Vegan Thai Drunken Noodles

Thai Drunken Noodles are a common street food around Thailand. This dish is well known for how spicy it is. Making it at home gives you the option of adjusting the spiciness and you can be sure that it won’t contain any fish sauce, which the original recipe does. Our homemade Vegan Thai Drunken Noodles are a quick meal that you can put together in less than 30 minutes, so it makes for a perfect weekday lunch or dinner.

We love Thai food, and this dish is not an exception. We travelled around Thailand for longer than a month, and the food is just incredible. There are so many dishes to try. We actually took some cooking classes there where we perfected some dishes like our Massaman Curry.

About the name

Different theories evolved around this funny name. The one that makes more sense to me is that this dish use to be eaten by Thai men after a night out thinking that the spice will make their hangover go away and be good for the morning.

Key Ingredients

Vegan Fish Sauce. One of the key ingredients for the Thai Drunken Noodles is fish sauce. So to substitute the fish sauce we use our homemade Vegan Fish Sauce stock made simply four ingredients. You can as well buy it already made.

Thai basil. You’ll need Thai basil or regular basil in order to make proper drunken noodles, as it’s a key ingredient. Thai basil can be a bit challenging to find but you can substitute it for regular basil (used for this recipe) and it will still make for delicious drunken noodles.

Thai Chilli or Bird’s eye chilli. Last but not least, chillis! This dish is meant to be spicy, and the spice comes from the chillis. No chillis, no drunken noodles! If you are not a spicy food fan, you can substitute the chillis for chilli flakes. There are less spicy but will still offer the signature taste we are looking for.

Tofu. The tofu we like to use for this dish is fresh firm tofu. We buy it at a Chinese supermarket and it’s amazing. Even if it says firm on the packet, it’s still quite soft and it crumbles while cooking it. Alternatively, you could cook the tofu separately following our Baked Tofu recipe.

How to cook the perfect Thai Vegan Drunken Noodles

If you get organised, this meal can be cooked really fast.

1. Prepare in advance the sauce, the noodles and the shiitake stock. For the sauce, mix soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, garlic powder, lime juice, maple syrup and sesame seeds. Leave the rice noodles soaking in warm water following the packet instructions. For the shiitake stock, add in a small pan, 1 1/2 cup of water and 4-5 dried shiitake mushrooms. Bring to boil and leave it simmering for 15 minutes.
2. Rinse the noodles with cold water when they are ready. You want the noodles to be still a bit chewy as they will finish cooking in the pan. For the shiitake, once the stock is ready, take the shiitake mushrooms out and cut into slices to add into the pan later.
3. Heat some oil in a pan and add the ginger, chillis and onion. Cook for a few minutes and then add the tofu and the sliced shiitake. When the tofu starts to golden, pour the shiitake stock into the pan, and add the sauce. Quickly add the noodles and the Thai basil, turn the heat to high, stir for 3-4 minutes and serve!

Print Recipe

Thai Vegan Drunken Noodles

Quick and delicious noodle dish, our vegan Thai drunken noodles are a perfect weeknight option.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Thai

Keyword: drunken noodles, hotsauce, noodles, ricenoodles, spicy, thaidish, thaifood

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

Ingreditents for the sauce

• 3 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 3 garlic cloves crushed
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds

Ingredients for the shiitake stock

• 1 1/2 cup water
• 4-5 dried shiitake mushrooms

Ingredients for the drunken noodles

• 300 gr rice noodles
• 1 onion finely sliced
• Thumb-piece ginger grated or finely chopped
• 2 thai chillis or bird’s eye chillis
• 1 block firm tofu
• A handful of Thai basil or regular basil

Instructions

• Prepare the sauce, mixing the soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, maple syrup, garlic powder, lime juice and sesame seeds.
• Leave the rice noodles soaking in warm water following the packet instructions. When they are ready, rinse the noodles with cold water. You want the noodles to be still a bit chewy as they will finish cooking in the pan
• For the shiitake stock, add in a small pan, add 1 1/2 cup of water and 4-5 dried shiitake mushrooms. Bring to boil and leave it simmering for 15 minutes.
• Heat some oil in a pan and add the ginger, chillis and onion. Cook for a few minutes and then add the tofu and the shiitake mushrooms thinly sliced.
• When the tofu starts to golden, pour the shiitake stock into the pan and add the sauce. Quickly add the noodles and the Thai basil, turn the heat to high, stir for 3-4 minutes, adjust with salt and serve!

Notes

We love adding some spicy chilli oil on the top before serving.