These vegan fire noodles are inspired by the Samyang chicken flavour ramen noodles that are vibrant red and spicy! The original contains artificial chicken flavour, which a few people have been concerned about being not vegan, so I decided to go ahead and attempt to make it from scratch!
I’m not sure what it is about 2020, but with everything that’s been happening lately, I’ve been craving comfort food. To me includes lots of rice, noodles, and flavours from Asian cuisines that I have turned to when things get a little stressful. I’ve been cooking up so much rice, stir-fry, and noodles, and if possible, dunking everything in nuoc cham if I can. For example, the pumpkin curry I made last week was delicious and reminded me how much I love the magical trio of garlic, coconut milk, and curry pastes.
Lately I’ve been experimenting with this vegan fire noodle dish, which has reminded me how chewy noodles smothered in a spicy, vibrant red gochujang-based sauce is such a comforting way to warm you up from the inside out (not only with just hot noods but also spice haha)
I made my first homemade version of this in a recent YouTube vlog and I wanted to revise the recipe to really be saucy and stick to the noodles the way the Samyang chicken noodles’ sauce did. After deep diving on some Reddit forums and reading other people’s renditions of this recipe, I finally figured out that cornstarch is all I needed to get it to that consistency.
Duh.
I should have known that.
The umami is typically brought on from their artificial chicken flavour, which I tend to mimic in other dishes with mushroom broth powder and I decided to add a touch of MSG for that extra layer of umami. You can leave that out if you don’t have that, but the the MSG and mushroom broth powder fulfills a certain component of the savoury body that the soy sauce alone cannot. It really does elevate the savoury flavour.
And like in my video, if you want to melt a slice of vegan cheese on top (I used Chao cheese, original flavour), it adds another layer of creaminess that is simply delicious. But totally not necessary. But the cheesy creaminess helps mellow out the spice a little bit if you can’t handle that spice level. If you want to dial back the spiciness of these vegan fire noodles, you can reduce the gochugaru (the red pepper powder) down to 1 tsp instead of the 1 tbsp, but the gochugaru is what gives this dish that vibrant red colour. Plus the spice is kind of the point hahaha.
Adding some stir fried greens like bok choy, yu choy, or gai lan on the side can help mellow out the spice and give your digestion some fibre to work with in tandem with the spice XD
Vegan Fire Noodles
A veganized version of the firey korean chicken flavour ramen noodles that is nearly as easy as the packet noodles!
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 1 tbsp (15 mL/16 g) gochujang (red pepper paste)
- 1 tbsp (15 ml/ 4 g) gochugaru (red pepper powder)
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) soy sauce
- 1 tsp (5 mL) brown sugar
- 1 tsp (5 mL) sriracha
- 1 tsp (2 g) cornstarch
- 1 tsp (5 mL) sesame oil
- 1 clove of garlic (I used a fat one)
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) of water from cooking ramen noodles
- Optional: 2 pinches of MSG and/or 1/4 tsp mushroom broth powder
For the ramen
- 1 ramen noodle cake (whatever you prefer, but I love the Samyang ones)
Optional Garnish:
- Toasted sesame seeds to top
- Roasted nori on top, cut into small strips
Instructions
- To make the sauce, in a bowl, combine gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, brown sugar, sriracha, cornstarch, sesame oil, a crushed clove of garlic (or finely minced) and if using, MSG or mushroom broth powder (this really improves the umami/savouryness).
- In a pot, cook your ramen noodles until done, strain and reserve 1/4 cup (60 mL) of liquid in the pot.
- Add the sauce to the water and cook for about 1 minute over medium heat, stirring well to incorporate and allow the cornstarch to thicken the mixture. Add the noodles back into the pot and stir well to coat the noodles. Transfer to a bowl and garnish with toasted sesame and nori!
- Serve alongside your favourite protein: I tend to just panfry some tofu to put on top or air-fry some of your favourite frozen vegan mock meats to enjoy with it.
Eryn says
thank you for this. since i saw it in your vid i have made this about 6 times in 3 weeks and i want to eat it daaaaily! :9
Lisa Le says
Ahaha I am so happy you love it so much! 6 times in 3 weeks! I’m honoured :D
Abi says
how does it taste? is it similar to the samyang fire noodle sauce?
Lauryn says
Hi, I am allergic to gluten and I’ve been searching everywhere for a recipe that tastes just like or even similar to samyang fire chicken ramen that is gluten free, but I can seem to find a way to make them the way the samyang tastes and the only thing that is in the way is the soy sauce and the wheat flour noodles. But I don’t know how to make it with the other ingredients. If anyone can make it gluten free with its same chewing noodle and spicy/cheese flavor please >.< I don’t think I can live without those noodles T-T.
Lisa Le says
Hi there! You could use a GF ramen (Lotus Foods makes a GF one that seems alright). This recipe is made to taste similarly to the Samyang chicken ramen, and aside from the soy sauce (sub with tamari), this recipe is gluten-free.
Ree says
Is it as spicy as the Samsung noodles? Seems like the heat is only from gochujang and chili powder, which are not really that spicy on their own
Lisa Le says
Hi Ree, no, as I mentioned in the blog post, it’s not quite as spicy. If you want it to be spicier, you can add more chili powder and chili oil
elle says
looooove this!!! made it yesterday for myself but used egg noodles and my brother ended up finishing it -_- haha boiled dried shiitake mushrooms in the place of the mushroom broth powder since i didnt have any. beautiful texture and delicious recipe. will make again soon for sure! <3
Haydn says
Hi – love this! Just one question – is it really a tablespoon of red pepper powder or should that read teaspoon? Thanks
Lisa Le says
It’s a tablespoon! It’s not called fire noodles for no reason haha. You can reduce it to 1 tsp if you like.
Grace says
Hey,
I noticed that it says it only yields one serving. Is it okay to triple this recipe (for me, my mom, and my brother) or will that be too spicy?
Lisa Le says
As long as you use the same proportion of ingredients, the spice level will be the same lol.
Unknown says
What If you don’t got gochujang what do you use for a subsitute?
Lisa Le says
Gochujang gives the bulk of the flavour for this, but you could substitute maybe 1/2 tsp red curry paste? It would change the flavour a lot (also I recommend heating up the sauce a bit more), but that would also be tasty.
mary says
I’ve made these twice now! I omitted the gochugaru because my stomach can’t handle spicy foods well and it was still delicious. I will continue coming back to this recipe, thank you!
sofia says
Hi, do you think that this sauce could be made and saved in big batches to use later? And if so should it be stored in the fridge?
Lisa Le says
I’m not sure! I haven’t tried, but I imagine you could. Yes I would store it in the fridge, it’ll also thicken a lot once chilled because of the sugar and cornstarch content, so when you use it, I’d recommend reheating with your noodles + some of the starchy noodle water.
D says
Hi, can I use soba or buckwheat noodles instead?
Lisa Le says
Use whatever noodles your heart desires :)
Marie says
Cannot say enough about how I love this sauce!!!!! But I am a bit of a sweet tooth….should I add more brown sugar? Or what do you recommend so’s that I don’t mess with the heat? Hotter is better, but milder? Not in my vocab…..
Lisa Le says
If you’d like, definitely add more sugar! You could add more gochugaru if you want more heat :)
Rachel McLaren says
I’m not vegan, I was just out of noodles and decided to try this recipe. It’s crazy close to the real thing just less spicy! I added 2 tsp of crispy chilli oil. I miss the texture of the Samyang noodles does anyone know if they sell just the noodles?
Alca says
This tastes amazing! I just finished mine, and it tastes very similar to the Samyang noodles (the light version). Love this, thank you for the recipe! <3
I don't have Gochujang, so I used miso paste, cayenne powder, and paprika substitute.