Instant Pot Garlic Noodles (2024)

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We all love noodles, don’t we? More so if they are quick to make! These Instant Pot Garlic Noodles are just that.

So easy to make in the Instant Pot, pack a lot of flavor and make an easy weeknight meal. They are also vegan!

Whenever I am pressed for time or can’t think of what to make for dinner, I usually end up making noodles of some sort.

Instant Pot has made it really easy to cook noodles and pasta. Earlier, I would dislike the idea of boiling the noodles separately and so I would not cook them as much.

But, now with the instant pot, they are always on our weekly menu.

One of my recent favorite is this Garlic Noodles. It’s really simple in a way that it doesn’t have any veggies and not many ingredients.

However, it’s very flavorful and I think that’s the best part about this dish- it’s simplicity.

It has tons of garlic flavor (has to justify the name, right?) so if you are a garlic lover, then you will love this one!

This Instant Pot Garlic Noodles

✔gets done in 30 minutes or less.

✔one-pot meal, no boiling the noodles separately.

✔vegan and can be easily made gluten-free.

✔makes an easy weeknight meal.

Personally, I love noodles loaded with veggies. In fact I love everything with extra veggies whether it’s pizza or pasta, I think it’s just my love for vegetables that I find things tastier when they have more vegetables in them.

But I make an exception for these garlic noodles and love them as such. This is not to say that you can’t add vegetables here or they won’t work well here. They of course will but this recipe works really well just the way it is.

It’s simple and that’s what makes it work.

Ingredients

This recipe uses very few ingredients- only 9 ingredients out of which 2 are garnishes. I am not counting the salt and sugar here.

Rice noodles: I love using rice noodles in this recipe. The ones that I have used here are stir-fry rice noodles from Thai Kitchen brand which you can find at any Asian grocery store or even at regular grocery stores in the International food section.

You can also use regular spaghetti here, just the cooking time will change. See the frequently asked questions section below for more.

Soy sauce: regular soy sauce is what I have used here. You can use dark soy sauce and if you want to make this gluten-free, use tamari.

Hot sauce: for that heat, this recipe uses 1 tablespoon of sriracha. If that sounds like a lot to you, definitely cut down on it.

You can use any hot sauce you prefer like sriracha or sambal oelek.

Rice vinegar: I like using rice vinegar in Asian inspired recipes but you can use white vinegar if that’s what you have on hand.

Garlic: since the name is garlic noodles, there’s obviously lot of garlic here. I use 2.5 tablespoons of finely chopped garlic.

Use a food processor to chop it really fine, you would probably need 10-15 cloves of garlic for this (depending on the size of cloves obviously).

Ginger: the recipe also calls for some ginger, it’s much less in quantity than garlic but it adds to flavor.

Garnishes: white sesame seeds and green onions are used as garnishes here. You may also garnish with cilantro.

Other than these ingredients, there’s of course some salt and sugar and also 1/2 of a red onion. You can skip on the onion if you want. We are an onion loving family so we happen to add it to most noodles and pasta.

This recipe also uses 2 types of oil- I have used a tablespoon of sesame oil and a tablespoon of avocado oil. You can use any flavorless oil like canola etc. in place of avocado oil.

But I highly recommend not replacing the sesame oil. It adds to the flavor of the noodles.

Cooking time: for me 3 minutes high pressure with 3 minutes natural pressure release works perfectly. It gives me that right texture where it’s cooked yet not mushy at all.

If you prefer softer noodles, you may add an additional 1-2 minutes to your pressure cooking time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to make it gluten-free?

Easy, use tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) in place of soy sauce. In my experience tamari has a lighter flavor than regular soy sauce so you might need to add more of tamari.

Can we use spaghetti here in place of rice noodles?

Yes should be fine. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes on high pressure in that case. If using whole wheat spaghetti, cook for 8 minutes.

Do I need to add more water if using an 8qt?

This recipe has been tested using a 6qt only. The newer models especially 8qt are more prone to the BURN message.

So, if your IP shows that message often, you might want to add additional 1/2 cup of water here. Again, hasn’t been tested in 8qt but I am assuming it would need more water if your IP is prone to the burn problem.

Can I add vegetables to this recipe?

Yes, some of the veggies that you can add here are carrots, mushrooms, peppers.

You can also add broccoli but I would add that after the noodles are pressure cooked otherwise it would turn to mush. You can also add fried tofu for protein.

Method

1- Press the sauté button and then press the adjust button to set sauté to “less”. Once it displays hot, add a tablespoon each of sesame oil and avocado oil (or any flavorless oil) and then add the chopped garlic. I like to sauté the garlic on low since it works better this way for the noodles to absorb the garlic flavor without the garlic burning away too quickly.

Cook for around 4 to 5 minutes stirring often until the garlic just starts to change color. At this point press “cancel” and then press the sauté again and press adjust button to set sauté to “normal” now.

2- Add the chopped ginger and sliced onions. Cook for 1 minute.

3- Then add the soy sauce, rice vinegar and hot sauce and stir.

4- Add the water, scrape the bottom and make sure there’s nothing stuck at the bottom of the pot else the pot won’t come to pressure. If you have an 8qt and you get burn message, you might need additional 1/2 cup of water here.

5- Also add the sugar and salt and stir.

6- Add the noodles on top, you might have to break a few in order for them to fit. Press the noodles slightly with the help of a spatula, just so that they are a little wet.

(PS: if placing the noodles is taking time and water starts boiling a lot, you can always press cancel and the layer the noodles).

Close the lid and press the manual or pressure cook button. Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes with the pressure valve in the sealing position (you can add extra 2 minutes for softer noodles, for me 3 minutes is perfect).

7- Let the pressure release naturally for 3 minutes and then do a quick pressure release by manually moving the valve from sealing to venting position.

Open the lid and toss the noodles with a pair of tongs.

8- Add the chopped green onions.

Garnish with more green onions, white sesame seeds and serve these garlic noodles with your favorite hot sauce on the side!

More Instant Pot Noodles

Instant Pot Vegetarian Singapore Noodles

Instant Pot Drunken Noodles

Instant Pot Thai Peanut Noodles

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