One pan spicy Korean beef noodles recipe made with a simple Korean marinade and ramen noodles with onions and mushrooms makes a tasty dinner you’ll have ready in just 30 minutes.
People ask me all the time where I get my ideas for recipes. The answer? Everywhere. Something I see on the cover of a magazine, maybe a dish I hear mentioned in a movie, sometimes just a random craving sparks an idea, and quite often I get ideas from dishes I order in restaurants.
Just recently a Noodles & Co restaurant opened up about 4 minutes from our house and I’ve been hooked on their new-ish spicy Korean beef noodles. Now I’m not calling this a copycat recipe, but it was definitely inspired by that restaurant menu item and it has a lot of the same flavors. It’s kind of crazy delicious if you’re into that spicy Asian noodle bowl type of thing which I am definitely 100 percent into.
Okay now the process…. It’s best to marinate your beef for at least 30 minutes before making this dish. If you think of it far enough ahead it will have even better flavor if you marinate it overnight, but even 10 minutes in the marinade will be fine if you are running short on time. As for the mushrooms – take em or leave em. My husband doesn’t do mushrooms and I’ll either leave them out of his portion or just make sure to leave them in thick slices and let him pick them out (and usually put them on my plate cause YUM).
This is truly a one pan meal and I really love that about it. You sear the steak in your skillet, then let it rest on a cutting board while you simmer those ramen noodles, onions, mushrooms, and seasonings all in the same pan you cooked your steak in. Then just thinly slice the steak and stir it back into the pan along with some spicy Korean sauce. That’s it! Garnish with some sliced green onions or fresh cilantro and serve up this spicy Asian beef and noodle goodness. Take that, Monday.
- about 1 pound flank steak
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 4 tablespoons gochujang (Korean chile paste found in the Asian section of most grocery stores- see note)
- 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 4 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 teaspoons sesame oil
- 4 teaspoons sugar
- 2 packages beef ramen, including seasoning + 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
- In a small bowl whisk together gochujang, green onions, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and sugar. Pour half of mixture into a large ziplock bag. Add steak to bag, seal, and chill for 30 minutes or up to overnight. Cover remaining sauce and chill until ready to use.
- Drizzle oil into a large pan or skillet and bring to medium-high heat. Use tongs to transfer steak from bag to pan (keep marinade in the bag) and cook for 5-8 minutes on each side until well-browned on the outside. Transfer steak to a large cutting boar and allow to rest while you move on to the next step.
- Add onions, mushrooms, ramen noodles, ramen seasoning, and beef marinade from the bag to the pan. Pour water over the top and bring to a simmer. Allow to cook for 5-7 minutes until noodles tender and cooked through.
- Thinly slice steak across the grain. Add steak strips and reserved sauce to the pan and stir everything to combine. Cook for a few minutes just until steak is hot throughout, garnish with green onions if desired and serve immediately.
Instead of the chili paste, could I substitute Sriracha?
The best substitute for the chili paste in this recipe would be to mix together 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, and ¼ teaspoon sugar to form a paste.
Made this last night and WOW! It was delicious!! I am on Weight Watchers so I just swapped the oil out for oil spray & the brown sugar for Splenda brown sugar blend. Thank you so much. Flavors are great and the dish has the perfect amount of heat.
I’m cutting back on red meat for health reasons. Would chicken or swordfish work well with this?
I would suggest chicken!