Inspired by Amy’s frozen dinner, this cashew noodle bowl pairs your favorite veggies with a creamy cashew butter sauce for a simple meal.
Recreating Amy’s Chinese Noodles & Veggies
My inspiration for this recipe was Amy’s frozen dinner which tastes pretty good for frozen food. I love to grab this for times when I can’t cook, but eating frozen dinners isn’t cost effective. Plus, they are very high in sodium to eat often. So, I’ve developed a cashew noodle bowl that tastes pretty close to the boxed meal. This dish has entered my meal rotation because it only takes about 15 minutes to make , and I can keep all the ingredients on hand. First, let’s talk about the star of the dish: the cashew sauce.
Creamy Cashew Sauce
I love a good stir-fry, but sometimes the the flavors of soy sauce and teriyaki sauce get a bit repetitive. That’s why I love this creamy cashew sauce. The base of the sauce is cashew butter. It’s a bit of an unusual ingredient (I love Georgia Grinders), but the flavor of cashew really takes this dish up a notch. Simply mix cashew butter and water in a bowl and add your spices for flavor. The cashew butter can be a bit hard to mix at first, but the water will incorporate. You can add more water to make a thinner sauce if desired.
Cashew Noodle Bowl Tips and Substitutions
I love to use Lotus Foods gluten free ramen noodle blocks for this recipe. They have a great texture and taste great in broth or in other recipes. You could also use pad thai noodles or even GF spaghetti if you can’t find other noodles. I get a value pack of ramen blocks from Costco and they are great to always have on hand in your pantry for simple ramen or to make this dish when I don’t know what to eat.
The vegetables I used in this recipe were based of the veggies in the frozen dinner, and they’re some of my favorites. You can switch out whatever vegetables are your favorite or whatever you have on hand. When we were shopping for the pandemic in March (oh how naïve we were) I bought a big bag of frozen stir-fry veggies from Costco. I love knowing I have veggies that are pre-chopped that I can warm up in 10 minutes. I also love adding some frozen edamame for some protein.
Finally, while I love the cashew flavor, I know it’s not accessible for everyone. The good news is you can easy swap in peanut butter and make an equally delicious meal. So, if you don’t want to buy another ingredient you can try it out with a peanut flavor instead.
Cashew Noodle Bowl
Ingredients
- 2 blocks ramen noodles
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 cup mushrooms
- ½ cup peppers
- 3 green onions
- ½ cup green beans
- ¼ cup shelled edamame
- ¼ cup carrots
- 2 tbsp cilantro chopped for garnish
Cashew Sauce
- ¼ cup cashew butter
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp low-sodium tamari
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp ginger powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
Instructions
- To prep the noodles, bring 2 cups of water to boil, and cook the noodle blocks according to package instructions.
- To prep the veggies, cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Slice the mushroom caps into about 1/2-inch pieces.
- Dice the pepper into into about 1/2-ince pieces. If you are using smaller sweet peppers, you can also remove the seeds and cut the peppers into rings.
- Slice the green onions into rounds. Reserve some of the green tops for garnish.
- Slice the carrots into rounds or you can use matchstick carrots.
- To a skillet, add all the vegetables and sauté over medium heat until the carrots are soft and the mushrooms are cooked. Remove from heat.
- To make the sauce, mix the cashew butter and water until smooth. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and mix until combined. Taste and adjust flavor with salt and pepper.
- Drain the cooked noodles and add to the skillet with the cooked veggies. Add the sauce and mix to combine. Serve in a bowl topped with cilantro and green onions.
Notes
