2 ½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into strips (Optional)
  14. 1 pound Chinese broccoli, sliced (Optional)
  15. 4 green onions, thinly sliced
  16. 1 cup fresh Thai basil leaves

Instructions

  1. Gather the ingredients.
  2. ALLRECIPES / VICTORIA JEMPTY
  3. Soak rice noodles in hot water until flexible, 10 to 15 minutes. Occasionally move the noodles around to separate them. Drain the water and cover with a wet paper towel.
  4. ALLRECIPES / VICTORIA JEMPTY
  5. Combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, Asian fish sauce, maple syrup, sugar, and water in a small bowl.
  6. ALLRECIPES / VICTORIA JEMPTY
  7. Heat vegetable oil and sesame oil in a wok, or large frying pan, over medium-high heat. Stir-fry shallots, chile peppers, and garlic until shallots are soft, about 2 minutes. Move the mixture around the outside of the pan to create a space and add chicken. Sear for 1 minute, then combine with shallot mixture.
  8. ALLRECIPES / VICTORIA JEMPTY
  9. Add Chinese broccoli stems and stir-fry until tender, about 2 minutes.
  10. ALLRECIPES / VICTORIA JEMPTY
  11. Add Chinese broccoli leaves and stir-fry until wilted.
  12. ALLRECIPES / VICTORIA JEMPTY
  13. Add drunken noodle sauce and sliced green onions and mix. Cook until sauce begins to simmer.
  14. ALLRECIPES / VICTORIA JEMPTY
  15. Add soaked rice noodles and toss to coat until noodles have absorbed the sauce and are cooked through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
  16. ALLRECIPES / VICTORIA JEMPTY
  17. Stir in Thai basil leaves until wilted. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve.
  18. Che John
  19. Any noodle or pasta can be used. Any hot pepper will work, or you can use sweet pepper and make up the difference with red pepper flakes.
  20. Regular basil will work, but Thai basil is preferred.
  21. Soaking and cooking time will depend on size/type of noodle.
  22. Any meat or vegetable will work, as long as it’s cut thin, or pre-cooked.

Reviews

Jessica Hernandez
This was overwhelmingly salty. Maybe it was the brands of fish/oyster/soy sauce I used? No one could eat it, even me and I love salt…however it had so much potential to be great. I am going to try it again and figure out how to lessen the sodium while still getting the flavor profile of the sauces.
Mitchell Hayes
Excellent! I could not find the Thai basil, so I used regular basil, and I could not find Chinese broccoli anywhere. Still, I made everything else as directed and it was fabulous! Great flavors!!
Dylan Wright
I made this and loved it! Used some tips from the reviews- cut back on the amount of soy sauce and I used two peppers which was the right amount of heat for my taste. Thank you, looking forward to more recipes from Chef John and Allrecipes!
Cheryl Knapp
I made this yesterday. It comes together very quickly so make sure you’ve got your noodles ready! Also, I only used three small Thai chilies and it was HOT. I’d cut back on the heat personally. But that’s personal preference. Otherwise, it was delicious and makes enough to feed four easily. I also used regular fresh basil because I didn’t have Thai basil. It was fine. I enjoyed the recipe.
Steven Davis
It was fantastic, next time I will add peanuts. Other than that, perfect
Alexis Stone
Love Chef John’s sense of humor!! The dish was fabulous , only wish shallots weren’t so expensive in the Midwest!
Summer Robbins
Love the recipe, definitely will make the dish.
Marcia Miller
simple to prepare and a perfect balance in ingredients. I have now made six times and introduced to friends as well. All have raved. I used all mentioned ingredients but prefer Bok choy; although I have tried Chinese broccoli as well. Chef John’s presentation with video and his sing song voice with humor gives an excellent detailed review of the cooking process. I very much recommend this recipe and closely follow the presentation details, it’s easy…
Michael Lane
This was good, I think more careful measuring would make it great. I used bok choy instead of the chinese broccoli (and I used all of the head that I bought) and added in one red pepper, plus only used 1.5 pounds of chicken. The skillet was overflowing so I think I had too much bok choy. All together, it was really good but next time I’d double the sauce and measure the veggies. Definitely a good base from which to customize! — April 2023
Keith Cole
This is excellent even though I didn’t get my noodles quite done enough. I must not have soaked them long enough. It’s not too salty and the ratio of chicken to noodles is just right. I just threw in a couple handfuls of regular broccoli but wish I would have used twice as much. I used one Thai chili and it was just right. Hot but my teenager still ate it and the grownups didn’t need red pepper flakes. I will try it with ground chicken next time just to save time.
Jennifer Edwards
Great recipe, thank you Chef John! If you prep ahead this recipe comes together quickly. While we would have preferred broccoli or box chop, zucchini was what was in the crisper, zucchini it was and it was very good. We thought the seasoning is spot on.Regular basil is fine but Thai basil is so worth it if you can find it! We love Thai inspired flavors but don’t have a good Thai restaurant near us, so we look forward to making this recipe again and again. Thinking of shrimp for the next time:)
Mary Hensley
Absolutely loved this! I used egg noodles instead of rice noodles, no chile padi, chicken breast strips instead of chicken thighs, and bok choy instead of Chinese broccoli, and finally regular 1/2 c. of basil leaves. Great recipe!
Daniel Snyder
New family favourite. Quick and easy and really tasty.
Crystal Cruz
I’m really excited that I found this recipe in the morning because I made it for dinner and it was delicious. We thought it tasted like a restaurant dish! We didn’t find it too salty. There were a few modifications I had to make as I couldn’t find Asian broccoli and I used red chilis since I couldn’t find the type in the recipe but I’m definitely glad I doubled the recipe because we had a bunch of leftovers. I think I would add mushrooms and sliced peppers since I will definitely make this again!
Jessica Kim
I’m a fan of Chef John’s recepies, but this one was soooooo salty. Proportions wete also so off. I followed the recepie to the This waa horrible
John Fox
This was very good! Next time, I would try making it with linguine noodles. It is vey salty, even with low sodium soy sauce.
Thomas Baker
The final dish was different than what I recall eating in a restaurant. However, my family thought it was delicious and I agree. (I added 2 Thai Chili Peppers.) One thing I would do differently is chop the veggies in much larger chunks because in the completed dish my veggies sort of disappeared and the overall appearance was monotone.
Justin Zamora
Finally tried it – perfection using bok choy and red bell pepper + aleppo flakes. Not too salty at all. Will be doing this again, maybe with shrimp. Really delicious
Brooke Wallace
I made this recipe and it was wonderful! The Thai Basil really makes this dish amazing! My only mistake is that I didn’t check how big my noodle package was so I had more noodles than sauce so I had to make more sauce. I also didn’t have Chinese broccoli so I used regular broccoli and red pepper threads.
Mary Gonzales
I followed the recipe exactly , using jalapeno pepper since I couldn’t find the Birds Eye pepper. and thought the result was just okay. I may try it again but maybe add brown sugar instead of white.
Brooke Warren
I personally thought this was a 5 star and the more I ate, the more I wanted! The sauce is quite salty, but once everything was brought together I loved it!

 

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