• Home
  • RECIPE INDEX
  • EASY RECIPES
    • Easy Dinner
    • One-pot
    • Instant Pot
  • BY CUISINE
    • Asian Fusion
    • Chinese
    • Peranakan/Nyonya
    • CAMBODIA
    • LAOS
    • INDONESIAN
    • Indonesian Chinese
    • MALAYSIA
    • MYANMAR
    • SINGAPORE
    • Singapore Hawker Food
    • THAILAND
    • VIETNAM
  • BY COURSE
    • Breakfast
    • Dim Sum
    • Main Course
    • Soups/Stews
    • Salad
    • Sides
    • Condiments
    • Snacks
    • Desserts
  • INGREDIENTS
    • Rice & Grains
    • Noodles
    • Eggs
    • Tofu & Tempeh
    • Poultry
    • Red Meats
    • Pork
    • Seafood
  • SOURDOUGH
    • Sourdough Bread Recipes
    • Recipes Using Sourdough Discard
  • BREAD & BUNS
    • Steamed Buns
    • Bread with Yeast
    • No-Knead Bread
    • Quick Bread
  • CAKES/COOKIES/PASTRIES
    • Cakes
    • Chiffon Cakes
    • Sponge Cakes
    • Pastries
    • Cookies
    • Kue/Kueh
    • No-Bake Dessert
  • DIETARY
    • Gluten-free
    • Vegan
    • VEGETARIAN
    • CONFINEMENT
  • celebrate
    • Chinese New Year
    • Easter
    • Hari Raya
    • Dragon Boat Festival
    • Mooncake Festival
    • Thanksgiving
    • Winter Solstice
    • Christmas Cooking
    • Christmas Baking
What To Cook Today
  • ABOUT ME
    • CONTACT
  • Pantry
  • Shop
  • subscribe
  • Home
  • RECIPE INDEX
  • EASY RECIPES
    • Easy Dinner
    • One-pot
    • Instant Pot
  • BY CUISINE
    • Asian Fusion
    • Chinese
    • Peranakan/Nyonya
    • CAMBODIA
    • LAOS
    • INDONESIAN
    • Indonesian Chinese
    • MALAYSIA
    • MYANMAR
    • SINGAPORE
    • Singapore Hawker Food
    • THAILAND
    • VIETNAM
  • BY COURSE
    • Breakfast
    • Dim Sum
    • Main Course
    • Soups/Stews
    • Salad
    • Sides
    • Condiments
    • Snacks
    • Desserts
  • INGREDIENTS
    • Rice & Grains
    • Noodles
    • Eggs
    • Tofu & Tempeh
    • Poultry
    • Red Meats
    • Pork
    • Seafood
  • SOURDOUGH
    • Sourdough Bread Recipes
    • Recipes Using Sourdough Discard
  • BREAD & BUNS
    • Steamed Buns
    • Bread with Yeast
    • No-Knead Bread
    • Quick Bread
  • CAKES/COOKIES/PASTRIES
    • Cakes
    • Chiffon Cakes
    • Sponge Cakes
    • Pastries
    • Cookies
    • Kue/Kueh
    • No-Bake Dessert
  • DIETARY
    • Gluten-free
    • Vegan
    • VEGETARIAN
    • CONFINEMENT
  • celebrate
    • Chinese New Year
    • Easter
    • Hari Raya
    • Dragon Boat Festival
    • Mooncake Festival
    • Thanksgiving
    • Winter Solstice
    • Christmas Cooking
    • Christmas Baking
What To Cook Today
What To Cook Today
  • Home
  • ABOUT ME
    • CONTACT
  • SHOP
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • RECIPE INDEX
  • easy recipes
    • Easy Dinner
    • One-pot
    • Instant Pot
  • by course
    • Breakfast
    • Dim Sum
    • Main Course
    • Soups/Stews
    • Salad
    • Sides
    • Condiments
    • Snacks
    • Desserts
  • ingredients
    • Rice & Grains
    • Noodles
    • Eggs
    • Tofu & Tempeh
    • Poultry
    • Red Meats
    • Pork
    • Seafood
  • sourdough
    • Sourdough Bread Recipes
    • Recipes Using Sourdough Discard
  • bread & buns
    • Steamed Buns
    • Bread with Yeast
    • No-Knead Bread
    • Quick Bread
  • cakes/cookies/pastries
    • Cakes
    • Pastries
    • Chiffon Cakes
    • Sponge Cakes
    • Cookies
    • No-Bake Dessert
    • Kue/Kueh
  • dietary
    • Gluten-free
    • Vegan
    • VEGETARIAN
    • CONFINEMENT
  • celebrate
    • Chinese New Year
    • Easter
    • Hari Raya
    • Dragon Boat Festival
    • Mooncake Festival
    • Thanksgiving
    • Winter Solstice
    • Christmas Baking
    • Christmas Cooking

Easy Taiwanese Cold Noodles with Peanut Sauce (Liang Mian / 涼麵)

written by Marvellina Updated: August 23, 2023
15.9K
PIN RECIPE COMMENTS VIEW RECIPE RECIPE VIDEO
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

Nothing beats an easy, flavorful, and quick to make Taiwanese style cold noodles made with peanut sauce and simple seasonings. It can be served as a side dish or can be made a complete meal. Step-by-step photos and a short video tutorial are included.
Easy Taiwanese Cold Noodles (Liang Mian)

I’m sharing one of my family’s favorite cold noodle dishes. I love the fact that they are so easy to make and highly customizable. So if you are out of certain ingredients, you can always replace them with something else or add what you like or take out what you don’t like and you will still end up with a delicious and quick meal.

INGREDIENTS

1. What kind of noodles to use?
For this particular post, I used dried wheat noodles, which works out perfectly. I have also tried it with spaghetti, egg noodles, and instant ramen noodles and they work great as well. Buckwheat noodles, somen noodles, or any of your favorite noodles will work with this recipe as well.
Chinese dried wheat noodles

Chinese dried wheat noodles
2. Peanut sauce, sesame paste, or peanut butter?
In Taiwan, cold noodles are usually made with homemade peanut sauce and/or sesame paste (not tahini paste). Some cooks like to combine both or use either one. I didn’t make the homemade peanut sauce, but I use store-bought organic creamy peanut butter. So good and so much more convenient. Do use high-quality peanut butter that you like. If you like some texture, you can even use crunchy peanut butter

3. Sesame oil
I used roasted white sesame oil. Roasted black sesame oil works great too

4. Chinese black vinegar (Chinkiang black vinegar)
If you can’t find Chinese black vinegar, you can use rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar too. It’s not exactly the same, but it will contribute to that hint of tartness to the finished dish

5. Soy sauce
I use regular light soy sauce. You can use reduced-sodium or tamari to suit your dietary needs

6. Sugar
You would be wondering why we need to add sugar to a noodle dish. Sugar does add some hint of sweetness to this noodle, without being too much. I like to add a small amount of sugar in cooking too because it does bring out flavor

7. Toasted white sesame seeds
I usually get white sesame seeds that are already toasted, if yours haven’t been toasted, I highly recommend doing so because toasting adds that nuttiness. Plain white sesame seeds have no flavor at all. Feel free to use toasted black sesame seeds too for color contrast

8. Fried garlic bits
This is optional. I bought store-bought garlic bits and used this as a topping. You can skip if you prefer

9. Cucumber
I used Persian cucumber because they are less watery and very crispy compared to regular cucumber. You can also use English cucumber, baby cucumber or pickling cucumber too

Easy Taiwanese Cold Noodles (Liang Mian)

HOW TO MAKE TAIWANESE COLD NOODLES WITH PEANUT SAUCE

1. Cook the noodles according to the instruction on the package. Make sure you don’t overcook the noodles. It should be “al dente” (firm to bite). Rinse the cooked noodles under cold running water to stop the cooking process. Cover with a cling wrap and refrigerate in the fridge to chill the noodles if you want

2. Mix all ingredients for dressing in a mixing bowl. Whisk to combine everything. The amount of ingredients for dressing is just a reference. Feel free to add more or reduce some according to your preference. The sauce should be savory, tangy, a hint of spicyness (if you use chili oil) and sweetness

3. I toss the cooked noodles with the dressing directly and then top with cucumber, toasted sesame seeds and garlic bits.

Easy Taiwanese Cold Noodles (Liang Mian)

CUSTOMIZE YOU OWN

This noodle dish can be served as is or you can add more veggies and protein to make it a complete meal.
1. Veggies
You can use strips of bell peppers, strips of carrot, strips of white radish/daikon, beansprouts, shredded purple cabbage, etc

2. Protein
You can use leftover rotisserie chicken, shredded chicken meat, strips of egg omelette, fried eggs, soft-boiled eggs, strips of pan-fried tofu, edamame beans, etc

This cold noodle dish is very easy to make and you can make the sauce ahead and in bigger batch and keep them in a fridge or freezer, so I can easily use it when I want some cold noodles. What can I say, I can’t have enough.
Easy Taiwanese Cold Noodles (Liang Mian)

DID YOU MAKE THIS EASY TAIWANESE COLD NOODLE RECIPE?

I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
Easy Taiwanese Cold Noodles (Liang Mian)

Recipe was last published in 2011 and has been updated with improved recipe, photos, and video on October 16,2020.

Easy Taiwanese Cold Noodles (Liang Mian)

Easy Taiwanese Cold Noodles with Peanut Sauce (Liang Mian / 涼麵)

Prep Time 15 minutes mins
Cook Time 5 minutes mins
Total Time 20 minutes mins
5 from 10 reviews
REVIEW & RATE PRINT

Ingredients

  • 200 gr dried wheat noodles or noodle of your choice

Dressing:

  • 2 Tbsp Creamy peanut butter
  • 1 Tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 Tbsp chili oil optional
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp Chinese black vinegar
  • 3 Tbsp water room temperature

Toppings:

  • Persian or English cucumber
  • White sesame seeds toasted
  • Fried garlic bits

Instructions
 

Cook the noodles:

  • Cook the noodles according to the instruction on the package. Make sure you don't overcook the noodles. It should be "al dente" (firm to bite)
  • Rinse the cooked noodles under cold running water to stop the cooking process. Cover with a cling wrap and refrigerate in the fridge to chill the noodles if you want

Prepare the cucumber:

  • Halve the cucumber lengthwise and then use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Halve the cucumber again horizontally then cut into strips

Prepare the dressing:

  • Mix all ingredients for dressing in a mixing bowl. Whisk to combine everything. The amount of ingredients for dressing is just a reference. Feel free to add more or reduce some according to your preference. The sauce should be savory, tangy, a hint of spicyness (if you use chili oil) and sweetness

To serve:

  • I toss the cooked noodles with the dressing directly and then top with cucumber, toasted sesame seeds and garlic bits. OR you can portion the noodles and cucumber into an individual serving bowl. Spoon some sauce on the side of the bowl. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and garlic bits. Everyone can mix their own dressing with the noodles

To store:

  • The dressing can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge for up to one week. All you need to do is to cook some noodles and add some veggies when you want some liang mian

RECOMMEDED TOOLS

Dutch Oven
Did you make this recipe?Let me know how you like this recipe and consider rating it! Tag me @whattocooktoday I'd love to see your photos/videos on Instagram
previous post
Air Fryer Japanese Pandan Basque Burnt Cheesecake (with Melty Creamy Inside)
next post
How To Cook Mee Sua Noodle Soup (Wheat/Flour Vermicelli)

6 comments

Molly E January 18, 2024 - 3:17 pm

My mom used to make this dish for me as a kid and after moving out of the house I was craving it but never got the recipe down. This recipe is perfect and the right amount for just 1-2 servings. However, I threw the ingredients into a blender instead and added ginger, garlic, and 2 tsp of white vinegar. It’s delicious and so easy to make. I love it! It’s been dinner for the last 3 nights. Thank you!

Reply
Marvellina January 18, 2024 - 9:52 pm

Great idea to use a blender too! I’m happy to know that you enjoyed it 🙂

Reply
Sue August 22, 2023 - 6:57 pm

Thank you for sharing this! My parents made this meal during the summers when I was growing up. This recipe is almost spot on to how they would prepare it. I used buckwheat noodles and was so happy with the results, I immediately shared with my brother. Thank you!

Reply
Marvellina August 23, 2023 - 9:04 am

I’m glad the recipe is almost spot on! Thank you for taking time to let me know and leave a 5-star review! What an honor 🙂

Reply
Joyee Cole February 19, 2021 - 12:45 pm

I love love love this recipe. It’s so simple and delicious! I added half boiled egg (just a tad runny in the middle) and some shredded vegetable to go with it. Even my 20 month old was asking for it again! Thanks!!

Reply
Marvellina February 19, 2021 - 8:00 pm

Hi Joyee, I’m so glad you love it 🙂 yumm…love a boiled egg with slightly runny yolk as you described! with the shredded veggies, you just made it a complete meal 🙂

Reply
5 from 10 votes (7 ratings without comment)

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Please feel free to ask questions here or leave your comments and ratings if you have tried the recipe! Your Email address will not be published!




Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hello! I'm Marvellina!

I’m passionate about food—especially bold, comforting Asian flavors—and I love sharing approachable recipes and creative bakes with an Asian twist. So glad you’re here! LEARN MORE...

Our Favorites

  • How To Make Soft and Fluffy Pandan Chiffon Cake (Complete Guide)

  • Zha Jiang Mian (炸酱面) (Chinese Fried Sauce Noodles)

  • How to Make Basic Asian Rice Porridge (Congee)

  • Homemade Hakka Yong Tau Foo (Soup and Dry Versions)

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Youtube

©2025 - What To Cook Today. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy & Disclosure Policy


Back To Top
  • Home
  • ABOUT ME
    • CONTACT
  • SHOP
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • RECIPE INDEX
  • easy recipes
    • Easy Dinner
    • One-pot
    • Instant Pot
  • by course
    • Breakfast
    • Dim Sum
    • Main Course
    • Soups/Stews
    • Salad
    • Sides
    • Condiments
    • Snacks
    • Desserts
  • ingredients
    • Rice & Grains
    • Noodles
    • Eggs
    • Tofu & Tempeh
    • Poultry
    • Red Meats
    • Pork
    • Seafood
  • sourdough
    • Sourdough Bread Recipes
    • Recipes Using Sourdough Discard
  • bread & buns
    • Steamed Buns
    • Bread with Yeast
    • No-Knead Bread
    • Quick Bread
  • cakes/cookies/pastries
    • Cakes
    • Pastries
    • Chiffon Cakes
    • Sponge Cakes
    • Cookies
    • No-Bake Dessert
    • Kue/Kueh
  • dietary
    • Gluten-free
    • Vegan
    • VEGETARIAN
    • CONFINEMENT
  • celebrate
    • Chinese New Year
    • Easter
    • Hari Raya
    • Dragon Boat Festival
    • Mooncake Festival
    • Thanksgiving
    • Winter Solstice
    • Christmas Baking
    • Christmas Cooking

Let me know how you like the recipe and consider rating it!

Your vote:




A rating is required
A name is required
An email is required

Recipe Ratings without Comment

Something went wrong. Please try again.