This Thai inspired Noodle Salad with a homemade Peanut Sauce is one of our favourite dishes when the summer approaches. This salad is refreshing, slightly sweet, filling, packed with Thai flavours and fresh ingredients.
Our Thai Noodle Salad with Peanut Dressing recipe is inspired by The Happy Pear. I took a course by them and I fell in love with this recipe. We changed it up a little bit to suit our taste and we have been making it since.
Our friends and family keep asking us to make it every time we have a gathering that involves food. And the best part, it's vegan and can be made gluten-free if you use tamari instead of regular soy sauce. This salad bowl will suit everyone needs and preferences!
We prepare this dish with mostly raw ingredients such as cucumber, red cabbage, carrots and smoked tofu which makes it amazingly fresh and healthy. The peanut sauce is really similar to the one we use for our Tofu Satay, we just changed some ingredients to make it perfect for this salad.
Summertime comes with too many dinners, lunches and outings so we end up eating more than we want and not as healthy as we would at home. This salad or our Soba Noodle Salad are our "get on track" dishes. Making it on Monday makes us feel like we are starting the week on the right track.
Ingredients to make the best Thai noodle salad
Rice Noodles. These are the best type of noodles when making noodle salad. They can be eaten cold or at room temperature and will stay good for a couple of days in the fridge. We use brown rice noodles as they are healthier and nicer.
Smoked Tofu. We personally prefer using smoked tofu when it comes to salads. It doesn't need seasoning or cooking, just cut and add!
Fresh Veggies. For our Thai noodle salad we like using shredded carrots, finely sliced red cabbage and chopped cucumber. The perfect summer mix.
Peanuts. The more the merrier! Toasted peanuts will give your salad that extra crunch that makes it even more enjoyable.
Fresh Cilantro. We add chopped cilantro as the last ingredient to give our Thai noodle salad a fresher and more summery taste.
Homemade Umami Peanut Sauce. A simple but amazing peanut dressing packed with umami flavours. Our favourite part of this Thai noodle salad is the sauce. Deep in flavour and so yummy! It's made out of peanut butter, gluten-free soy sauce, rice vinegar, maple syrup, lime juice, and sesame oil. It doesn't need anything else, trust me!
How to prepare this recipe Step by Step
- Following the packet instructions, soak the rice noodles in water until they are soft and ready to go in your salad. Rinse with water and set aside. Before adding them to the salad, I like adding some sesame oil as it will make it easier to combine them with the rest of the ingredients.
- Thinly cut or shred the carrots and cabbage and chop the cucumber. Remove the tofu from its package, remove any excess water and cut it into cubes. Add all the ingredients into a big salad bowl.
- Add into the salad bowl crushed toasted peanuts and finely chopped cilantro.
- Prepare the sauce by mixing smooth peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, maple syrup, lime juice and sesame oil.
- Pour the sauce into the salad and combine well until all the ingredients are perfectly mixed.
Prepare this salad ahead of time
Our Thai Noodle Salad with Peanut Sauce it's a great option for meal prepping. We do recommend preparing the peanut sauce and leave it in a separate container to mix with the salad when you want to enjoy your meal. This will keep all the ingredients fresher and crunchier.
So, if you are organized, this recipe is the perfect choice to make ahead of time.
Serving Suggestions
This rice noodle salad can be served as a main dish because it's nutritionally complete and quite filling. If you want, you can even add more veggies to the dish.
If you like spicy food, try adding some chilli flakes before serving and using half a tablespoon of sesame chili oil instead of just sesame oil.
Serve the dish at room temperature or chilled and keep any leftovers in the fridge for 3-4 days.
More Noodle Recipes
If you liked this recipe, have a look at our noodle recipes:
Thai Noodle Salad with Peanut Dressing
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Thai Noodle Salad
- 150 g brown rice noodles
- 1 cucumber
- 2 carrots
- ¼ of a small red cabbage
- 200 g smoked tofu firm
- ¼ cup peanuts
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
Ingredients for the Peanut Dressing
- 2 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
- 2 ½ tablespoon soy sauce tamari for gluten-free
- ½ tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 ½ tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
Instructions
- Following the packet instructions, soak the rice noodles in water until they are soft and ready to go in your salad.
- Thinly cut or shred the carrots, cabbage and cucumber. Cucumber can be left a bit bigger as it's softer.
- Heat some coconut oil in a pan and stir fry the tofu. When it starts to golden, add the soy sauce and maple syrup. Set aside to cool.
- Toast the peanuts in a pan. Don't add any oil as they need to be toasted not fried. Set aside to cool.
- In a small bowl, prepare the dressing mixing the smooth peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, maple syrup, sesame oil and lime juice
- Combine the fresh ingredients, tofu, peanuts and noodles in a big salad bowl. Add the peanut dressing and mix well until all the ingredients are incorporated.
- Add chopped cilantro on the top and your salad will be ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
| If you tried our recipe, please leave a comment or tag us on Instagram. We are always happy to see your creations! |
Carla says
Excellent recipe! I will add less noodles and double the dressing next time! I love all the textures and colors in this dish and the dressing is amazing.
stacey says
very yummy, will make again. Thanks
Laura says
Thank you Stacey!
Bobbi Jo says
So good. Even my picky vegan teen gave this a thumbs up. I had this for lunch and was so full that I skipped dinner.
Astra says
Thank you Bobbi, glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe!