Today, I am going to share a simple noodle salad, with a lot of flavor. I love how easy this is to make! I don’t know if it’s very traditional, but it does use traditional flavors of Asian cooking, such as, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil. There is peanut butter in the sauce as well that gives it a creamy base. Delish!
My encouragement to you is to taste as you make a recipe. I have been playing around with the sauce for this noodle dish, and we really like it this way. I had made it slightly differently before, and liked it a lot. But I then decided to adjust it slightly and now we really love it. If I hadn’t branched out a little, I wouldn’t have been able to create this dish that we love now! So when you are making any sauce, or dressing, never feel like you have to follow the recipe exactly. Taste it and adjust it to how you like it! I have found that people enjoy different levels of saltiness, and tang, so it is a skill well learned to be able to adjust recipes to your palate.
This recipe is so easy and fast to make, and so makes a great last minute meal. You can serve it cold, or room temperature. My husband especially likes it cold, so it is great to send to work with him. I have also used roasted almond butter in place of the peanut butter, and it worked wonderfully. You can use whatever veggies you want. I just used what I had on hand, which was cabbage, carrots, and zucchini, all very thinly sliced. Some veggies you may want to steam, or stir fry before adding (like snap peas, asparagus etc). Experiment with what you have on hand. I had garnished it with roasted peanuts, but we decided that toasted sesame seeds would be even better.
Asian Noodle Salad
About 8 ounces of thin noodles (I used buckwheat udon noodles, but you can really use whatever you want, though, I would definitely limit it to thin, long noodles. You can even use thin spaghetti noodles, if you wanted too!) Cooked according to package instructions, and rinsed with cool water.
3-4 cups of thinly shredded veggies such as carrots, zucchini, cabbage (like I did), or lightly steamed snap peas, asparagus, or veggie of choice.
For Sauce:
1/3 cup of roasted peanut butter (or roasted almond butter)
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of rice vinegar
1/4 cup of oil
1/2 teaspoon of ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
1- While you are heating the water for cooking the pasta, prep veggies.
2-While pasta is cooking, make sauce. Steam or stir fry veggies, if needed
3-When pasta is done, and rinsed with cool water, combine with veggies and toss with sauce.
4-Serve room temperature or cold. Enjoy!
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I make something like this that I call “peanut butter spaghetti” and it is oh, so good! I am going to print out and try your recipe–I like that you put vegetables in it! Kind of like fried rice, only with noodles!
This recipe sounds so very good! I love anything with rice vinegar. Thanks for sharing!!
You say “make sauce.” Are supposed to just mix all the sauce stuff up with a spoon? Or a fork? Or a food processor? How do you get the peanut butter to combine?
Watercolor,
Hmmmmm… I guess I wasn’t very clear was I!!!!
I usually whisk it, that works well. 🙂
thanks! I think I’m going to make this tonight!!
I made this yesterday and thought it was WONDERFUL!
I didn’t have rice vinegar and used raw apple cider vinegar.
I used extra virgin coconut oil for the “1/4 cup of oil.” It was great room temperature with some cooked spinach. It was also yummy cold for lunch
today with the spinach mixed in and a grilled chicken breast cut up on top (My daughter-in-law thought so too)…. This is a real keeper!
I can’t wait to make this one for my three year old boys. Sounds delicious!
Is the ginger fresh or powder?
Thanks
I make something like this. Chopped cilantro is a nice addition. Also, a little honey to the sauce is also nice.
My husband calls it noodle kaboodle 🙂
grace
Have you ever tried it with soy nut butter? My son is peanut allergic.
I don’t recommend soy nuts, but I have used almond butter with good results. 😉
This is a good basic recipe for noodles, stir fry veggies, stir fry meat, simmering sauce, and, especially, salad dressing (vegetable and/or fruit). Here are a few other compatible ingredients I work into the rotation: tablespoon lime juice, tablespoon fish sauce, couple of drops of bottled hot asian chile sauce (made from chiles, garlic, tomato, sugar), tablespoon Torani coconut syrup (or coconut flavor and sugar), shredded coconut, toasted sesame seeds (you can buy them already toasted at Asian stores), unrefined peanut oil (replacing the peanut butter), light coconut milk, and to round off some of the sharp corners of the flavors, or to make a cream sauce–Land’o Lakes Fat Free Half and Half.
I volunteer to teach free healthy home cooking at a cancer awareness center and have students that can not have gluten. I have done quite well, but need some direction on making noodles without any wheat product. I had them making egg noodles with an all purpose gluten flour and that worked quite well. Your approach seems to be just what I have been looking for. Thanks. By the way in bread baking when we let the dough set to absorb the moisture it is called Autolyse, not that it means anything to your good recipe. Question could I use eggs as a binder? Thanks Chef Robert
Sorry, in my last message I left out NO gluten all purpose flour
This sauce is so yummy, I wanted to drink it out of the dish! Thanks for sharing a great Asian sauce. I haven’t come across one I like as much as this one!
This was great. I think next time I will skip the cabbage and use “softer” veggies. I want to chill it next time, I was too hungry to wait.
I just made this for dinner. I liked it but my husband wasn’t a fan of the sour tint… anyone know why it turned out kind of sour or is that what it’s supposed to taste like? I added a little honey and that helped but I’m still wondering what I can do to tone down the sour taste… It may be because I used liquid amino acids instead of regular soy sauce (because that’s a healthier option.) Any suggestions would be helpful. I’d like to keep making it but it just needs a tweak or two…
This is really flavorful, I like it at room temperature. I make it with peanut butter powder to lower the fat, grate some fresh ginger. I’m going to try toasted sesame seeds next time
We are having this tonight for dinner with a piece of salmon panfried in butter.
I’m back to let you know that this salad is on my regular rotation now of family dinners, usually with some protein like shredded chicken added or a piece of fish on the side. I love to add heaps of chopped coriander and spring onions too.
Wwhat is roasted peanut butter?
What is roasted peanut butter?
My husband has Coeliac disease; just as a reminder to everyone – traditional Soy Sauce contains wheat. Substitute with Tamari, or Kikkoman’s gluten free soy sauce (that is quite good). Thanks for the wonderful website!
This was a little tangier than my preference so I added a couple tablespoons of honey. Next time I’ll use less vinegar. We used fresh ginger.