This Chilly Noodle Salad is an easy Asian-inspired noodle salad stuffed with contemporary greens and a lightweight sesame soy dressing. It’s a refreshing, flavorful, healthful dish that’s excellent for lunch, a lightweight dinner, or potlucks.
I grew up consuming a chilly noodle salad made with ramen noodles, greens, and a dressing produced from a packet of ramen seasoning.
It was scrumptious however excessive in sodium in preservatives.
My up to date model of this Asian Noodle Salad is made with tons of veggies and a home made Sesame Dressing--no seasoning packets required.
However most significantly my recipe tastes a MILLION instances higher and occurs to be higher for you. Win-win!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
Not solely is that this Asian Noodle Salad irresistibly flavorful, but it surely additionally has many different options that make it a staple dish.
- Good for outside occasions. No mayonnaise on this pasta salad so can sit out at room temperature safely for hours.
- Good for any season. The greens used are straightforward to search out year-round and will be swapped out for seasonal veggies if desired.
- Child-friendly. Critically, the children gobble this up and any veggie-heavy dish youngsters love works for me!
- Make an incredible meatless meal. The entire wheat noodles are stuffed with fiber and dose of protein, making this vegetarian dish filling sufficient to be served as an entree.
- Allergy-Pleasant. This Asian Noodle Salad encompasses a tasty Sesame Soy Dressing as a substitute of a peanut dressing, making this salad peanut-free. It’s also dairy-free and might simply be made vegan-friendly.
- Travels Nicely. This noodle salad will be served chilly or at room temperature, so it transports simply. In truth, I typically pack in my youngsters’ lunches.
Notes on Elements
Don’t be intimidated by the listing of elements on this Asian Noodle Salad. A lot of the elements are for the Sesame Dressing and are doubtless issues you have already got readily available.
- Noodles: I like to recommend utilizing spaghetti noodles, as they’re straightforward to search out, cheap, and maintain up nicely. For a gluten-free possibility, I’ve used Barilla Gluten-Free spaghetti noodles with nice outcomes.
- Broccoli Slaw: Broccoli slaw retains the prep work to a minimal, but fills the salad with vitamins and texture from the crisp broccoli to the shredded carrots. Be at liberty to interchange the bag of broccoli slaw with as much as 3 cups of broccoli florets and shredded carrots.
- Bell Peppers: Choose crimson, yellow, or orange bell peppers, not inexperienced bell peppers, as you need to add a pop of colour and candy, contemporary taste to the noodle salad.
- Inexperienced Onions: Inexperienced onions are the right selection so as to add a pleasant, mellow onion taste that does not overwhelm the fragile flavors of the Asian Noodle Salad or the sesame dressing.
- Cilantro: Cilantro provides a shiny, herby taste to the salad, however be at liberty to omit it when you do not take care of the herb.
- Soy-Sauce: Use reduced-sodium soy sauce to regulate the sodium degree. Substitute the soy sauce with Tamari for a gluten-free dressing if wanted.
- Honey: Just a little little bit of sweetness is required to steadiness out the acidity within the noodle salad dressing. Be at liberty to interchange the honey with maple syrup, brown sugar, or agave for related outcomes.
- Rice Vinegar: It’s essential to use rice vinegar, rice wine vinegar, or mirin for one of the best taste. Don’t substitute white vinegar or apple cider vinegar, or your Asian Noodle Salad is not going to have one of the best taste.
- Sesame Oil: You’ll want to use sesame oil that’s labeled toasted sesame oil for one of the best taste.
- Ginger: Use grated contemporary ginger, NOT floor ginger. I maintain a peeled knob of ginger in my freezer always. You’ll be able to grate the gingerroot from frozen utilizing a Microplane and all the time have it readily available for recipes.
- Crushed Purple Pepper Flakes: Regulate or omit to regulate the extent of warmth you like. The small quantity used on this recipe merely provides a dimension of taste, not overwhelming warmth.
- Sesame Seeds: Including sesame seeds to the noodle salad earlier than serving provides a pleasant crunch and barely nutty taste, however will be omitted if you do not have them readily available.
Step-By-Step Instructions
- To start this recipe, prepare dinner the noodles in closely salted boiling water, in keeping with package deal instructions.
- Whereas the noodles are cooking, put together the sesame soy dressing by whisking collectively the soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, crushed crimson pepper flakes, and honey in a small bowl.
- As soon as the noodles have cooked, drain the noodles in a colander over the sink. DO NOT RINSE!! Though we’re utilizing this pasta for a chilly dish, we do not need to rinse away the starch that fashioned on the noodles. This may assist our sauce to stick to the noodles higher.
- After draining the pasta, instantly toss the noodles with the sesame dressing in a big mixing bowl. The nice and cozy noodles will absorb the dressing, making them SUPER flavorful.
- Let the noodles cool to room temperature, after which add within the broccoli slaw, peppers, onions, and cilantro and toss to coat.
- Cowl the Noodle Salad and refrigerate for no less than 1 hour, in a single day is finest, to permit the flavors to meld collectively.
- Proper earlier than serving, high with sesame seeds and a facet of sriracha for those who crave just a little warmth.
Recipe Suggestions and Modifications
- Gluten-Free Chilly Noodle Salad: To make this Asian Noodle Salad gluten-free, use gluten-free spaghetti noodles and gluten-free soy sauce or Tamari.
- Vegan Noodle Salad: Use maple syrup or agave rather than the honey within the dressing and make certain your noodles are egg-free.
- Choices for Veggies: Let your palate and produce drawer information you! I personally love to make use of broccoli slaw, crimson peppers, and inexperienced onions, for max taste, texture, and vitamins. Nonetheless, you should utilize contemporary broccoli, carrots, sugar snap peas, steamed edamame, shredded cabbage, and even grape tomatoes on this noodle salad.
- What if my Chilly Noodle Salad turns into dried out? Noodles will absorb the dressing the longer they sit. To treatment this, combine collectively 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar and a couple of teaspoons of soy sauce and toss along with your noodles to moisten as wanted.
Serving Strategies
Chilly Noodle Salad is a dish everybody loves. It makes a scrumptious facet dish or hearty lunch and is ideal for potlucks and picnics because it travels nicely and will be served at room temperature or chilly. Under are a few of my favourite dishes to serve with this Asian Noodle Salad.
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Asian Noodle Salad
This Asian Noodle Salad is a healthful, flavorful chilly noodle salad that’s stuffed with contemporary greens and a lightweight, refreshing Sesame Ginger Dressing.
Servings: 8
Energy: 167kcal
Prevents your display from going darkish whereas making ready the recipe.
Directions
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To arrange the dressing, whisk collectively the soy sauce, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and crushed crimson pepper flakes collectively in a big mixing bowl. Put aside
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Carry a big pot of water to a fast boil. Add a big pinch of salt and pasta to the water as soon as boiling. Prepare dinner the noodles in keeping with package deal instructions. As soon as the noodles are cooked, drain nicely in a colander however don’t rinse the noodles.
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Add the pasta to the massive bowl with the ready dressing and toss to coat. Enable the noodles to chill barely (10-Quarter-hour) earlier than including the greens.
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Add the broccoli slaw, peppers, inexperienced onions, and cilantro, if utilizing, to the noodles and toss to mix.
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Cowl and refrigerate for no less than 1 hour or as much as 8 hours earlier than serving.
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Earlier than serving, add sesame seeds.
Notes
Greens: Use any greens you want rather than the broccoli slaw, bell peppers, and inexperienced onions. Shredded cabbage, sugar snap peas, steamed edamame, carrots, broccoli slaw, grape tomatoes, and many others, are all nice choices.
Gluten-Free Modifications: To make this gluten-free, use gluten-free pasta and gluten-free soy sauce (Tamari).
Coping with Dried Out Pasta Salad: Combine collectively 1 teaspoon of rice wine vinegar and a couple of teaspoons of soy sauce collectively and toss with the pasta salad to moisten it up.
Diet
Energy: 167kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 6g | Fats: 3g | Saturated Fats: 0.4g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 1g | Monounsaturated Fats: 1g | Sodium: 304mg | Potassium: 297mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 852IU | Vitamin C: 65mg | Calcium: 46mg | Iron: 1mg
This recipe was initially printed in 2018 however was up to date with new images and a video in 2022.
