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The garlic noodles on their own are extraordinarily simple and delicious, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fancy them up a bit. They go very well with seafood, and some raw, shell-on shrimp stir-fried along with the garlic right from the start would be an excellent addition.
Recently I’ve taken to adding a few spoonfuls of tarako or mentaiko—Japanese salted pollock roe. Sushi-style flying fish roe (tobiko) or salmon roe (ikura) would also be a great addition, as would chunks of crab or lobster meat, or even Western-style caviar (if you’re feeling flush).–Kenji López-Alt
Vietnamese Garlic Noodles FAQs
For soft ingredients such as garlic cloves, place your peeled garlic onto a cutting board and smash it with the bottom of a sturdy coffee mug or other weighty, flat-bottomed object. A coffee grinder works wonders if you’re dealing with dry, hard ingredients like peppercorns.
Yep, unless you can source a vegetarian version. Oyster sauce typically contains oysters, water, salt, sugar, corn starch, wheat flour, and some coloring. Vegetarian versions are available online and at local markets – and instead of oysters, they’re made with soybeans, brown sugar, and mushrooms.
Fish sauce is made from sardines that are fermented in salt for anywhere from 3 to 12 months. After that, the liquid produced during the fermentation process is extracted. That’s fish sauce. It’s stinky, fermented fish. Don’t let the odor put you off – the taste is out of this world, and it makes a huge difference in recipes.
Yes. Vietnamese garlic noodles are often made with chow mein or other Asian types of noodles, such as Shanghai noodles.
San Francisco-Style Vietnamese Garlic Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry spaghetti
- 4 tablespoons (2 oz) unsalted butter
- 20 medium garlic cloves, minced or smashed in a mortar and pestle
- 4 teaspoons oyster sauce
- 2 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce or shoyu
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 ounce grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese
- Thinly sliced scallions (optional)
Instructions
- In a 12-inch (30-cm) skillet, bring 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) of water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta, stir a few times to make sure it’s not clumping, and cook, stirring occasionally, until just shy of al dente (about 2 minutes short of the recommended cook time on the package).
- While the noodles are cooking, melt the butter in a wok or saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant but not browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in the oyster sauce, soy sauce, and fish sauce and stir to combine. Remove from the heat.
☞ TESTER TIP: If you choose to add shrimp, as suggested in the headnote, stir-fry them with the garlic. This may increase the cooking time by a minute or two.
- Using tongs, transfer the cooked pasta to the garlic sauce, along with whatever water clings to it. Increase the heat to high, add the cheese to the wok, and stir and toss vigorously until the sauce is creamy and emulsified, about 30 seconds. (If the sauce looks too watery, let it keep reducing. If it looks greasy, splash some more cooking water into it and let it re-emulsify.)
- Stir in the scallions, if using, and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
I loved this San Francisco-style Vietnamese garlic noodle recipe for its spectacular flavor and adaptability. As a bonus, it came together in no time with everyday ingredients and minimal fuss. This is comfort food at its best!
San Francisco is well known for so many delicious and iconic foods, and this is a simple one to make at home. The ingredients include several great Asian refrigerator pantry items which create a luscious umami sauce. Soy sauce and fish sauce have a long shelf life in the refrigerator and bring wonderful flavor to your dishes.
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This Vietnamese garlic noodles recipe did not disappoint. The Asian seasonings gave the dish subtle complexity while the cheese and the French techniques provided creamy rich textures.
I could eat these San Francisco-style Vietnamese garlic noodles every day and never get tired of them. They hit all my favorite flavor notes: sweet, salty, funky, and, most of all, umami. And garlic, my beloved garlic! I love recipes that aren’t afraid to floor it on the garlic.
WOW. What a dish. I came home late one night last week and didn’t want to order in and basically “didn’t have any ingredients” in the kitchen. Well, except these.
I was planning on making a buttery baked fish with a few veg on the side and then this recipe popped up on the radar. I thought that a nice, garlic noodle would pair well with the fish as a nice alternative to a potato. We were not disappointed as this is a umami bomb of flavor.
I made this last night. Delicious, except the sauce flavor was weak. My suggestion is either double the sauce ( oyster, soy and fish), or cut the amount of pasta and garlic in half with the sauce amount unchanged. I served it with egg rolls.
Thanks, Dave. We appreciate the feedback.
Looks delicious but dry as one of the tester`s noted, only 8 teaspoons of liquid and 4 tablespoons butter for 1lb. of spaghetti? I get that the noodles are wet and contribute some to sauce, it just doesn’t seem like enough especially if the optional shrimp are added. Could the sauce be doubled perhaps?
They certainly are delicious, lowandslow! We loved them in my house. Make sure to reserve some pasta water and that will enable you to emulsify the sauce to a consistency you like. We didn’t test them doubling the sauce but you could definitely make more if you like a saucier noodle. If you try it, please let us know how it turns out.