Tahini Chili Oil Noodles

These tahini chili oil noodles are creamy, spicy and oh so easy to make. Place the chili crunch, all the spices, and tahini in a cold pan, heat it up and let it sizzle, then toss with your favorite pasta, and enjoy! This is a viral social media trend that 1000% lives up to the hype!

What Makes This Recipe Great

A viral social media trend that actually lives up to the hype: I’m a busy mom of two boys, and I absolutely love when a viral trend actually delivers like these chili oil noodles.

Amazing creamy flavor: Tahini adds amazing creamy, nutty flavor to these chili oil noodles that helps balance out the heat from the chili crunch.

Easy to make: This 30-minute meal is perfect for busy weeknights or cozy nights in.

Ingredients You Need

• Spaghetti pasta: No need for fancy egg noodles, rice noodles, or soba noodles (but you can definitely use them if you’d prefer!). Good old spaghetti pasta works perfectly fine for this dish.
• Tahini: The creamy, nutty and umami flavor is perfectly savory and delicious as the base for this sauce.
• Chili crunch: This flavorful sauce provides some heat, oil and depth of flavor to this dish. Don’t skip it!
• Sesame: You’ll need sesame seeds and sesame oil. Both add deliciously rich flavor to this pasta.
• Garlic: Don’t skip the garlic in this pasta sauce! It offer a delicious savory balance to the sauce. 
• Lemon: You need the juice from a lemon as well as the zest.

Please see the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients.

How to Make Chili Oil Noodles

1. Cook the pasta: Cook the pasta until it is al dente. Set aside 1 cup of pasta water for later (you’ll want this for the sauce!).
2. Add the sauce ingredients to a cold skillet: You’ll add the lemon zest, sesame seeds, chili crunch, green onions, garlic tahini, kosher salt, vinegar, and lemon juice to a large, cold skillet. 
3. Cook the sauce ingredients: Heat the avocado oil in a separate saucepan over high heat. When the oil is very hot (you’ll hear it sizzle), carefully pour the oil over the ingredients in the cold pan. Stir the ingredients into the oil; the oil will cook the ingredients and become fragrant. 
4. Add the pasta to the sauce: Turn the heat on low and add 3 tablespoons of the pasta water. Stir the ingredients for another 30 seconds. Add the pasta to the skillet and toss until the pasta is coated in sauce. Add the sesame oil and toss again.
5. Add the toppings and enjoy! Top with green onions, sesame seeds, fresh lemon juice, and more chili crunch for added spice.

Variations and Substitutions

• Add a protein: These chili oil noodles taste amazing with chicken, tofu or even steamed edamame.
• Spaghetti: Any type of long pasta can be used for this recipe. Ramen noodles are a close second for me.
• Chili crunch: If you don’t have chili crunch, garlic chili sauce, gochujang, or sriracha would taste fantastic! Just keep in mind that the spice level will vary depending on which one you use. 
• Red wine vinegar: Swap the red wine vinegar for rice vinegar, white wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar if you need to! They all have a similar acidity level and will work well in the recipe.
• Tahini: Don’t have tahini on hand? Feel free to use either creamy or crunchy peanut butter or cashew butter. Both will alter the flavor profile, but will still be absolutely delicious in these chili oil noodles.
• Get saucy: For a saucier dish, you can easily double up the sauce ingredients if you prefer.

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