The pantry clean-out continues this week.

Thanks to a stir-fry dish I shared with you back in June, I still had half of a package of lo mein noodles hanging out in the cupboard.

When Joey plopped a bag of shrimp in our cart on a recent grocery trip, I decided I needed to find something to make that could use both ingredients.

Then our week got really, really busy. There was no time to make anything fancy.

But the good news is that both shrimp and lo mein noodles are crazy quick to make.

So when I found a recipe for garlic shrimp noodles that promised to be done in 15 minutes, I jumped on it, and it wasn’t just great because it was a quick meal; it was great all on its own.

This comes from the blog “Lena’s Kitchen” by Lena Gladstone. You can find her original post at https://lenaskitchenblog.com/15-minute-garlic-shrimp-soba-noodles/. I added several spices and extra garlic in my version.

Easy Garlic Shrimp Noodles

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 teaspoons honey

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon dried ginger

10 ounces soba or lo mein noodles

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound shrimp, peeled

salt, to taste

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Directions

Prepare a sauce by adding the soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice, hoisin sauce, honey, garlic powder, red pepper flakes and dried ginger to a small bowl, and whisk until everything is well combined. Set it aside.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the package instructions.

While the noodles cook, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the shrimp with salt, and then saute in the shrimp in the hot skillet. When the shrimp is nearly cooked through, toss in the minced garlic and grated ginger, and saute until the shrimp is finished.

Decrease the heat to low, and add the noodles and sauce to the skillet, stirring to coat everything in the sauce.

When everything is heated through, serve, topped with sesame seeds.

I added the hoisin sauce and some extra honey above, because I didn’t think the sauce had quite the sweetness that I wanted it to have. Otherwise, the sesame oil was a bit overpowering. If you don’t have hoisin, you could add a bit more honey or a bit of brown sugar, instead, until you get the sauce how you want it.

I also left out green onions as a garnish, because Joey isn’t generally keen on raw onions, but that would have been a great addition, as well.

Luckily, Joey wasn’t upset that I hijacked his shrimp purchase with my own dinner plans—mostly because he’s a sucker for anything with plenty of garlic.

And now there’s a tiny corner of my pantry that is ready to be filled with another mystery ingredient sometime in 2026.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly recipe column by Lindsey Young, who describes herself as an enthusiastic amateur cook and can be reached through her website at spiceupkitchen.net.