San Francisco-Style Vietnamese American Garlic Noodles

By J. Kenji López-Alt

Updated February 17, 2025

  • A tangle of San Francisco-style Vietnamese garlic noodles is shown in a shallow black bowl with a black fork.
    Sang An for The New York Times. Food Stylist; Simon Andrews.
Media 1 of 3
Total Time
15 minutes
Rating
4(10,988)
Comments
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These noodles, adapted from the cookbook "The Wok" by J. Kenji López-Alt, and based on the noodle dish originally created and served by Helene An at San Francisco’s Thanh Long restaurant, are extraordinarily simple and delicious on their own, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fancy them up a bit. They go very well with seafood, and some raw, shell-​on shrimp stir-​fried along with the garlic right from the start would be an excellent addition. You could also add a few spoonfuls of tarako or mentaiko — ​Japanese salted pollock roe. Sushi-​style flying fish roe (tobiko) or salmon roe (ikura) would also be a great addition, as would chunks of crab or lobster meat, or even Western-​style caviar (if you’re feeling flush).

Featured in: These Garlic Noodles Cross Cultures, but Are Deeply San Franciscan

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

  • 20 medium garlic cloves, minced or smashed in a mortar and pestle

  • 4 teaspoons oyster sauce

  • 2 teaspoons light soy sauce or shoyu

  • 2 teaspoons fish sauce

  • 1 pound dry spaghetti

  • 1 ounce grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano (heaping ¼ cup)

  • A small handful of thinly sliced scallions (optional)

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

91 grams carbs; 38 milligrams cholesterol; 579 calories; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 15 grams fat; 4 grams fiber; 607 milligrams sodium; 19 grams protein; 3 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Melt the butter in a wok or saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add the oyster sauce, soy sauce and fish sauce, and stir to combine. Remove from the heat.

  2. Step 2

    Meanwhile, bring 1 ½ inches of water to a boil in a 12-​inch skillet or sauté pan over high heat. (Alternatively, heat up just enough water to cover the spaghetti in a large Dutch oven or saucepan.) Add the pasta, stir a few times to make sure it’s not clumping, and cook, stirring occasionally, until just shy of al dente (about 2 minutes short of the recommended cook time on the package).

  3. Step 3

    Using tongs, transfer the cooked pasta to the garlic sauce, along with whatever water clings to it. (Reserve the pasta water in the skillet.) Increase the heat to high, add the cheese to the wok, and stir with a wooden spatula or spoon and toss vigorously until the sauce is creamy and emulsified, about 30 seconds. If the sauce looks too watery, let it keep reducing. If it looks greasy, splash some more cooking water into it and let it re-​emulsify. Stir in the scallions (if using), and serve immediately.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
10,988 user ratings
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Comments

Ian from Salt Spring Island, BC Canada

I’ve been using my meat tenderizing mallet for smashing garlic lately. Turns it into a creamy paste. Does a great job and I’ll use it with this recipe.

Gigi

As a Vietnamese immigrant whose parents owned a restaurant for decades in Denver, I would like to add another essential condiment/sauce in the canon of Vietnamese cooking called Maggi. My family makes this dish using Maggi and not fish sauce. Just thought I'd offer this up as another way to make these yummy noodles. Maggi, in its iconic curvaceous dark brown bottle, is not made of soy but wheat protein. You will often that tangy saltiness in Vietnamese sandwiches.

Eileen

I keep a large bulb of garlic, roots intact, in a small vase (one that held a hyacinth bulb purchased at Aldi works well). Use the tall green shoots from the garlic instead of scallions to add flavor and greenery to any number of dishes. The roots that grow swirl in a lovely pattern in the bottom of the vase, and the bulb will continue to produce shoots for weeks.

Sarah Hahn

I added one egg yolk in with the parm, and it made it extra creamy and silky, like a Vietnamese carbonara :) Insanely delicious!!

Aaron Friedman

There is so much talk about how to prep the garlic on here. Seriously, buy a decent granite mortar & pestle. It's by far the easiest method and it's super easy to clean as well. I wasn't sure I would use it that much when I got it, but I do. I've barely touched my spice grinder in years.

vinayak m

enjoyed the recepie. learnt some thing new about garlic. nicely explained

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