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peanut noodles with cabbage and basil

Jump To Recipe by Katie on September 29, 2016 (updated 4/30/19) // 10 Comments »

These peanut noodles with crunchy purple cabbage and fresh basil are so delicious, you may bust into song when you see them! Once I started thinking about them, I felt like that Hank Williams Song, “Can’t get you off my mind.” Except, I didn’t resort to crying all night, instead I hit the kitchen.

DISCLOSURE: I was asked to participate in the “#OrganicforAll” campaign as a member of the Healthy Aperture Blogger Network and O Organics. I received free product for recipe testing and was compensated for my time.

First, A little back story to explain why I became obsessed. When O Organics, in conjunction with Healthy Aperture, asked if I would be willing to write a post about their grocery items, I got super excited at the prospect of being given a blind basket of sorts. This is the kind of thing that we got to do in culinary school, and me being kinda sorta really a bit competitive, well, I got a wee bit excited to see what was in store for me.

So when the huge box of all sorts of grocery goodies arrived, my imagination started to run and run. Look at it all! My daughters had to be held back from pouncing right on the bag of popcorn until I decided what I was going to make.

Creating This Healthy Peanut Noodles Recipes

There were so many items, I was having a hard time narrowing it down. As is often the case, inspiration for the blind basket came to me on a run (running is one of my favorite times to brainstorm about recipe ideas). That’s when I came up with the idea of using the peanut butter, pasta and maple syrup to make peanut noodles.

I started thinking about the fact that the shape of the penne pasta makes it sort of like pasta salad. So I could load in the veggies, and they wouldn’t settle to the bottom of the bowl, the way they would with traditional fettuccine or linguine. I couldn’t run home fast enough. I was already drooling at the idea!

I picked up the other ingredients for this post at my local Shaw’s market. While I was winding my way around the store, trying to not let my daughter distract me too much, I saw a whole bunch of these O Organics products throughout the store. It was like, now that I had seen them, I couldn’t stop seeing them. I couldn’t get them off my mind 😉

According to the handy guide that came with my blind basket, there are actually more than 300 items in the line, available exclusively at Shaw’s and Star Market stores, from fruits and vegetables to dairy, meat and cereal. Apparently, the O Organics line is growing, and they’re going to be adding more items this year. When given the choice I almost always choose organic over conventional, so for me having all of those choices makes shopping super easy.

Tips on Making These Healthy Peanut Noodles

Making homemade peanut noodles is incredibly easy, but there are a few things to remember when making this vegetarian dinner recipe:

1. Cook the pasta until al dente—you don’t want to overcook the pasta, as it’ll soak up the peanut sauce once you mix everything together. If you cook the pasta too much, it’ll only get mushier after you add in the sauce. You want slightly firm peanut noodles that can hold their own against all those veggies.

2. Use pure maple syrup—when buying the ingredients for these peanut noodles, make sure to grab pure maple syrup and not the artificially flavored stuff. Real maple syrup is loaded with nutrients and is a natural sweetener, whereas artificial maple syrup is basically just flavored corn syrup. It would be way too sweet for these peanut noodles!

3. Use fresh ginger, if possible—I know not everyone keeps fresh ginger in their house, but it’s definitely worth using in this easy recipe. The fresh ginger adds the perfect punch of flavor in this recipe without overshadowing the peanut sauce. Just make sure to finely mince the ginger, otherwise you’ll bite down on a big chunk of the stuff.

4. Utilize the pasta water—pasta water is an often overlooked ingredient, but it’s really useful in this peanut noodles recipe. I’ve used the hot pasta water to thin out the peanut butter and make the peanut sauce. The starchy pasta water helps the peanut sauce thicken up nicely and prevents you from wasting anything in this recipe.

Thank you so much for reading. If you make these peanut noodles with cabbage and basil, be sure to give a shout out on Facebook or Instagram letting me know!

Happy Cooking!

More Easy Pasta Recipes:

Pasta with Corn and Smoked Mozzarella

Healthy Greek Yogurt Pasta Salad with Ham and Peas

Minestrone Soup

20-Minute Cheese Tortellini and Veggies

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Don’t miss this Ultimate Guide to Cabbage!