Noodle Recipes Made in 30 Mins or Less for Mid-Week Meals
Our compilation of quick and easy noodle recipes made in 30 minutes or less include recipes for speedy noodle dishes for mid-week meals or Friday dinner when the last thing you feel like doing is cooking. We’ve got recipes for everything from Korean japchae, Japanese yaki udon, and ginger scallion noodles to Thai rad na gai charred rice noodles with chicken and gravy and Cambodian mee katang for Cantonese style noodles. Let’s do some slurping!
These quick and easy noodle recipes can all be made in 30 minutes or less. When Terence and I are so busy with work we finish late, we’ll sometimes do our own thing when it comes to dinner. Terence will probably make a big healthy salad, while I tend to crave quick comfort food after a long day writing. For me, that means easy Asian noodles that I can make in next to no time.
For those of you like me, I’ve pulled together this compilation of noodle recipes made in 30 minutes or less for quick mid-week meals or lazy Friday night dinners. In addition to instant ramen noodles, ginger scallion noodles, Thai rad na gai and Cambodian mee katang, the round-up includes recipes for Hokkien noodles, mee Kola, and Cambodian lort cha.
If you’re completely exhausted, you’ll want to hone in on these 10-15 minute noodle recipes, including this spicy peanut butter noodles recipe, Terence’s Korean instant ramen recipe for jazzing up Nongshim Shin Ramyun, and my best instant ramen noodles recipe plus my (now not so) secret formula to upgrading instant noodles.
Before I tell you more about these noodle recipes made in 30 minutes or less, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader supported. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo by supporting our epic Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon; or buying a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever; booking a cooking class or meal with locals on EatWith; or buying something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers, classic cookbooks for serious cooks, or gifts for Asian food lovers and picnic lovers.
If you don’t find cooking inspiration in this round-up, do browse our recipe archives, which is brimming with 15 years of recipes we’ve cooked, created and collected around the world, from places we’ve lived, worked, travelled, and loved. Now let me tell you all about these noodle recipes made in 30 minutes or less.
Noodle Recipes Made in 30 Minutes or Less for Quick and Easy Meals
These quick and easy noodle recipes can be made in half an hour or less and are perfect for a quick comfort food dinner when the last thing you feel like is cooking.
Thai Rad Na Gai Recipe for Charred Rice Noodles with Chicken
This Thai rad na gai recipe for charred rice noodles with chicken and gravy makes a Thai street food dish more popular with Thais than pad Thai and it tops my list of 10 noodle recipes made in 30 minutes or less as it’s just so incredibly delicious.
This recipe, adapted from chef David Thompson’s Thai Street Food cookbook, makes a rad na that tastes exactly like our Bangkok favourite. Use a seasoned carbon steel wok for charring the noodles. Fresh rice noodles stick more than reconstituted dried noodles. If they stick, splash a little cooking oil into the wok.
The chef’s recipe calls for pouring the gravy over the noodles – ‘rad na’ means ‘on top’ after all – but I like to return the charred noodles to the wok and combine them with the chicken, greens and gravy to coat the noodles completely. Made in 25 minutes.
Thai Rad Na Gai Recipe for Charred Rice Noodles with Chicken and Gravy
Ginger Scallion Sauce Recipe for Ginger Scallion Noodles
This ginger scallion sauce recipe makes the ginger scallion noodles that were a much-copied Momofuku homage to the classic Southern Chinese sauce that chef David Chang and food writer Francis Lam popularised over a decade ago.
Terence has been making these delicious ginger scallion noodles with the sauce ever since – well before their recent comeback – and you should too. They’re super-quick to make and take around 10 minutes.
We knew this as the Momofuku ginger scallion sauce for ginger scallion noodles from chef David Chang’s Momofuku: A Cookbook published in 2009. Chang said it was “the secret sauce” served up in Cantonese joints in New York City. The sauce and noodle dish made a comeback in 2021, but disappointingly, the origins weren’t always shared.
Ginger Scallion Sauce Recipe for Ginger Scallion Noodles – The Momofuku Homage to a Chinese Classic
Hokkien Noodles Recipe With Chinese Barbecue Pork
Terence’s Hokkien Noodles recipe with char siu pork or Chinese barbecue pork is an old favourite inspired by a dish from legendary Australian chef Neil Perry and it’s another of my 10 noodle recipes made in 30 minutes or less as they’re deliciously addictive.
It’s hard to believe but Terence has been cooking this for 24 years, after trying a Hokkien noodles dish cooked up by Aussie chef Neil Perry in 1998. Terence’s version is modified from the chef’s dish that was published in his first cookbook, Rockpool.
Terence shared it here on Grantourismo as part of a series of recipes using char siu pork or Chinese barbecue pork, and it’s one of our best char siu recipes. This is another noodle dish best made in a nicely seasoned carbon steel wok to get a little smoky flavour in the dish. It’s made in 25 minutes.
Hokkien Noodles Recipe with Chinese Barbecue Pork or Char Siu Pork
Classic Yaki Udon Noodles Recipe for Japanese Stir Fried Udon Noodles with Vegetables
Our easy yaki udon noodles recipe makes the classic Japanese stir fried noodles dish that is perfect for a casual one-bowl lunch or dinner. ‘Yaki’ means ‘fried’ in Japanese and ‘udon’ are delightfully chewy, thick, white, wheat noodles. A classic yaki udon consists of udon noodles stir-fried with vegetables in a soy-based sauce. We sprinkle on some bonito flakes, roasted seaweed and sliced spring onions.
If you’re a noodle-lover and you love Japanese udon noodles as much as I do, and you made and enjoyed my breakfast yaki udon with bacon and eggs, which I shared for Weekend Eggs, then, trust me, you’re going to adore this easy yaki udon noodles recipe. It’s one of my favourite Japanese comfort food dishes and one of our best Asian noodle recipes.
This yaki udon noodles recipe will make you my take on the deliciously-addictive Japanese stir fried noodles dish, which I first fell in love with after Terence and I saw the Japanese film, Tampopo, well before our first trip to Japan. If you’ve seen the film no further explanation is necessary.
Classic Yaki Udon Noodles Recipe for Japanese Stir Fried Udon Noodles with Vegetables
Classic Korean Japchae Recipe for Stir Fried Glass Noodles with Mixed Vegetables
This classic Korean japchae recipe makes a delicious Korean noodle dish of stir fried glass noodles with mixed vegetables. Called dangmyeon in Korean, the potato and sweet potato starch noodles are doused in sesame oil, soy sauce and sesame seeds, then combined with stir-fried carrot sticks, onion, mushrooms, and spinach. Not only addictively delicious, they’re quick and easy, coming together in 30 minutes or less.
Years ago, when we lived in Sydney’s Potts Point, there was a lively Korean and Japanese dining and drinking scene, thanks to Korean and Japanese business travellers who stayed in the neighbourhood. We used to eat Korean food weekly, including japchae or chapchae, one of my favourite Asian noodle dishes, not just a favourite Korean noodle dish.
In the years since, along with the Korean dishes bulgogi, bibimbap and kimchi bokkeumbap (kimchi fried rice) – in fact, anything with kimchi – japchae has become one of the most popular Korean dishes in the world. And it’s a cinch to make these chewy sweet potato noodles, which you drench in a sauce of sesame oil, soy sauce and sesame seeds, then mix with the veggies before stir-frying the lot again.
Classic Korean Japchae Recipe for Stir Fried Glass Noodles with Mixed Vegetables
Cambodian Mee Katang Recipe for Quick Cantonese Style Noodles
My Cambodian mee katang recipe makes a delicious Chinese-Cambodian dish of wok-fried wide rice noodles, stir-fried with marinated pork, crunchy carrots and Chinese broccoli, and scrambled eggs.
Called ‘mee Kontang’ in Khmer, which means Cantonese noodles, but pronounced ‘mee Katang’, these charred noodles are easy to make and super versatile and are another of my 10 noodle recipes made in 30 minutes or less as they’re also super tasty.
While not as ubiquitous in Cambodia as noodle dishes such as nom banh chok and kuy teav, you’ll still spot mee Katang at street food carts.
A descendant of the Cantonese dish chow fun, mee Katang is made with the same fresh, flat, wide rice noodles called hor fun, stir-fried in light soy, dark soy and oyster sauce to give the noodles colour as much as flavour. Made in 25 minutes.
Cambodian Mee Katang Recipe for Quick and Easy Cantonese Style Noodles
Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles Recipe for a Quick, Easy Bowl of Noodles
This spicy peanut butter noodles recipe makes an easy bowl of noodles that’s perfect for a quick lunch or fast and frugal mid-week dinner and it’s another of my top noodle recipes made in 30 minutes or less as it’s just too easy.
If you’re in the mood for satay but don’t have time to pound pastes and grind peanuts, this spicy peanut butter sauce should satisfy your cravings and it’s a cinch to make. It’s also versatile – use whatever noodles and toppings you have at hand – and fast. They’re made in 15 minutes.
If you’re a lover of noodle dishes – and dry noodles doused in sauces, in contrast to wet noodles, which are essentially noodle soups and curry noodles – then you should enjoy tucking into a bowl of these spicy peanut butter noodles, garnished with crunchy pan-roasted peanuts, crispy fried garlic, sliced red chillies, and fragrant coriander or cilantro.
Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles Recipe for a Quick, Easy and Tasty Bowl of Noodles
Korean Spicy Noodles Recipe for Stir-Fried Udon with Kimchi
Our Korean spicy noodles recipe makes stir-fried udon noodles with kimchi, bacon and fried eggs. While the Japanese fried udon noodle dish, yaki udon, has a soy based sauce, this Korean-style yaki udon heats things up with kimchi, the spicy Korean chilli paste called gochujang and Korean chilli flakes gochugaru. We pop fried eggs on top.
If you’re a lover of Japanese udon noodles but prefer the spice of Korean food, you’re going to love this Korean spicy noodles recipe, although it’s a dish for pork lovers as much as lovers of noodles and spice.
If bacon and ground pork is too much pork, omit one. This versatile noodle dish also works with seafood, chicken, pork, or vegetables. Made in 15 minutes.
Korean Spicy Noodles Recipe for Stir-Fried Udon with Kimchi, Bacon and Fried Eggs
Mee Kola Recipe for the Vegetarian Noodles of Cambodia’s Kola People
Mee Kola translates to Kola noodles – ‘mee’ are noodles and this is a noodle dish of the Kola, also known as the Kula or Gula people, a Cambodian ethnic minority people who originated from Burma (now Myanmar) and settled in Pailin in northwest Cambodia to mine gem stones.
Our recipe for these vegetarian noodles is modelled on a dish made by a Kola family here in Siem Reap. It’s made with rice stick noodles stir-fried in soy sauce, served with papaya cucumber pickle, bean sprouts, crunchy vegetables, fragrant herbs, and crushed peanuts, which you combine altogether with the dressing in your bowl.
This is another of my top noodle recipes made in 30 minutes or less as it’s super easy and makes a fantastic single-bowl lunch. Made in 30 minutes.
Mee Kola Recipe for the Vegetarian Noodles of Cambodia’s Kola People
Best Instant Ramen Noodles Recipe + Secret to Upgrading Instant Noodles
My best instant ramen noodles recipe for a quick, easy, satisfying meal begins with discarding those tiny packets of seasoning and spice paste and making your own sauce, a popular Southeast Asian dipping sauce. Add crunch with a sprinkle of fried shallots or fried garlic and fragrance from fresh herbs and you’ve got delicious instant noodles.
It is so easy to make that it really doesn’t need a recipe and like all good instant ramen recipes, it’s versatile. If you follow my now-not-so-secret formula to upgrading instant ramen, you’ll always make satisfying instant noodles. Use your favourite noodles.
I recommend MAMA instant noodles, a Thai brand that Thai friends got me onto, or Nongshim Shin Ramyun Noodles. For fish sauce, we like Megachef, one of the most consistent fish sauces available internationally. These noodles are made in 10 minutes.
Best Instant Ramen Noodles Recipe PLUS Secret Formula to Upgrading Instant Noodles
Korean Instant Ramen Noodles Recipe for Jazzing Up Nongshim Shin Ramyun
Terence’s Korean instant ramen noodles recipe jazzes up Nongshim Shin Ramyun, which are South Korea’s most popular Korean instant ramen noodles, with melt-in-your-mouth slices of char siu pork, crisp Chinese greens, blanched bean sprouts, a boiled egg, deep-fried shallots, and our heady homemade chilli oil.
Terence uses Nongshim’s Shin Black Noodle Soup, which he cooks for four minutes, having added about half the soup powder first, and blanched any extras that need cooking before that, such as the Asian leafy green vegetables and bean sprouts. He doesn’t use the vegetable flakes packet at all, as he doesn’t like the texture.
Terence likes to add a squirt of one of the original Thai Sriracha sauces but you could always add a squeeze of the American-Vietnamese Rooster Sriracha brand. This dish is made in 15 minutes.
Best Korean Instant Ramen Noodles Recipe – How to Jazz Up Nongshim Shin Ramyun
Cambodian Lort Cha Recipe for Stir Fried Rice Pin Noodles
This authentic Cambodian lort cha recipe makes the popular market meal of rice pin noodles stir-fried with garlic, bean sprouts and scallions or chives in a sauce of palm sugar, fish sauce and dark soy sauce, and it’s another of my top noodle recipes made in 30 minutes or less as this is just such a comforting dish.
They’re typically eaten in Cambodia with a soft fried egg, a liberal squirt of chilli sauce, and a chive cake or two, which lort cha cooks fry up on the same pan. They’re made in around 15 minutes.
‘Authentic’ is a loaded term, of course and here I’m using it to describe a Cambodian-Chinese dish of Cantonese provenance. What makes it authentic then? It makes the lort cha cooked and sold at markets in Cambodia – not the kind I’ve spotted on a few food sites that have a mile-long list of ingredients.
Authentic Cambodian Lort Cha Recipe for Market Style Stir Fried Rice Pin Noodles
First published 10 August 2022; Updated and Republished 27 June 2025
Please do let us know in the comments below if you make any of our quick and easy noodle recipes made in 30 minutes or less, as we’d love to hear how they turn out for you.
