Sesame Noodles with Chicken
Use leftover rotisserie chicken and these slightly spicy Sesame Noodles With Chicken can be ready in minutes, and this is so tasty. I’m updating this recipe to use Fiber Gourmet Light Spaghetti for a version with 16 net carbs per serving and 20 grams of protein; you can also use more chicken if you want a version that will be even lower in carbs.
PIN Sesame Noodles with Chicken to try it later!
This recipe for Sesame Noodles with Chicken is something I first made years ago after my brother Mark and his wife Lisa showed up at my house with a rotisserie chicken for dinner. Rotisserie chicken always means leftover chicken for me, and I ended up being very happy I had leftovers to inspire me to try this recipe, because I loved the combination of noodles with chicken and a slightly-spicy soy-sesame dressing.
It’s the savory and spicy combination of rice vinegar, soy sauce, peanut oil, minced ginger, Chili Garlic Sauce, sesame oil, and a little Golden Monkfruit Sweetener in the dressing that makes these sesame noodles with chicken so good, and I added some green onions and cilantro for even more flavor.
This is a recipe I made often back in the days when I used to eat whole wheat spaghetti. But recently Kara and I decided to try making it with Fiber Gourmet Light Spaghetti, and wow, it was such a hit. And using this type of high-fiber lower-carb pasta turns this into a dish with about 16 net carbs per serving (and 20 grams of protein), so now it’s something I would make a lot more often!
What ingredients do you need?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Fiber Gourmet Light Spaghetti (affiliate link), or other spaghetti of your choice
- salt for pasta water
- diced cooked chicken
- green onions
- chopped cilantro (optional)
- toasted sesame seeds (affiliate link) for garnish, optional
- Unseasoned Rice Vinegar (affiliate link), without added sugar
- soy sauce or Gluten-Free Soy Sauce (affiliate link)
- Peanut Oil (affiliate link)
- Chili Garlic Sauce (affiliate link)
- Minced Ginger (affiliate link) or grated fresh ginger root
- Asian sesame oil (affiliate link)
- Golden Monkfruit Sweetener(affiliate link)
More about Fiber Gourmet Light Pasta:
It might be obvious that after years of avoiding wheat pasta, I am definitely infatuated with the Fiber Gourmet Light Pasta! This is a type of specialty pasta that’s made in Italy and tastes just like regular pasta, but has more fiber (for fewer net carbs), and is also high in protein. The biggest drawback to the Fiber Gourmet Light Pasta for many people will be the price. I haven’t found it in stores near me, so I buy it at Amazon where you can buy a package of 6 boxes and get it for $6.66 per box. (affiliate link). For me it’s such a treat to have “real” pasta without so many carbs that don’t mind buying six boxes at once. And since this recipe stretches one four-serving box of spaghetti to make 5 servings of Sesame Noodles, that also makes it more affordable.
What gives these noodles the sesame flavor?
It’s the Asian sesame oil (affiliate link) that gives these noodles the sesame flavor, and that does add a fairly strong flavor. You can start with a smaller amount of sesame oil in the sauce and taste it before adding the full amount if you’re not sure how much you like it.
What if you’re not a cilantro fan?
Just use a bit more sliced green onion in the Sesame Noodles if you’re not someone who enjoys the flavor of cilantro.
How spicy are these Sesame Noodles with Chicken?
The sauce uses a tablespoon of Chili Garlic Sauce, which is a spicy Asian ingredient. If you’re not sure you want that much heat, start out with a teaspoon and taste, adding more until it seems spicy enough for you. I haven’t tried substituting Sriracha Sauce for the Chili Garlic Sauce, but I think that would also be good.
Want Sesame Noodles with Chicken that are even lower in carbs?
I think you could easily add another cup of diced chicken and keep the other ingredients the same if you want to make a version of this recipe with even fewer carbs.
Want a lower-sodium version of Sesame Noodles with Chicken?
Nutritional information for this recipe is calculated with Gluten-Free Soy Sauce (affiliate link) but you can definitely use low-sodium soy sauce to make a version with less sodium.
Want a vegetarian version of noodles with spicy Asian sauce?
If you’d like a similar recipe that’s vegetarian, check out my recipe for Noodles with Peanut Sauce.
How to make Sesame Noodles with Chicken:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- We used Fiber Gourmet Light Spaghetti (affiliate link) to make this a lower-carb dish. If you don’t care as much about carbs you can use whole wheat spaghetti or even regular spaghetti.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil, add about 2 tsp. salt, and add the spaghetti. (You can break it in half if you prefer shorter noodles.) Cook until the noodles are al dente.
- Whisk together unseasoned rice vinegar, soy sauce, peanut oil, chili garlic paste, minced ginger (or grated fresh ginger root), sesame oil, and Golden Monkfruit Sweetener to make the sauce.
- While spaghetti cooks, chop the chicken in small pieces. Put chicken into a Ziploc bag or a container with a tight lid and marinate it with part of the sauce.
- Slice the green onion and chop cilantro. (Just use a bit more green onion if you don’t want cilantro.)
- When the noodles are done, drain them in a colander, then put noodles back into the pan you cooked the pasta in and add the chicken with the sauce.
- Pour in the rest of the sauce and toss so noodles and chicken are well-coated with sauce.
- Then add the sliced green onions and chopped cilantro (if using) and toss just enough to combine.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds if using; serve immediately and wait for compliments.
- This is not bad when it’s been in the fridge overnight, but the noodles do absorb some of the sauce and it’s definitely best freshly made.
More Tasty Ideas for Fiber Gourmet Light Pasta:
- Pasta with Creamy Arugula Sauce
- Spaghetti with Garlic, Chard, and Pecorino-Romano Cheese
- Spaghetti Pasta Salad
- Tuna Macaroni Salad with Green Olives
- Family Favorite Shrimp and Macaroni Salad
Sesame Noodles with Chicken
When you use leftover rotisserie chicken these slightly-spicy and oh-so-tasty Sesame Noodles With Chicken can be ready in minutes! And we made this with Fiber Gourmet Light Spaghetti that's high in fiber to make it into a dish with about 15 net carbs per serving.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 8 oz. Fiber Gourmet Light Spaghetti (see notes)
- salt for pasta water, about 2 tsp.
- 2 cups diced cooked chicken (or more)
- 1 cup sliced green onions
- 1 bunch chopped cilantro (optional)
- toasted sesame seeds for garnish, optional
Sauce Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce (see notes)
- 3 T peanut oil (see notes)
- 1 1/2 T Chili Garlic Sauce (use more or less to taste, see notes)
- 2 T minced ginger or grated fresh ginger root
- 2 T Asian sesame oil
- 1 T Golden Monkfruit Sweetener
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt, then break spaghetti noodles in half and add to the boiling water.
- Stir, let it come to a boil again, then cook until noodles are tender but still have a little bite, for us this was about 18 minutes for Fiber Gourmet Spaghetti but I would start checking sooner than that.
- While pasta water is coming to a boil, combine unseasoned rice vinegar, soy sauce, peanut oil, Chili Garlic Paste, minced ginger, sesame oil, and Golden Monkfruit Sweetener to make the flavorful sauce.
- While the noodles are cooking, chop the chicken into same-size pieces about 1/2 inch square, and combine chicken with about 1/3 cup of the sauce mixture to let it soak up the flavor of the sauce.
- Wash cilantro, spin dry or dry with paper towels, and chop. Slice the green onions. (If you're not a cilantro fan I would just use a bit more sliced green onion.)
- When noodles are cooked but still al dente, drain them into a colander placed in the sink.
- Put noodles back into pan you cooked them in and add the diced chicken that was marinating in the sauce.
- Pour the rest of the sauce mixture over chicken and noodles, then toss well enough that noodles and chicken are well-coated with the sauce mixture.
- Add chopped green onions (and chopped cilantro if using) and toss just enough to combine.
- Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds if using, and serve right away.
- This is not bad when it's kept in the fridge overnight, but the noodles do absorb the sauce a bit and it's definitely best freshly made.
Notes
If you don't care so much about the carbs, this recipe is also amazing made with whole wheat spaghetti, or other types of noodles.
If you're watching carbs at all, don’t use seasoned rice vinegar which contains sugar.
Be sure to use gluten-free soy sauce if needed.
Peanut Oil (affiliate link) is perfect for this dressing, but any neutral-flavored oil will work.
Either Chile Garlic Sauce (affiliate link) or Sriracha Sauce (affiliate link) will work for this recipe. Start with a smaller amount and taste until it's spicy enough for you.
This recipe can easily be doubled, but it doesn’t taste nearly as good after it’s been in the refrigerator overnight, so I’d only make as much as you can eat at one time.
Recipe adapted slightly from Sesame Chicken Noodle Salad recipe in Bon Appetit March 2003.
Nutrition Information
Yield
5Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 358Total Fat 22gSaturated Fat 4.3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 15.7gCholesterol 52mgSodium 878mgCarbohydrates 36.5gFiber 20.1gSugar 1.1gProtein 20.6g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycmic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
When this Sesame Noodles with Chicken is made with Fiber Gourmet Light Spaghetti it will have about 16 net carbs and 20 grams of protein per serving, which should work for some low-carb diets. It would probably still be too high in carbs for Keto. Personally I would eat this for phase 2 or 3 of the original South Beach Diet, although I’m not sure the Fiber Gourmet Light Pasta fits the “letter of the law” requirements for South Beach.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Pasta Recipes to find more like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe was first posted in 2010 and I made it often back in the days when I used to eat whole wheat pasta. It was updated with new photos and the recommendation for Fiber Gourmet Light Spaghetti in 2023, and I am looking forward to making this more often again!
36 Comments on “Sesame Noodles with Chicken”
I just discovered the Palmini brand noodles (super low carb; pre-biotic fiber) and have used them to make pesto with angel hair and even a lasagna (with cottage cheese and ground turkey). I really like their products since I eat low carb and will not eat any type of carby pasta. I would use the Palmini linguine noodles in this adding coconut aminos and toasted sesame oil in this recipe; sounds yummy.
If you search “Palmini” on my site you’ll see I have quite a few recipes using them. I think they are a good alternative for this recipe for people who don’t want any kind of pasta that has wheat.
Would rice noodles work?
I haven't tried it that way, but thicker rice noodles might work. You might need to thin down the sauce a little with some stock or water.
We tried this for lunch today and it was delicious. I will be tweaking the recipe next time though. I feel like it needs garlic and maybe a T of brown sugar to play against the spiciness. Can't wait to try this again…thank you for the recipe! 🙂
Tweak away, I am always in favor of people adjusting to their personal preferences. Glad you like it!
Rita, sounds good to me!
I tried your Spicy Whole Wheat Sesame Noodle with Chicken, Green Onions and Cilantro with the following changes: I used Soba Buckwheat Noodle and tossed in raw shrimp as the noodles finished cooking. I followed the rest of your recipe using the shrimp instead of the chicken for a different variation.
Rita
I doubled the sauce recipe and marinated some tofu in it, then used all of the sauce in the noodles. I added a little squeeze of lime to the noodles because I felt like something was missing, and it turned out nicely.
Happy to hear it was a hit!
I combined this recipe with your Whole Wheat Pasta and Spicy Peanut Sauce and it was absolutely fabulous; I mixed all cooked ingredients in my wok to bring everything to temperature with about 1/2 T of sesame oil. My boyfriend saw the whole wheat pasta laying out, sighed, and then after tasting the finished product declared this was the best trickery he had tasted!
Regina, I like the idea of adding more veggies, glad to hear it was a hit!
I tripled the recipe and added a bag of stir fry vegetables and took some to a potluck at my church and left some for my family too, and it was all gone, everyone loved it! I'll be adding it to my monthly family recipes.
I made this for dinner tonight and found it really satisfying. I thought it was just a bit too sour so I drizzled just a tiny bit of honey over my bowl (maybe 1/8 tsp)and mixed it in, and I thought that tasted better. Thanks for sharing!
Jenn, I'm coming to your house tomorrow for dinner, so how about if I bring some?
YUM! That's totally my kind of food! I'm going to ask my mom to make this! Thank Aunt Kalyn!
-Jennica
This post totally made my mouth water. I LOVE the blue pan presentation.
Spicy Asian Noodle salads are one of my favorite things. I bet this would be AWESOME with peanut butter too.
Printing out now 😀
Thanks for the recipe… I also experiments with vermicelli (yes i know this was not very healthy) and my home made noodles.
About tempeh, you could either saute the tempeh or boil it in short time before putting it in.
This sound wonderful and healthy!
This looks absolutely delicious…filled with all the flavors I love! That WW spaghetti at Costco is our favorite, too. YUMMM!!!
gourmified.blogspot.com
Smilinggreenmom, I haven't tried pasta with kamut, but this brand is 100% whole wheat.
Oh yum! This looks and sounds so fabulous 🙂 I will have to look into this pasta as we really try hard to use only whole grains when possible. Our favorite is Kamut – have you heard of this? It just has such a nice flavor and texture. I think my hubs would love the spice in this and I am so excited to try it – thanks!
What a sublime dish, Kalyn!!
I so love these tasty & lovely flavours!!
I've never tried this brand of whole wheat pasta, but I love the flavor of Barilla, in fact prefer whole wheat now than the "regular". I admit I'm part of a minority, though… 🙂
Loved the recipe!
Donna, I didn't think it was that good after it had been refrigerated overnight, but you could definitely eat it cold the day you make it.
Yum! This looks like it would be good cold, too.
Donna
I love sesame noodles…what a perfect use for a leftover rotisserie!
I make a similar recipe, but the sauce also has peanut butter and a little bit of brown sugar. I've made it with whole wheat noodles, but also soba and udon noodles. Tofu is great for the protein, just cubed and added to the noodles for about a minute before draining them.
This sounds delicious and I love the whole wheat noodles! Great recipe!
This is a great idea and I wish I still had the leftover chicken I had yesterday. well, next time!
I love any options that include whole wheat noodles, and for me, ginger is the miracle ingredient! This looks so good – I've been leaning towards more stir fries with noodles for weeknight recipes.
Lydia, it's interesting but this is the only brand of whole wheat spaghetti I've tried that I like. It's made in Italy and the flavor is really good.
I do think you could make this with fried tofu (and probably tempeh or seitan, although I don't have any experience cooking with them. I also found myself thinking that shrimp would be good in it.
I love making sesame noodles with leftover chicken (and I am roasting a chicken tonight). Looks like I just found tomorrow's lunch!
This looks great and I think the flavors would "hide" the whole wheat noodles just fine! I am a huge fan of the rotisserie chicken too. Makes things so quick and easy! But, I was wondering about trying it with tofu/tempeh/seitan. I have been trying to branch out on my proteins. How do you think that would work?
I'm not a huge fan of whole wheat noodles (perhaps because I haven't found the right brand), but I love using leftover rotisserie chicken or turkey breast in noodle dishes with Asian sauces. I'll try this with Dreamfields pasta. I'm bookmarking!
I love whole wheat noodle dishes. Great flavors going on in this dish.