These miso beef noodles are like an Asian take on spaghetti bolognese, but with a spicy kick and without the long cooking time for the sauce! You can whip this meal up in about 30 minutes and serve it straight from the pan at the table. Far from boring, this recipe is a must-have in your weeknight meal rotation!
Combine soy sauce, chili sauce, and honey in a small bowl. Set aside.
Heat skillet over medium-high heat and add oil.
Add ground beef to pan and brown.
While beef is cooking, cook rice noodles according to package directions, to al dente doneness. Be careful not to overcook.
Add onions and garlic to ground beef and mix well.
Add chopped tomatoes and sauce ingredients and stir to combine. Bring to a gentle boil and reduce heat to simmer.
Drain rice noodles and rinse with cool water to stop them from cooking.
Turn the heat off on the beef sauce and stir in miso paste.
Add drained noodles to the pan and stir to combine.
Transfer to serving dish or serve directly from the pan.
Garnish with chopped green onions and dried chili flakes, if desired.
Notes
I use pad thai noodles, but you can use any rice stick noodles for this dish.
If you have time, soak the rice noodles in room temperature water for at least 10 minutes before cooking. It gives the noodles a head start in softening and then you only have to boil them for about a minute.
If you do not have rice noodles handy, you can substitute them with regular wheat spaghetti or linguine.
If the noodles are done before the sauce is ready, drain them and rinse with cool water to stop them from cooking, then set aside in a colander.
If the cooked noodles stick together from waiting to be added to the sauce, simple give them a quick water rinse in the colander, then shake the colander to loosen them before adding them to the pan.
You can also serve the meat sauce over steamed rice.
If you do not have chili garlic sauce, substitute with sriracha, thinned out Thai red curry paste, or tabasco. Alternatively, use Korean gochujang as a condiment to stir into your own bowl of noodles.
Adjust the chili sauce depending on whether you prefer it less or more spicy. Chili sauce can also be completely omitted for a non-spicy dish.
Stir in miso paste after removing the pan from the heat so as to not kill off the healthy probiotics that naturally exist in the miso.
Substitute the ground beef with ground pork.
If using shrimp, add them to the sauce in the last couple of minutes of cooking so as not to overcook them.
For vegetarians, substitute the ground beef with chopped mushrooms for a similar texture.