These easy, saucy, baby friendly peanut noodles with broccoli and edamame are quick to throw together, full of veggies and make a delicious lunch or dinner that's both baby led weaning and family friendly. They're great allergen exposure for baby, too!
This post has been written and medically reviewed by Kaleigh McMordie, MCN, RDN (Registered Dietitian Nutritionist).
Baby Friendly Saucy Peanut Noodles
If you love a Thai-inspired peanut sauce, you'll love these easy peanut noodles with broccoli, and your little one will too! They're a great way to introduce your little one to big flavor while making a quick meal that both baby and the family can enjoy for lunch or dinner. These noodles are made with broccoli and edamame for extra veggies and protein, then tossed with a quick sugar-free Asian inspired peanut sauce with garlic, ginger and soy sauce. The whole dish comes together in as little as 15 minutes! These noodles are also a good way to keep allergens in your baby's rotation - they have peanut, soy, and wheat - which you want to serve regularly to help prevent food allergies.
Jump to:
Ingredients
- Peanut butter - Aim for a natural peanut butter (the runny kind) made with just peanuts and salt, such as Kirkland brand or Crazy Richard's.
- Soy sauce - Low sodium is best here.
- Lime juice
- Ginger - You can use a knob of fresh ginger (about a 1-inch piece), or the jarred ginger paste.
- Garlic - You'll need 1 small clove.
- Sesame oil - Toasted or untoasted, up to you!
- Chile sauce - Sambal oelek or sriracha both work. Using up to 2 teaspoons will not make the sauce spicy, but it does add more flavor!
- Noodles - You can use what you have on hand here. I used plain ramen, but you could also use rice noodles, soba noodles, or just plain spaghetti noodles.
- Broccoli - Fresh or frozen. I always keep a bag of frozen broccoli on hand for quick recipes like this, but you can also use fresh! Cut into large florets with a handle for young BLW babies (6-8 months), or chop tiny for older babies with a pincer grasp.
- Edamame - Frozen shelled edamame is a great plant based protein. Buying shelled shaves you a lot of work!
- Toppings for parents and older kiddos: I'm all about the toppings for meals like this! Top your noodles with any of the following: Chopped green onion, cilantro, sesame seeds, finely chopped peanuts, shredded carrots, extra chile sauce or chili crunch. You can also top baby's with any of these toppings, just make sure they are very finely chopped into an appropriate size.
Helpful equipment: Microplane Zester and Saucepan
Step By Step Instructions
For the full printable recipe, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Make the sauce. Finely grate the ginger and garlic using a microplane zester. Add them to a jar with the other sauce ingredients and whisk them well to combine. Add a little warm water as needed to make the sauce into a thick pourable consistency. Taste and adjust as needed.
- Make the noodles. Boil water in a large saucepan and cook the noodles according to package directions. Add the broccoli and edamame into the pot with the noodles. Careful not to over-cook, you don't want mushy noodles!
- Drain the noodles, reserving a cup of the pasta water. Add the noodles back to the pan.
- Add the sauce, starting with about half. Toss with tongs to coat the noodles, adding in a little bit of reserved pasta water at a time to make a smooth sauce. Taste and adjust as needed, adding more sauce or more pasta water.
- Top with any toppings you like, and serve!
Tips and Recipe Variations
- Make sure not to over-cook the noodles! You want them al-dente so that they hold up to tossing with the sauce. Mushy noddles, especially ramen or rice noodles, are prone to falling apart during the tossing stage. Also, do not rinse them after cooking, you want the extra starch so the sauce clings to the noodles better.
- More protein: If you want to add extra protein, feel free to toss in cooked chicken, shrimp, salmon, canned tuna, seared tofu, a fried egg, or extra edamame. (It's a great use for leftovers!)
- Sweeter sauce: Typically, peanut sauce will include some sort of sweetener. If you find you're missing a hint of sweetness, you can take out a bit for baby without the sugar, then make yours with a bit of honey, maple syrup or brown sugar to taste.
Ingredient Substitutions
- Peanut butter: Substitute almond butter or sunflower butter.
- Soy sauce: Substitute coconut aminos or tamari.
- Lime juice: You can substitute rice vinegar, but I like the flavor of lime juice better.
- Chile sauce: If you don't have sriracha or sambal oelek, you can use a pinch of red pepper flakes, or even gojuchang or chili crunch if that's what you have. Chili crunch may be spicier, so start with a half teaspoon.
Storage and Reheating
Leftovers will keep well in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days. I don't recommend freezing them. Leftover sauce will last up to a week in the refrigerator. It makes a great dip for shrimp, tofu sticks, or veggies. Or thin it with more water and use as a salad dressing or sauce for rice bowls.
To reheat noodles, warm them in a skillet on low heat with a splash of water or broth, adding more peanut sauce if you'd like (you should have plenty leftover).
How To Serve Peanut Noodles To Babies 6 Months and Up
For baby led weaning babies without a pincer grasp (baby still scoops up food using a fist), usually 6 - 9 months of age, keep the broccoli in large florets that still have a good bit of stalk so that baby can have a "handle" to grab onto while he munches on the flowery part. (See this post on broccoli for more info.) You may choose to mash or finely chop the edamame at this stage. Leave the noodles long so that baby can more easily pick them up.
For babies with a pincer grasp (baby uses the index finger and thumb to pick up small objects), you can chop the broccoli into very small pieces, about 1 cm or less, before adding to the cooking water. You can also cut the noodles into bite size pieces after cooking, or leave them long.
You can use this post on Noodles for Baby Led Weaning for more guidance on serving noodles, including this recipe.
A note on allergens
This recipe contains multiple common allergen foods (peanut, soy, wheat depending on the type of noodle, and sesame if you use the sesame seeds - sesame oil is not considered an allergen food since it does not contain the sesame protein). While it is good to keep them in baby's diet on a regular basis to prevent food allergies, you do want to make sure that baby has been safely introduced to each allergen individually before serving multiple at once. Nervous about allergens - get my complete Allergen Introduction Guide here!
Track your baby's journey through starting solids! Get my 100 First Foods Checklist and Allergen Checklist Bundle today!
Easy Baby Friendly Peanut Noodles Recipe
These easy, saucy, baby friendly peanut noodles with broccoli and edamame are quick to throw together, full of veggies and make a delicious lunch or dinner that's both baby led weaning and family friendly. They're great allergen exposure for baby, too!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 18 minutes
- Yield: 2 adult servings or 4 baby/toddler servings 1x
- Category: main dish
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- ⅓ cup creamy all natural peanut butter (just peanuts and salt)
- 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice (from about 1 juicy lime)
- 2 tsp fresh ginger (about 1 inch piece) or ginger paste
- 1 small cove garlic
- 1 ½ tbsp sesame oil
- 1-2 teaspoon sambal oelek or sriracha
- Optional: 1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup (12 months and older)
For noodles:
- 4 oz noodles of choice (such as plain ramen, rice vermicelli noodles, soba noodles, or regular spaghetti)
- 1 cup broccoli florets, fresh or frozen
- ½ cup frozen shelled edamame
- peanut sauce (about half the recipe from above)
- Any optional toppings: chopped green onion, cilantro, finely chopped peanuts, sesame seeds, shredded carrot, extra chili sauce or chili crunch
Instructions
- Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil while you make the peanut sauce.
- Make the peanut sauce. Finely grate the ginger and garlic with a microplane zester. Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients, adding warm water as needed to thin to a thick pourable consistency. Taste and adjust to your taste preferences as needed.
- Once water is boiling, add the noodles, broccoli and edamame and cook according to the package directions. Careful not to overcook. You don't want mushy noodles!
- Drain the noodles, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Do not rinse the noodles. Return them to the pan.
- Pour in about half of the peanut sauce and a little splash of the cooking liquid. Use tongs to toss the noddles in the sauce. Add more of the pasta water as needed to get a nice saucy consistency. Taste and add more peanut sauce if you'd like.
- Serve noodles with any toppings you like!
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
- This recipe contains multiple common allergen foods (peanut, soy, wheat depending on the type of noodle, and sesame if you use the sesame seeds - sesame oil is not considered an allergen food since it does not contain the sesame protein). While it is good to keep them in baby's diet on a regular basis to prevent food allergies, you do want to make sure that baby has been safely introduced to each allergen individually before serving multiple at once.
- More protein: If you want to add extra protein, feel free to toss in cooked chicken, shrimp, salmon, canned tuna, seared tofu, a fried egg, or extra edamame. (It's a great use for leftovers!)
- Sweeter sauce: Typically, peanut sauce will include some sort of sweetener. If you find you're missing a hint of sweetness, you can take out a bit for baby without the sugar, then make yours with a bit of honey, maple syrup or brown sugar to taste.
- Leftover peanut sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week. It makes a great dip for shrimp, tofu sticks, or veggies! Or thin it with more water to drizzle as a salad dressing or sauce for rice bowls.
Ingredient substitutions
- Peanut butter: Substitute almond butter or sunflower butter.
- Soy sauce: Substitute coconut aminos or tamari.
- Lime juice: You can substitute rice vinegar, but I like the flavor of lime juice better.
- Chile sauce: If you don't have sriracha or sambal oelek, you can use a pinch of red pepper flakes, or even gojuchang or chili crunch if that's what you have. Chili crunch may be spicier, so start with a half teaspoon.
Leave a Reply