Spicy peanut noodles are a quick, pantry-friendly meal that's ready for riffing

Enough peanut sauce could make even shoe leather taste delicious. Nutty, salty, spicy and bright, my version is a melody of flavors that relies on just a few simple pantry ingredients to make something remarkable. Toss the sauce with some noodles and vegetables and you've got yourself a meal in almost no time at all.

The base for this peanut sauce is peanut butter (shocker!), but the sauce itself is extremely riffable. I like to use the creamy stuff for a smooth sauce - and because that's what I always have in my pantry - but I imagine chunky peanut butter would work, too, especially because I recommend adding chopped peanuts as a garnish at the end for some nice crunch. Not into peanut butter? Try it out with another nut or seed butter, such as almond, cashew or sunflower seed, and it will yield similar results. The other key ingredient is chili-garlic sauce to add some spice. This recipe calls for enough to have a pleasant tingle, but you can increase or decrease the quantity based on your spice preferences. Don't have chili-garlic sauce on hand? Sriracha works beautifully in its place, lending a fermented tang compared with chili-garlic's bright, fresh heat, or you could try it with whatever hot sauce you have.