Friday, May 21, 2021

Instant Pot Sesame Peanut Noodles

I found this recipe and I made it last night.  It turned our great, but there are some changes I would make to this recipe to make it even better.  It is super easy to make in an Instant Pot.


 Ingredients

- 1 pound linguine

- 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups chicken broth

- 1/4 cup sesame oil

- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

- 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

- 2 tablespoons honey

- 1 tablespoon minced ginger (I used Squeeze Ginger)

- 1/2 - 1 cup crushed peanuts

- 1 bunch scallions, sliced for topping.

- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional, for spice and to taste)


Instructions

1.  Break the linguine in half and add it to the Instant Pot.  

2.  Add in the chicken broth, sesame oil, and soy sauce.  Secure the lid and pressure cook for 6 minutes.  Do a quick release when the pressure cooking is completed.

3.  When you open the lid, the pot may look a little liquidy with some of the noodles clumped together, but that will change soon.  Using a spoon, stir the noodles until they become freed up and springy.

4.  Add in the hoisin sauce, honey, ginger, peanuts and half of the scallions.  Stir the pot until everything is well combined, then serve.  Sprinkle the remaining scallions over the noodles.  Yields four servings.


Cook's Notes

1.  I followed this recipe as written and I ended up with a lot of pasta.  Also, the end result, while delicious, had a little too much peanut butter for my tastes, and there was no real need to crush the peanuts.  I would reduce the amount of peanut putter down to 1/4 cup and leave the peanuts whole.  I added a cup of sliced pre-cooked grilled chicken to the noodles after the pressure cooking was done, and that made the noodles a meal.  The next time I make this recipe, I will add the chicken into the Instant Pot so the meat can warm up under pressure cooking.

2.  I used three cups of broth in the original recipe.  If I made the original recipe again, I would increase the amount of broth to three and a half cups of broth

3.  The original recipe yields four servings of noodles.  I could make this as a "Half Recipe." I would cut all the ingredients in half, and use two cups of chicken broth, and reduce the amount of peanut butter down to three tablespoons.