This flavorful rice noodle recipe with shrimp and cabbage is a very easy, healthy dinner. We loved it!
Our PTA does fundraisers called “Count Me Ins.” Have you heard of them? People sign up to host some sort of party, event, or service, and other people sign up. There’s a fee for each slot, and all the money goes to the school while the host pays any expenses for the event. Last year I hosted a sangria party at my house, but this year I decided to offer weekly casserole delivery instead. It was a hit! For the next few weeks, I’m making and delivering casseroles to other families from our school. Last weekend I delivered two cabbage roll casseroles. Doubling the batch made a heck of a lot of casserole, and I didn’t have a pot big enough to triple it for us too. This meant making hot, tasty casseroles for others and then wondering what we were going to have for dinner!
After all that cooking and delivering, I decided I wanted a big bowl of noodles. Now, I love spaghetti with meat sauce as much as the next guy, but sometimes I want my noodles to be Asian inspired. That’s where these spicy rice noodles come in. The sweet, spicy sauce in this simple stir fry is so satisfying that you won’t even believe you’re eating healthy. We love this dish, and it’s a really quick and easy dinner.
I used the chili garlic sauce from Asian Green Beans with Ground Turkey over Rice, so you might have some on hand if you made that recipe. If you want to turn down the heat, try hoisin sauce instead of chili sauce. Enjoy!

Prep Time | 15 minutes |
Cook Time | 10 minutes |
Servings |
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- 8 ounces rice noodles also called pad thai noodles
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons chili garlic sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 head napa cabbage sliced into thin strips
- 1 small bunch of green onions sliced into 1/2" pieces
- 2 carrots thinly sliced
- 1 pound uncooked medium shrimp peeled
Ingredients
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- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook noodles according to package directions, drain, and set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, chili sauce, and brown sugar.
- Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add green onions and carrots, and stir fry for 3 minutes. Add shrimp, and stir fry for 2 minutes longer, until shrimp are mostly pink.
- Add shredded cabbage and stir into shrimp and vegetables. Pour sauce over cabbage, and continue stirring in. (You might think this is too much cabbage and too little sauce, but the cabbage cooks down a lot and adds water to dilute the sauce.)
- When cabbage is mostly wilted, stir in cooked noodles until ingredients are well combined. Serve, slurp, and enjoy!
Adapted from Yakisoba Chicken at Allrecipes.com.
If you want your noodles to be less spicy, you can substitute hoisin sauce for the chili garlic sauce. If you make that change, be sure to use low-sodium soy sauce.
These are a few of my kitchen staples for Asian recipes (affiliate links):
Here are some other stir fry dinners you won’t want to miss:
Looks yummy….want to try this!! I have all the ingredients except for the napa cabbage, can regular green cabbage be substituted??
This was delicious! I followed your suggestions to tame down the peppery part and used 1 T. of the chili garlic sauce and then ultimately 3 TBSP of hoisin sauce. My husband ate two servings, saying he really shouldn’t on the 2nd one but it was too good NOT to, LOL. Oh, I did put a bit of chopped cilantro on it at the end but that was only because I like it. The dish would have been just fine without its inclusion. I can’t help but wonder if the grandkids would be okay with trying it.
What a neat fund raising idea for school. And I love this easy noodle recipe. It looks and sounds delicious!
I can’t remember the number now, but we just had an auction and raised a few thousand dollars just with the count me ins. They are a really popular fundraiser. Thanks, Joanie!
I have been wanting to make more Asian noodle recipes at home. Noodles are huge out here in Hawaii, but I’ve wanted to give them a shot all on my own. I’ll have to try yours out! Oh, and your weekly casserole delivery sounds amazing! I wish I were closer so I could sign up to receive one of your’s! :)
It makes me a little nervous to deliver food to people. What if they don’t like it?? Fortunately both families last week loved theirs (or so they said). I need to get to Hawaii at some point. How long do you think you’ll be there?
I have never heard of that type of fundraiser, but I love the sound of it…wish our schools would do that. And while I love a good, hearty casserole, I also love noodle bowls like this. Tender shrimp, tender-crisp veggies, noodles and a tasty sauce, plus it’s quick – what more could a girl ask for!?
You could get the idea started at your school! You just need several families to sign up to host them and a way to spread the word and get people to sign up. I’m happy that you like the recipe. Thank you, Heather!
Oh I want this! I have been on a major seafood kick lately!
I think you would love it, Annie. Thank you!
We also make a similar noodle dish (we love the Japanese noodle dishes at our local sushui restaurants.) Actually, it was my husband’s recipe first and then I stole it :) Yours looks really easy and I cannot wait to show him it.
Have you posted your husband’s recipe? I’ll have to go check! Maybe I can try your version :)
I cannot wait to try this! What a cool idea to do the weekly casserole delivery!
Thank you, Jaren!