These Instant Pot Garlic Noodles are a quick, flavorful meal made with simple pantry ingredients and loaded with bold garlic flavor. Everything cooks in one pot, making cleanup a breeze and dinner ready in under 20 minutes. Perfect for a cozy weeknight meal or an easy side dish with Asian-inspired mains.
I love noodles. I will take noodles for lunch, dinner, and even as a snack. Give me any kind – Hakka noodles, Lo Mein, Spaghetti, any of them!
Since I discovered that I can make noodles as an easy one-pot meal in the Instant Pot, I have been on a roll with making them weekly. I love that I don’t have to boil the noodles separately, drain the liquid, and then stir-fry them. There are so many dishes to clean with this method. I will take the one-pot option, please!
So, let’s get started on making these garlic noodles in the Instant Pot. Pair these noodles with sweet corn soup, garlic green beans, and garlic chili potatoes for an excellent meal!
Table of Contents
Ingredients
Oil: I used some regular oil (I used avocado oil) and a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil, which gives a punch of flavor to these noodles. You can also use butter in place of oil in these noodles.
Noodles: You can use thin spaghetti in this recipe. Canton noodles can also be used; they hold their shape well when cooked under pressure.
Garlic: Don’t shy away from garlic when making these noodles. They are the star ingredient.
Green Onions: Separate the white and green parts and chop them.
Sauces: Use light soy sauce, oyster sauce (can use vegan), and red chili sauce (I used Sambal Oelek)
Brown Sugar: Helps to balance the flavors.
Broth: Adds more flavor; use vegetable or chicken broth. But you can also use water to cook the noodles.
Sesame Seeds: I used white sesame seeds as a garnish.
Which Noodles Work Best in the Instant Pot?
My favorite to use in the Instant Pot is thin spaghetti to make these noodles. But you also can use angel hair pasta, linguine, or fettuccine. The cooking time will be half the time on the package minus one.
If you want to use Asian-style noodles, I highly recommend these thick Canton noodles. Cook them for 4 minutes on high pressure.
Some people have had great success with rice noodles (Thai Kitchen stir-fry rice noodles). Pressure cook for just 3 minutes.
In all of the noodle recipes, I recommend quick releasing the pressure, so they do not overcook.
Pro-Tips
Add veggies: I have not added many veggies and kept this recipe very basic. However, you can add your choice of vegetables, such as bell peppers, onions, shallots, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, or snap peas.
Add chicken: You can also add some chicken if you like. Cut chicken thighs or breast into small cubes. Add after the garlic and onions, and saute for 2 minutes until the outside turns white. Then follow the recipe.
Do not overcook: Make sure to quick release the pressure, so the noodles don’t overcook.
Top with Parmesan: Add some grated Parmesan on top while serving to make garlic Parmesan noodles.
Make it vegan: Ensure you use a vegan oyster sauce. You can also replace it with hoisin sauce.
Double the recipe: You can easily double this recipe. The pressure cooking time will remain the same.
These noodles are great for family gatherings; kids love them. Enjoy these noodles as a main dish or have them as a side with panang curry or green curry.
Fun Fact: Here is the original image for this recipe that I shot in 2017.
Instant Pot Garlic Noodles
Equipment
Video
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon Oil or Butter, use any neutral oil, I used avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon Toasted Sesame Oil
- 8 ounces Thin Spaghetti , or Canton Noodles
- 8-10 cloves Garlic, finely diced or minced
- 2 Scallion or Green onion, white and green parts separated, chopped
- 2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce , use vegan if needed
- 1/2-1 tablespoon Red Chili Sauce , I used Sambal Oelek
- 1 teaspoon Brown Sugar
- 2 cups Vegetable Broth, or Water
- Salt , to taste
- 1 teaspoon Sesame seeds , to garnish
Instructions
- Heat the Instant Pot in Saute mode. Add oil and toasted sesame oil.
- Add the garlic and white part of the scallions. Saute for a minute until they are fragrant. Make sure the garlic does not burn. Turn off the instant pot.
- Break the spaghetti in half and place them in a zigzag pattern in the Instant Pot.
- Top with soy sauce, oyster sauce, chili sauce, and brown sugar.
- Add the broth and press the noodles down, so they are all covered with the liquid.
- Close the lid with the vent in the sealing position. Start the Instant Pot in pressure cook mode for 5 minutes at high pressure.
- Once the instant pot beeps, quick release the pressure manually. Stir the noodles, and let them rest for 2 minutes.
- If needed, sprinkle salt to your taste. Top with the green part of scallions and sesame seeds. Garlic noodles are ready to be enjoyed!
This was amazing and for no oil plant based individuals, just add more veggies and omit the oil. The recipe turned out very well. I am a fan. Noodles are my all time favorite and this allows me to make it whenever I feel like it.
Hey Anu – So glad you enjoyed the noodles. Thank you for sharing back your review. I loved seeing your safari pictures ?
Awesome receipes in Instant pot. I was looking for somthing like this.
Thank you Namrata! I hope you enjoy it 🙂
I made this last Saturday. I think I added a little too much water but the flavors were spot on. After opening I did turn to on saute mode to reduced water. That did the trick and also thicken up. It was a hit with the family.
Hey Sneha – Glad you enjoyed the Noodles made in the Instant Pot. I am enjoying not having to do multiple steps with noodles and pasta 🙂
These turned out PERFECTLY for us and was a huge hit! I used egg white lo mein noodles because I couldn’t find canton noodles, and just cooked for 3 min instead of 4. Turned out perfectly. Thank you!
Hey Kelly – So happy to hear that the recipe worked with lo mein noodles too. Thank you for sharing your review!
The recipe worked for me as described . I used 2 cups of water as suggested above. The whole fam enjoyed it. Keep the instant pot recipes coming , Meeta.
So happy to hear, Tanzy. Thank your sharing back your review 🙂
This recipe definitely needed more water – I used chow mein noodles. Followed instructions and some of the noodles weren’t fully cooked through, so had to re-steam the dish after adding another half cup of water. It made the dish more sticky than I would have preferred. Also, I sauteed veggies and garlic before I added noodles.
Hello Roh – Sorry to hear you needed to add more water. I have only tested this recipe with Canton noodles. Thank you for sharing your experience, I hope that will help other readers to make perfect chowmein noodles.
I made these noodles and followed your recipe exactly and they came out great. Thank you for the recipe!
Hey Rachna – So happy to hear that you enjoyed the noodles 🙂
I don’t have instapot. Can I use this recipe in a pressure cooker on gas stove ? Please advise.
Hey Siri – I have not made this in a stovetop pressure cooker, so hard for me to say it will work out as is. If you try, do let me know how they turn out.
Hi Meeta,
Do you put the noodles in there dry or precooked?
Thank you
Meenu
Hi Meenu, I put the noodles dry in this recipe. I used thick noodles from the asian grocery store.
I had trouble getting all the noodles to be “wet” and hence almost half of the noodles were not cooked. I had to stir it in once more and then steam it again (I was afraid to pressure cook it once again as the vegetables might get smushed). Any suggestions? Maybe put the noodles in first and then the vegetables on top?
Hey Meenu – Thanks for your note. You did the right thing with not pressure cooking again. I made the noodles again last night, see the updated picture. I thing I did was – Stir the noodles well, so they are all coated with water before pressure cooking. I have mentioned this in the recipe steps now. I LOVE your idea of bell peppers/veggies on the top, so they don’t get overcooked. If you think more water would have helped, certainly add more next time as they can be different varieties of noodles. Mine came out perfect with 1 cup of water. I hope you enjoyed the taste though.
Thanks, Meeta
Hi Meeta,
This was a complete flop for me 🙁 My noodles weren’t cooked at all- despite getting them all wet and and putting the veggies on top!
Hey Elena – Sorry to hear. What type of noodles did you use? I have only tested this recipe with Canton noodles. I hope you were able to salvage the noodles by cooking them with more water.
Should it be in sealing position or venting??
Hey Chaitali – I do sealing position for these noodles. Also I used a thicker noodle variety, if you are using thin noodles, then please reduce the cooking time a bit. I hope you enjoy it!