Loads of scallions, chopped garlic, sesame seeds, crispy bits of ground chicken, your favorite gluten-free pasta, and a punchy umami-rich sauce make these fragrant scallion noodles absolutely irresistible. It’s the perfect back-pocket weekday dinner, but also a crowd-pleaser that you can make for guests or as simple yet impressive date-night-in fare!
The MOST delicious gluten-free scallion noodles with perfect bites of ground chicken and tons of garlicky flavor
These fragrant garlic scallion noodles with ground chicken is the pasta dish that we have been making over and over again lately.
It requires minimal fresh ingredients (read: so pantry friendly!), and outside of the chopping of the scallions, garlic, and cilantro, is very low effort with a huge reward of big, punchy flavor.
It’s also cozy and filling – both qualities that I consider essential when we’re making pasta for dinner.
I’ve been making a version of this recipe for a long time, but typically I’ve made it without meat, and usually just as a single serving. But when I recently doubled the recipe to serve for dinner and wanted to make it a more complete meal by adding ground chicken, it turned out so incredibly delicious that I knew I had to share the recipe on NK!
👉🏼 If you love an yummy weeknight meal made with ground chicken as much as we do be sure to take a peek at our recipes for Soft and Tender Greek Chicken Meatballs, Gluten Free Cashew Chicken Stir Fry, Cashew Cream Buffalo Chicken Chili, & Gluten Free Pan-Seared Chicken Patties!
Some key ingredients
🌿 This noodle dish is mostly made with ingredients that you’ll probably already have stocked in your pantry, with the exception of the ground chicken and a few fresh items like scallions, garlic, and cilantro.
The pasta
I almost always reach for a long pasta when I make this dish. Spaghetti, fettuccine, tagliatelle, or linguine are some of our favorites.
The one exception for a short pasta option that I have used and loved is Mafalda, which is actually typically a long pasta, but the gluten free Mafalda by Jovial is short. The ruffled edges create the best texture and hold the meaty sauce so well!
If you want to see what that pasta looks like in a recipe it’s what I used in our recipe for Dairy Free Butternut Squash Pasta.
The sauce ingredients
For the sauce, we’re striking a balance between salty, sweet, and bright flavors. The BEST trio for a recipe like this, IMO!
Which is why I chose to use both coconut aminos and tamari. Coconut aminos are naturally slightly sweet, which adds such an excellent, crave-worthy depth to the sauce, and the tamari is salty and punchy.
The rice vinegar is there to brighten things up, and while I haven’t tried it, I suspect you could easily substitute it with white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar.
In more traditional scallion noodle recipes, Chinkiang vinegar – a type of black Chinese vinegar, is often used to add acidity to the sauce; but (while delicious), it’s not gluten-free.
Chili flakes
I used Aleppo chili flakes for this recipe because I’m obsessed with them, and they were what I had on hand. They’re milder than traditional chili flakes and have a somewhat fruity flavor profile.
A more authentic option would be to use Gochugaru, which are Korean chili flakes, and slightly more spicy than Aleppo but not as spicy as Italian chili flakes.
How to make fragrant garlic scallion noodles with ground chicken
The majority of the effort required to make this recipe is in chopping the fresh ingredients – scallions, garlic, and cilantro. For a recipe like this, I like to chop and measure everything before I even turn on the stove. Prepping before you cook will help ensure that the cooking process goes smoothly!
🌿 Prep tip! Because you’ll be using so many green onions, I recommend cleaning them all (peeling off any not-so-fresh outer layers), and then lining them up in groups of 3-5 to slice. This will cut down on time you spend chopping!
Garnish & dig in!
Once your noodles are prepared all that’s left to do is season, garnish, and serve!
You may want to add a little more salt or even some black pepper (to taste!).
And then top the noodles off with those dark green thinly sliced scallions you reserved and some extra sesame seeds.
If you enjoyed these scallion noodles we’d love it if you would take a moment to rate and review it below! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 It’s also a great place for questions, and super helpful for other readers if you share any modifications you made to the recipe.
Thank you for sharing your kitchen with NK. We’re so grateful you’re here!
Print
Fragrant Garlic Scallion Noodles with Ground Chicken (Gluten Free)
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 5 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Loads of scallions, chopped garlic, sesame seeds, crispy bits of ground chicken, your favorite gluten-free pasta, and a punchy umami-rich sauce make these fragrant scallion noodles absolutely irresistible. It’s the perfect back-pocket weekday dinner, but also a crowd-pleaser that you can make for guests or as simple yet impressive date-night-in fare!
Ingredients
- 12 ounces gluten free pasta – we like to use spaghetti, linguine, or for a short pasta shape, Mafalda
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 10–12 scallions (green onions), thinly sliced – a few of the dark green parts reserved for garnish
- 6–8 cloves of garlic, grated with a microplane or very finely chopped
- 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons Gochugaru, Aleppo, or regular chili flakes, to taste (optional – if using regular chili flakes use less – they’re spicier!)
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, plus more to garnish
- 1/3 cup coconut aminos
- 2 tablespoons tamari (gluten free soy sauce)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste, if desired
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions, but undercook by about 1 minute to prevent the pasta from getting overly soft once added to the sauce. While the pasta is cooking, you can continue with preparing the recipe. Drain pasta and set aside.
- Make the sauce. Add the coconut aminos, tamari, and rice vinegar to a small jar or measuring cup and stir to combine.
- Cook the ground chicken, scallions, and garlic. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, immediately reduce the heat to medium and add 2 tablespoons of neutral oil and tilt the pan to evenly coat the bottom. Add the ground chicken and press into a flat layer. Allow to sear for a minute or two until it easily releases from the bottom of the pan and cook, breaking up with a spatula, until cooked through and the liquid released from the meat has evaporated. Move the chicken to the side of the skillet and add 1 tablespoon sesame oil to the open space. Add white and light green part of sliced scallions, garlic, and chili flakes (if using). Sauté briefly – for about 1 minute, stirring continuously – until garlic is fragrant and scallions are lightly wilted – being careful not to let the garlic burn.
- Finish making the sauce. Fold the sautéed scallion, garlic, and chili flake mixture into the ground chicken and add the cilantro and sesame seeds, stirring to combine. Sauté for another 1-2 minutes until cilantro has wilted. Add the coconut aminos, tamari, and rice vinegar mixture to the skillet and stir again, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a brief simmer and immediately turn off the heat – you don’t want too much of the sauce to evaporate.
- Assemble the pasta. Add the pasta to the skillet and toss together using tongs to coat the noodles with the ground chicken sauce (a large spoon is helpful to scoop the meaty bits of sauce onto the noodles!). Taste and season to taste with salt and pepper if desired. Garnish with reserved scallions and additional sesame seeds. Serve and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove top
- Cuisine: Asian
Leave a Reply