Spicy Instant Pot Peanut Noodles are an easy veggie-loaded recipe that is ready in under 30 minutes! Works great as a meal prep recipe.
After sharing these delicious Instant Pot fiesta rice bowls, I'm busting out the Instant Pot for another delicious recipe! These spicy peanut noodles have chicken, whole wheat pasta, spiralized zucchini and carrots all tossed in a spicy and creamy peanut sauce.
Not only is it delicious, but it comes together so quickly!
These peanut noodles are perfect for a weeknight dinner, but also keep well for meal prep.
Let's discuss!
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These spicy Instant Pot peanut noodles
- come together in under 30 minutes
- keep well for meal prep
- can be made in the 6 quart Instant Pot or the 8 quart Instant Pot
How to cook them
This recipe is simple but there are a few tricks you'll need for success.
To prevent clumpy noodles: you'll need to break your noodles in half, scatter over the chicken/sauce, and do not stir. Pour the water over top last so the noodles are immersed in liquid.
- Stir together spicy peanut sauce ingredients: reduced sodium soy sauce, natural peanut butter, honey, sesame oil and chili garlic paste.
- Add chicken and toss in sauce.
- Add 4 oz whole wheat spaghetti (broken in half) on top, spreading them out across the IP.
- Pour water over noodles and make sure they are somewhat immersed in the liquid. Do not stir.
- Pressure cook for 4 minutes, then release the pressure immediately.
- Stir up noodles, then add spiralized zucchini and carrots. Put the lid back on and let the Instant Pot sit for 5 minutes.
- Stir everything up and enjoy!
Can I meal prep this recipe? Yes!
- Prepare ingredients ahead- stir the sauce & chicken together up to 24 hours before cooking. Any longer than that and you'll want to freeze the chicken & sauce. You can also pre-spiralize your zucchini and carrots. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days before cooking.
- Cook them ahead and enjoy leftovers through the week- these noodle bowls hold up surprisingly well and can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Can I swap the peanut butter? Yes! Swap for natural almond butter. Make sure it's very drippy!
Can I swap the pasta? I have only tested this with whole wheat spaghetti, however it is possible other shapes may work. A general rule is to use half the cook time that the box says. So if it says 12 minutes, cook for 6 minutes (thank you Meal Plan Addict for teaching me this!). If you try another pasta shape, please report back if it works for you!
Help, my Instant Pot did not come to pressure! I have tested this in both the 6 and 8 quart Instant Pots and never got a burn warning. If your pot for some reason does not come to pressure I would suspect your peanut butter. *make sure you use an extremely drippy, all natural peanut butter for this recipe. Skippy/Jif/Kraft may not work*
Tips & equipment
- This recipe was tested in both a 6 quart Instant Pot and an 8 quart Instant Pot
- I only tested with whole wheat spaghetti but it is possible other shapes may work
- Looking for more Instant Pot meal prep recipes? Check out this Instant Pot Cajun Rice with Sausage, this Instant Pot Quinoa Enchilada Casserole, and these Instant Pot Moroccan Lentils
Recipe video
Watch the video below to see how to cook this recipe in the Instant Pot. You can find more of my videos on my YouTube channel.
Spicy Instant Pot Peanut Noodles
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup soy sauce (I recommend using reduced sodium)
- ¼ cup peanut butter (MUST be a drippy natural nut butter)
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic paste
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into 1 inch cubes)
- 4 oz whole wheat spaghetti
- 1 cup water
After cooking
- 1 zucchini spiralized
- 2 cups spiralized carrots
To serve
- cilantro
- peanuts
Instructions
- In the bottom of the Instant Pot, stir together the honey, soy sauce, peanut butter, sesame oil and chili garlic paste.
- Add the chicken and stir to coat.
- Break spaghetti noodles in half and arrange in a thin layer over the chicken. Pour water over top and make sure the noodles are immersed in the water (as show in the picture in the collage above). Do not stir the noodles as this will cause them to clump.
- Pressure cook on high pressure for 4 minutes. Immediately release the pressure when the time is up.
- Stir the noodles into the sauce and add in the zucchini and carrot noodles. Put the lid back on the Instant Pot and let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Stir everything up and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Meaghan
Could i use the frozen zucchini noodles instead of fresh?
Mandy M
I’m new to instant pot cooking as they have only just become available in Perth Western Australia. All I can say about this recipe is yummmmm! I was worried when I opened the lid and found clumps of spaghetti that looked like stringy cheese but a little shaking and pulling with tongs and all was good. So super easy. We will definitely making this again.
Sarah R
I made this for lunches this week. It is super delicious! I used all natural peanut butter but mine had been refrigerated so it wasn’t “drippy”. It worked great!
Denise Bustard
Hi Sarah! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for taking the time to report back 🙂
Marie C Pelkola
Hi, can someone tell me what "drippy" natural peanut butter is? Is it the one that comes with the oil at the top and needs to be stirred? I have found that once you stir the oil into it, it is no longer drippy. Also it has to be refrigerated afterwards, which hardens it.
Denise Bustard
Hi Marie! What I mean is when you spoon some out of the jar, it drips back off the spoon into the jar. Yes, it does come with oil that needs to be stirred in, and after you stir it in it should still be drippy at room temp. If you refrigerate it that's fine, it won't drip, but will still have the right liquid needed for this recipe 🙂 Hope this helps!
Whitney
This recipe is a family favorite. I typically make it with no problems, but tonight I got the burn warning for the first time. I hadn't done anything differently but I used a different brand of very drippy peanut butter. I just unplugged it and opened up the instant pot--the warning happened before it came to pressure--dumped out the contents into a big bowl and cleaned the bottom of the pan (it had burned sauce on about half of the surface--it took a lot of elbow grease to scrape it off). I dumped everything back in, added about 1/4 cup more water and set it for four minutes again. It turned out just fine.
Denise Bustard
Hi Whitney! Thank you so much for reporting back! That's so frustrating that something as simple as a different brand of peanut butter could lead to the burn warning. I appreciate you reporting back with how you fixed it. Thanks!
Melanie
I weighed out 4 oz of spaghetti noodles and it looked like way too much!! It looked like way more than in the video that was posted. I ended up adding more water and removed about half the noodles. Anyone feel like the 4oz of pasta was too much? Hope it turns out 😬
Denise Bustard
Hi Melanie! How did it go? Sounds like you were on track to doing it right, but if you removed noodles it may throw the water: noodle ratio off.
Cesiley Bartley
Hi! I am wondering, will this recipe work with froz chicken thighs?
Denise
Hi Cesiley! I don't believe that will work, as frozen chicken thighs require at least 12 minutes in the IP. At that point, your pasta would be way overdone. You could try cooking the chicken through first, then the pasta, then adding the cooked chicken in after?
Rachel
I tried this recipe and loved it! Can I double it so I have lots of leftovers?
Kristen
I was wondering the same thing. Seems like it should be fine to double it.
Denise
Hi Kristen + Rachel! I think it would be OK to double the recipe, but I have not tried. If you have an 8 quart I feel very confident it will work but the 6 quart might be a little bit full. If you try doubling it, I would love to hear how it goes for you! <3
Selina
Awesome recipe! I tried this using regular peanut butter but put it on top of the spaghetti noodles instead - no burn warning!
Denise
Woo hoo! I'm so happy to hear this, Selina! This is super helpful for other readers, so I really appreciate you taking the time to leave this review 🙂
Andrea
A quick, easy, and delicious dinner tonight - the toddler even helped!!!
Denise
Hi Andrea, so happy to hear you enjoyed and even better that your toddler helped you!
Nathan
Maybe I did something wrong but there’s no way 1 cup of water will get close to covering the pasta in a 8qt instant pot. Either way, tastes good!
Denise
Hi Nathan! The noodles weren't 100% covered for me in the 8 quart but I just pushed them down the best I could 🙂 Glad you enjoyed!
Zarina
This recipe is bomb! My kiddos loved it (left the spicy part out for them, and added it for myself at the end), great recipe, fast easy and delicious. Cannot wait to make again and again! Thanks for the fabulous recipe!
Denise
Hi Zarina! I am so happy to hear you and your kiddos enjoyed. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to come back and leave a review.
LP
Ground ginger is listed in the step-by-step instructions above but it is not mentioned in the ingredients list at the bottom.
Denise
Thanks for catching that, I've updated the post!
Heather Russell
USE THE DRIPPY peanut butter 😊 The recipe and instructions say DRIPPY nut butter ONE MILLION times, she means it.
My first go at this recipe I made a bunch of mistakes: I used a dry-ish almond butter, thinned with water thinking that would work but still got a burn warning on the InstaPot. I wasn’t adding pasta (was going to add zucchini / carrot noodles only) and the sauce was really wet.
I saved it by removing the chicken & sautéing, and separately reducing the sauce – it was delicious. (the issues were totally my fault!)
So, don’t do what I did! I’ve since found her Freezer Asian Peanut Chicken which is a similar sauce, no pasta and worked out much better for what I wanted.
Denise
Hi Heather! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a detailed review, this is so helpful!
Stephanie Marion Holloway
Do you think this could work with scallops instead of chicken?
Denise
Hi Stephanie! Great question! I've never cooked scallops in the Instant Pot before...I think the cook time would be too long for them? You might want to just add them in after cooking the scallops on the stove?
Stephanie
I want to make this but I don't keep natural peanut butter in the house. I know it says that's a requirement. Has anyone made it with regular peanut butter?
Denise
Hi Stephanie! Hopefully someone else can answer, I only tested with a drippy natural nut butter and worry that a non-natural one, which is much thicker, would not allow the pot to come to pressure. If you try, I'd love to hear how it turns out for you!
Kristin
Hi, do you think gluten free spaghetti noodles would work with the same cook time?
Denise
Hi Kristin, unfortunately I have not tried and have zero experience with gluten-free pasta so I can't even really guess.
Cathy Lessard
Would you still cook it the same without the chicken tighs? It sounds really good!!!!!
Denise
Hi Cathy, I think it would work just fine with chicken breasts. I did have one reader try it and they said it was enjoyable!
Karen
Easy to put together, clear instructions, tasty and good for you. I'll definitely be making this again!
Denise
I'm so happy it was a hit! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review, Karen!
Crystal
Anyone ever try this with tofu instead of chicken?
Denise Bustard
Hi Crystal! I can't recall hearing of anyone trying it, and I'm unsure of if it would work. If you give it a try, would you let us know how it goes for you?