Toss the takeout menus and whip up an easy 30-minute recipe for restaurant-worthy Drunken Noodles with Chicken.
Noodles, chicken, veggies, and a sweet soy sauce join forces for one of my favorite hangover foods of all time: Drunken Noodles with Chicken!
This hangover helper and all-around delicious dish is guaranteed to rival your local takeout. It’s fast, fresh and so jam-packed with flavor, you’ll be waving goodbye to the delivery guy for good.
Unless you live near an Asian market or grocery store, fresh wide rice noodles like the ones pictured above may be hard to track down. But don’t let that stop you from getting your Drunken Noodle fix.
Simply sub in any other noodle, such as tagliatelle or linguini. While Captain Obvious would like to remind everyone this substitution isn’t authentic (I repeat: I realize this isn’t authentic!), it’ll still work in this recipe and allow you to dine on a big ol’ bowl of noodles tossed in a sweet, tangy garlicky sauce.
Another ingredient essential to Drunken Noodles is Thai basil. Check the produce aisle of your local supermarket for this fresh herb, or when in doubt, head to Amazon, where you can get it shipped to your doorstep stat from a whole bunch of sellers.
As with all stir-fries (hello, 5-star Beef and Broccoli!), and particularly with noodle stir-fries, your pan needs to be hot enough so that the noodles don’t clump together. So don’t hesitate to crank up the heat and get that skillet or wok piping hot.
One more tip for the stir-fry rookies: Blanching the broccoli then draining it really well prior to adding it to the pan will ensure it retains its bright green color, but be careful not to overcook it.
The key to successful stir-frying is to assemble all ingredients prior to starting to cook. Things move very quickly in the world of high-heat woks (or skillets), so don’t attempt to pause mid-stir to chop, mix or track down an ingredient.
And with those words of wisdom, I leave you with this ultimate recipe for Drunken Noodles with Chicken. Let the stir-frying commence!
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Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 3 Tablespoons oyster sauce
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons fish sauce
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
For the stir-fry:
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 pound chicken breasts, thinly sliced
- 2 to 4 birds eye chilies, thinly sliced (optional)
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced onions
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 12 oz. fresh rice noodles (See Note)
- 4 scallions, chopped
- 1 cup loosely packed Thai basil
Instructions
Make the sauce:
- In a small bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients for the sauce and set it aside.
Make the stir-fry:
- Add the vegetable oil to a large sauté pan or wok set over high heat. Once the oil is smoking, add the sliced chicken and cook it until it is browned and cooked through.
- Push the chicken to one side of the pan, then add the chilies (optional), broccoli, bell pepper and onion. Stir-fry the ingredients together until the onion is translucent and the broccoli is fork-tender.
- Push all the ingredients to one side of the pan and add the beaten eggs. Lightly scramble, stirring, until they are cooked through, then push all of the ingredients to one side of the pan and add the noodles.
- Cook the noodles, stirring constantly, until they are slightly browned on the edges then add the sauce and basil and stir together until sauce heats through and thickens slightly. Garnish with scallions and serve immediately.
Note:
- Fresh wide rice noodles can be purchased at Asian specialty markets. If you cannot find them, you can substitute any other variety of noodle, such as tagliatelle or linguine for a less authentic but equally as delicious noodle dish.
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Recipe by Just a Taste. Please do not reprint this recipe without my permission. If you'd like to feature this recipe on your site, please rewrite the method of preparation and link to this post as the original source.
I have made this recipe several times, my fiancé and I love it. Tastes just like what you get at a restaurant. We used the fresh noodles once, but dried rice noodles are also fantastic
Woohoo! I’m so thrilled you’ve been enjoying the recipe, Amanda!
Very salty – ensure you use low salt everything or cut back on the oyster and soy by 1/3. You need some water to cook the noodles – probably 1/3 cup. Also recommend some lime at arcing time to cut through sugar and salt.
I’m sorry you had that experience with this recipe, Candy. I’ve never experienced that before with this dish.
I removed the sugar and added organic honey. Also added Fresh cut long beans Green Beans.
This was a very accessible and tasty recipe! I found two tablespoons of fish sauce to be too much for my liking in this dish so next time I make it I’ll reduce it to just one tablespoon. Otherwise, very tasty!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Kelsey!
I have never heard of a birds eye chili. What chili can I substitute it with? Looking forward to trying this recipe.
Hi Dawn! Bird’s eye chile peppers (sometimes called Thai chiles) are a small, pointy chili used to add fruity flavor and intense heat to Southeast Asian cuisine. If you can’t find them, you can substitute serrano peppers.
We order Thai food takeout at least once a week and Drunken Noodles is my go-to. We have ordered from 20 or 30 different restaurants over the last couple of years alone (benefits of living in West LA) and this is hands down THE BEST I have ever had!
The only minor changes I made were:
1. not adding the eggs (personal preference).
2. I removed the chicken and vegetables from the Wok once they were almost cooked, added a tiny bit of oil and stir-fried the noodles separately because I was afraid the wok would be overcrowded and the noodles wouldn’t brown up well. I used fresh noodles and when they started to stick I added just a little bit of sauce and continued stir-frying until they were cooked to my liking adding tiny bits of sauce a couple of times before they were done. Then I added the chicken, veggies, sauce and thai basil back in and stir-fried until the sauce had coated everything and absorbed into the noodles.
I ate the leftovers cold, while standing up, this morning. That’s how good this is! Thankfully my neighborhood Ethnic market sells fresh noodles in 2 lb. packages so I have enough to make two more batches this weekend! Yay! I’ve already shared this recipe with family and friends and cannot wait to make this again. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
AMAZING! I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Genevieve, and thank you so much for taking the time to comment!
Was delicious, but a little dry. I’d love to see a video of an expert preparing, as my handling of the noodles and eggs was a bit fumbling.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Jeff! And I’ll add it to my video development list :)
Used this recipe pretty much just for the sauce. It’s really good ^^
The stuff I made could have been better– I used way too many noodles, and they were the thin kind that’s dry because that’s all I could find. But that’s a me problem rather than a problem with the recipe :’)
I’m so glad you enjoyed the sauce!
So good! I just used dried rice noodles (cook by just pouring hot water over) that we have in the Asian section of the supermarket. Also made a version with shrimp!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
When cutting the chicken am i trying to get it as thin as possible?
Yes, thinly sliced :)
Absolutely delicious! My mistake was adding 4 red Thai chili’s!! The taste was amazing but the heat from the spice was more than I could handle. (My fault, they were so tiny LOL) I will definitely make it again but made a note 2 chili’s max. Enjoy
I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Marcee!
Delicious! I don’t have an Asian market near me so I wanted to share a substitution. I used fresh Italian basil and one star anise found at an Indian market. It couldn’t have turned out better!
Amazing! I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Karen!
Wow! This recipe is restaurant quality! My daughters and I LOVED them. (I added some fresh cabbage as well to increase the veggies.)
Awesome! I’m thrilled you and your daughters enjoyed the recipe, Karen!
I dont have thai basil can I use dried basil or basil pesto ??
Hi Audrey! You can use 1/2 teaspoon dried basil for every 1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh. Here’s a link to our guide for The Best Ingredient Substitutions for in the future: https://www.justataste.com/the-best-ingredient-substitutions/ :)
Quick question… So you throw the dry noodles (linguini) into the hot wok and try to cook them in no liquid or sauce? How does that work? Shouldn’t I boil them for a few minutes first to get them soft and pliable before I put them into the wok? Please advise.
Thanks! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Hi there! No, if using regular pasta, you’d cook it first then add it to the stir-fry.
Yumm!!! Feel like I could have doubled the sauce, didn’t have the bird’s eye peppers so used Sriracha! Will definitely make again!
I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Tamera!
What is a good substitute for oyster sauce? I have a shellfish allergy.
Hi Amy – You can mix soy sauce and hoisin sauce at a 1:1 ratio, the result will be close enough to oyster sauce to get you by. Enjoy the drunken noodles!
Love the color you got on the noodles.
Thanks so much, James!