Ingredients
- 10 cloves garlic (chopped)
- ¼ cup neutral oil
- ½ lb ground pork (or ground chicken/turkey)
- ⅓ cup roasted peanuts (coarsely ground (see note 1))
- 9 oz fresh wonton egg noodles ( (see note 2))
- ½ lb Asian meatballs ( or cooked protein of your choice)
- ½ lb beansprouts
- 1 green onion (chopped)
- 8 sprigs cilantro (chopped)
- 2 juicy limes (cut into wedges)
- roasted chili flakes (to taste)
- 1 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoons Golden Mountain Sauce (or sub more soy sauce)
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar (packed, dark is preferred but light is fine)
- 1 ½ Tablespoons black soy sauce ((see note 3))
- 2 Tablespoons sriracha-style hot sauce
Instructions
- *The garlic oil, ground pork and sauce can be all prepped in advance.
- Make Garlic Oil and Fried Garlic. In a small pot, add the oil and turn the heat on to medium low. Add a piece of garlic as a tester, then once the test garlic is bubbling, add the remaining garlic. Fry garlic in oil until golden, stirring frequently, being careful not to let it turn brown. Strain, keeping the oil and garlic separate and set aside. This can be done far ahead of time.
- Cook the ground pork. In a small or medium pot, add 1-2 tablespoons of water just to coat the bottom and put it on medium-high heat. Once the water is bubbling, add the ground pork and stir, breaking up the lumps, until fully cooked. Transfer to a bowl and set aside and keep covered so it stays warm; there will be lots of pooling liquid, this is fine.
- Make the sauce. In a small bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients, and then take about 1 tablespoon of the juice from the ground pork and add it to the sauce as well - this added liquid will help the sugar dissolve. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Full Article
I discovered these tossed noodles recently and I'm obsessed. Egg noodles tossed in an umami-packed sauce, garlic oil, roasted peanuts, and the usual Thai noodle soup fixings. It is incredibly tasty and easy to make! Most of the components can also be made in advance, and comes dinner time all you have to do is heat everything up, cook the noodles, and toss away!
Chopsticks holding up tossed noodles in a bowl.
What are "tossed noodles" in Thai cuisine?
A bowl of tossed noodles with chopsticks and spoon on the side.
When it comes to Thai noodles, most of them would be classified either as noodle stir fries, noodle soups, or noodles with sauce poured on top. But tossed noodles, or guay tiew klook ก๋วยเตี๋ยวคลุก in Thai, are relatively new on the Thai culinary scene, but they have taken social media by the storm because the process of making them just looks mouthwatering.
They're a variation of our noodle soups, in a sense that the ingredients involved are similar to a classic Thai tom yum noodles, but instead of broth, all the components are tossed in a flavourful sauce.
Since it's a new dish, there's no "traditional" way to go about it. People are just taking the idea and coming up with their own sauce concoctions. So this recipe is my version that I think is bomb. Feel free to come up with your own sauce, too!
Ingredients and Notes
Here are all the ingredients you'll need, and important notes about them. Amounts and full instructions are in the recipe card below!
ingredients for tossed noodles.
- Garlic, chopped. This recipe calls for fried garlic, so try to chop them evenly for even frying, and aim for the pieces to be about ⅛-inch wide, but you don't need to be precise.
- Neutral oil for making garlic oil. I use avocado oil but any neutral-flavour oil is fine.
- Roasted peanuts, coarsely ground. I pound the peanuts in a mortar and pestle, but you can blitz them in a small food processor or finely chop them with a knife.
- Fresh wonton noodles (egg noodles). You can find these in the refrigerated section at most Asian grocery stores. They are fresh and tossed in flour and are usually labelled as " wonton noodles ". You can also sub any other kind of egg/wheat noodles, such as ramen noodles. Rice noodles, such as those used for pad thai, will also work. See my post here for all about how to cook different kinds of rice noodles.
- Ground pork. Or sub ground chicken or turkey.
- Asian meatballs or fish balls, cut into bite sized pieces if large. Other types of cooked protein will also work, such as cooked shrimp or sliced meats of any kind. Pro tip: while at the Asian supermarket, you can grab some Chinese BBQ pork (char siu), which would be fantastic in this!
- Bean sprouts.
- Green onion, chopped.
- Cilantro, chopped. If you don't like cilantro, just green onion alone is fine.
- Juicy limes, cut into wedges. When choosing limes, go with ones with smooth, tight-looking skin that gives into a bit of pressure when squeezed - these are the juicy ones!
- Chili flakes, to taste. Any hot chili flakes or powder will do for an extra kick, but if you want to DIY, here is an easy recipe for Thai style roasted chili flakes.
Sauce Ingredients
sauce ingredients for tossed noodles.
- Soy sauce. I use Healthy Boy Brand Thai soy sauce, but any regular soy sauce will do.
- Golden Mountain Sauce. This is another kind of soy sauce that tastes similar to Maggi Seasoning (which you can use instead). You can also just sub with more regular soy sauce.
- Fish sauce. See my post about choosing a good quality fish sauce.
- Thai Black soy sauce. I prefer Healthy Boy Brand Black Soy Sauce for this because it gives an intense dark colour. Dragonfly brand comes out quite light and it doesn’t look as tasty, but it’s still okay to use flavour-wise. You can also try using Chinese dark soy sauce, but since it is much saltier than Thai black soy sauce, I would omit the Golden Mountain Sauce altogether and then taste and adjust.
- Sriracha-style hot sauce. Doesn't have to be the famous rooster brand, any brand is fine.
- Brown sugar, dark is preferred but light is fine.
How to Make Thai Tossed Noodles
Here's a bird's eye view of the process. Many of the components can be made in advance if you want to have it for a weeknight. See more advance prep tips below. Also if this is your first time, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success.
Process shots for making tossed noodles, steps 1-4.
- Fry the garlic in neutral oil over low heat until golden and the bubbling has subsided.
- Strain and keep the oil and garlic separate. Set aside.
- Add a splash of water to a pot over high heat, once the water boils, add the ground pork and stir just until it's fully cooked. Set aside.
- Combine all the sauce ingredients and add about a tablespoon of the pork juice to the sauce then stir until the sugar is dissolved. When ready to cook and serve, heat up the sauce in the microwave or stovetop so it doesn't cool your noodles down too much.
Process shots for making tossed noodles, steps 5-8
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, meanwhile, cut the noodles to shorten and loosen them up, making sure they're not sticking together.
- Boil the meatballs in the water just until hot, then fish them out and set aside.
- Blanch the bean sprouts in the water for 3 seconds, fish them out, shake off all excess water and add to a large mixing bowl.
- When the water boils again, cook the noodles until fully cooked; timing will vary depending on the size, but mine takes about 3 minutes. Fish them out, shake off all water, and add to the bean sprouts.
Process shots for making tossed noodles, steps 9-12
- Add the garlic oil to the noodle bowl and toss to coat.
- Add the ground pork (hold back the excess liquid), peanuts, chili flakes, green onions, and the warmed-up sauce.
- Toss to mix well.
- Divide into serving bowls, top with meatballs, fried garlic, cilantro and a wedge of lime. Remember to squeeze the lime on before eating!
Advance Prep Tips and Storage
As with many Thai noodles, there are a lot of little things to prepare but they're all very simple and quick. I still find, however, that preparing everything all at once can feel like a lot and doing just a few things ahead of time makes serving day seem so much simpler.
Here are somethings you can do ahead of time.
- Make the garlic oil and fried garlic. If you only do one thing in advance, this should be it. You can also make a lot and keep it (oil and garlic separated) in the fridge for another use. Fried garlic and garlic oil are incredibly versatile and are used often in Thai cooking.
- Mix the sauce up in advance. Keep the sauce in the fridge and it'll last indefinitely. Reheat the sauce in the microwave or stovetop before using. You can also make the sauce in bulk, just remember to measure the total volume of sauce, then divide by the number of batches this makes (or by portion, however you want to do it) so you know how much sauce you need to use each time you cook.
- Cook the pork in advance. The pork can be cooked and kept in the fridge for up to 1 week. Simply reheat in the microwave or stovetop when ready to use.
- Chop/grind the peanuts in advance. It's a small thing, but it makes a big difference when you can just grab the container and pour without having to do anything with it!
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Tips for Using Rice Noodles
If you want to use rice noodles, you absolutely can! Here is how you'll need to prep them.
If you buy rice noodles dry, I recommend small or medium size (like ones used for pho and pad thai). They need to be soaked until fully pliable in room temp water. Medium size takes about 1 hour to soak, small size takes about 30 minutes. If you're in a rush, you can use warm tap water to shorten the time, but be careful not to over-soak. Read more about cooking with rice noodles here.
Once soaked, drain the noodles well, then blanch them in boiling water for about 10 seconds or until cooked through. As rice noodles overcook quickly, it is always safe to err on the side of undercooking them. Take them out using a wire skimmer so the water is still there, then if they're a little too firm, add them back to the pot for another 10 seconds or so.
Thai Saucy Tossed Noodles - Guay Tiew Klook
Egg noodles tossed in an umami packed sauce, garlic oil, roasted peanuts, and more. It's an easy, super tasty dish. Components can be made in advance to make an easy weeknight meal.
5 from 5 votes
Prep Time 30
Cook Time 15
Course Main Course
Cuisine Thai
Servings 4 servings
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Ingredients
- 10 cloves garlic, chopped
- ¼ cup neutral oil
- ½ lb ground pork, or ground chicken/turkey
- ⅓ cup roasted peanuts, coarsely ground (see note 1)
- 9 oz fresh wonton egg noodles, (see note 2)
- ½ lb Asian meatballs, or cooked protein of your choice
- ½ lb beansprouts
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 8 sprigs cilantro, chopped
- 2 juicy limes, cut into wedges
- roasted chili flakes, to taste
Sauce
- 1 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoons Golden Mountain Sauce, or sub more soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar, packed, dark is preferred but light is fine
- 1 ½ Tablespoons black soy sauce, (see note 3)
- 2 Tablespoons sriracha-style hot sauce
Check Out Ingredients and Kitchen Tools I Use
Notes
1. I pound the peanuts in a mortar and pestle, but you can also quickly blitz them in a small food processor or hand-chop them finely with a knife.
2. Though for testing my preference was for egg noodles, rice noodles or other kinds of noodles are fine. You'll have to eyeball the amount of noodles as the weight provided is for fresh wonton noodles, so be prepared to adjust the amount of sauce.
3. I prefer Healthy Boy Brand black soy sauce for this because it gives an intense dark colour. Dragon Fly brand comes out quite light and it doesn’t look as tasty, but it’s still okay to use. You can also try using Chinese dark soy sauce, but since it is much saltier than Thai black soy sauce, I would omit the Golden Mountain Sauce altogether and then taste and adjust.
FULL VIDEO TUTORIAL
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Instructions
- *The garlic oil, ground pork and sauce can be all prepped in advance.
- Make Garlic Oil and Fried Garlic. In a small pot, add the oil and turn the heat on to medium low. Add a piece of garlic as a tester, then once the test garlic is bubbling, add the remaining garlic.
Fry garlic in oil until golden, stirring frequently, being careful not to let it turn brown. Strain, keeping the oil and garlic separate and set aside. This can be done far ahead of time.
10 cloves garlic, ¼ cup neutral oil - Cook the ground pork. In a small or medium pot, add 1-2 tablespoons of water just to coat the bottom and put it on medium-high heat. Once the water is bubbling, add the ground pork and stir, breaking up the lumps, until fully cooked. Transfer to a bowl and set aside and keep covered so it stays warm; there will be lots of pooling liquid, this is fine.
½ lb ground pork - Make the sauce. In a small bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients, and then take about 1 tablespoon of the juice from the ground pork and add it to the sauce as well - this added liquid will help the sugar dissolve. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
1 Tablespoons soy sauce, 1 Tablespoons Golden Mountain Sauce, 2 teaspoons fish sauce, 2 Tablespoons brown sugar, 1 ½ Tablespoons black soy sauce, 2 Tablespoons sriracha-style hot sauce
When ready to cook and serve:
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil (6-qt pot minimum). Meanwhile, cut the noodles down with scissors so they’re not too long; this will help make it easier to toss and serve. Loosen the noodles to ensure no strands are stuck together.
9 oz fresh wonton egg noodles - Heat the sauce up either in the microwave or in a pot on the stove, just until it's hot/warm so that it won’t cool down the noodles too much. Don’t let the sauce reduce. Keep covered until ready to use.
- If your ground pork is no longer warm, you can heat it up in the microwave or stovetop as well.
- Once the water is boiling, add the meatballs and boil them for about a minute or 2 until they are hot. Scoop them out and set aside.
½ lb Asian meatballs - Once the water comes back to boil, add the bean sprouts and blanch them for literally 3 seconds just to warm them up, then scoop them up and place in a large mixing bowl.
½ lb beansprouts - Wait for the water to come back to a boil, then cook the noodles for 2-3 minutes, if using wonton noodles, or however long your particular noodles take to cook. Scoop them out with a wire skimmer, shake off all excess water and place them into the mixing bowl with the bean sprouts.
- Pour the garlic oil over the noodles and toss to separate the noodles and mix them with the beansprouts. Then add the ground pork, holding back any pooling liquid in the bowl. Add the peanuts, chili flakes, the sauce, and chopped green onions and toss to mix well.
⅓ cup roasted peanuts, roasted chili flakes, 1 green onion - Divide into serving bowls and top each bowl with the meatballs, chopped cilantro, fried garlic, and a lime wedge. Be sure to squeeze the lime over the noodles before eating, and feel free to add more chili flakes or sriracha as desired. Enjoy!
8 sprigs cilantro, 2 juicy limes
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