Thai Noodle Salad with the BEST EVER Peanut Sauce, loaded up with healthy veggies! This vegan salad is great for potlucks and Sunday meal prep and lasts up to 5 days in the fridge. Watch the video!
Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable. ~Mary Oliver~
The other day I got a hankering for an old standby we used to have on the Mizuna menu, the vegetarian restaurant my friend Tonia and I started together way back when. Thai Noodle Salad with Peanut Sauce. Here it’s made with rice noodles and a boatload of crunchy veggies- cabbage, carrots, bell pepper and radish, then tossed in the most flavorful, balanced Peanut Sauce ever!
This vegan Thai Noodle Salad is great made-ahead salad, and keeps well for 3-4 days in the fridge -perfect for midweek meals and lunches, or potlucks and gatherings. Top this with flavorful Sesame Ginger Tofu or baked chicken for added protein if you prefer. So delicious!
Yes, I may be biased – I’ve had many versions of Thai peanut sauce, here and throughout Thailand, but this Thai Peanut Sauce is still hands-down my all-time very favorite! Not too sweet, and perfectly balanced.
Why You’ll Love This Thai Noodle Salad
As a chef, I've made countless variations of Thai noodle salads, both in my own kitchen and back when I co-owned Mizuna, a vegetarian restaurant where this dish was a customer favorite. Over the years, I've tasted many peanut sauce variations across Thailand and beyond, but this one remains my go-to.
- The peanut sauce: This is hands-down my favorite peanut sauce recipe. It's balanced, flavorful, and not overly sweet. It ties the whole salad together.
- Loaded with veggies: Crunchy cabbage, carrots, bell pepper, and radish bring color, texture, and nutrition to every bite.
- Versatile & make-ahead: Perfect for meal prep, potlucks, or easy midweek lunches. It keeps beautifully in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Adaptable: Enjoy as-is for a hearty vegan salad, or top with tofu, chicken, or shrimp for added protein.
Ingredients for Thai Peanut
- Noodles: Use brown rice noodles, pad thai style rice noodles, soba noodles, or linguini.
- Peanut sauce: Fresh ginger, garlic cloves, peanut butter (or almond butter), fresh orange juice and lime juice, soy sauce (or gluten-free liquid aminos), honey (or agave or maple syrup), toasted sesame oil, cayenne (or sriracha), and salt. Avoid using tamari as it will turn the sauce unpleasantly dark.
- Shredded veggies: I prefer a mix of cabbage, carrots, and radish. If you can't find or make them shredded, you can slice them too!
- Red bell pepper: Adds even more crisp texture and a hint of sweetness.
- Scallions and cilantro: Add aromatic, herby flavor. You can sub basil and mint for the cilantro if desired.
- Jalapeño: Add to your desired preference for a kick of heat.
- Peanuts: Add roasted, crushed peanuts for a garnish if you'd like.
Expert Tip
The secret ingredient in this recipe is fresh orange juice, giving it a delicious brightness. I highly recommend making a double batch of the Thai Peanut Sauce to use with spring rolls or buddha bowls. If you are like me you will be eating it by the spoonful. It’s that good! (Also know that this works with almond butter too!)
How to make Thai Noodle Salad!
- Cook the noodles. It starts with 6 ounces of dry noodles. So here again, the salad is actually, by volume more veggies than noodles- my kind of salad! Use linguine, soba noodles, Pad Thai-style rice noodles, brown rice noodles or seriously any pasta you have in your pantry. I personally love rice noodles here.
- Prep the veggies and herbs. You’ll need 4 cups of shredded veggies- red cabbage, carrots, bell pepper, radishes, plus green onions, jalapeño, and cilantro (or basil) and place in a large bowl.
- Make the Peanut Sauce.
- Combine the noodles, veggies, herbs and peanut sauce in the mixing bowl.
- Garnish with toasted, crushed peanuts if you like! Or try this Peanut Chili Crunch!
- Add protein if you like: shredded or baked chicken, baked tofu, crispy tofu, or shrimp.
Recommended Veggies to Use
- red cabbage
- bell pepper
- carrots
- radishes
- cucumber
- jicama
- use any veggie that will stay crunchy in the salad for several days.
The light and creamy peanut sauce is a nice contrast.
Make this as spicy as you want. I love adding fresh, finely chopped jalapeño to the salad for a little added heat.
Toss it up and serve it in a serving bowl.
Garnish with the roasted crushed peanuts and chopped scallion at the end ( so they stay fresh and crunchy).
Thai Noodle Salad FAQs
- Peanut Allergy? Substitute almond butter and toasted slivered almonds!
- Making it ahead? Feel free to keep the noodles and veggies, separate from the dressing, crushed peanuts and herbs until ready to serve!
- Storage: This salad will keep 4-5 days in the refrigerator.
Healthy, delicious and filling- I love having this Thai Noodle Salad on hand for a quick healthy snack too!
Here is the Thai Noodle Salad topped with the Baked Sesame Ginger Tofu. My absolute favorite.
Hope you enjoy this vegan Thai Noodle Salad with Peanut Dressing. Make a batch on Sunday and have it throughout the week- you’ll love yourself for it- I promise!
More Asian Salads You’ll Love!
- 40 MAKE-AHEAD VEGAN SALADS!
- Vietnamese Noodle Salad
- Sesame Cabbage Noodle Salad
- Simply Suwanee’s Thai Glass Noodle Salad
- Easy Crunchy Asian Slaw
- Thai Crunch Salad with Peanut Ginger Dressing
- Soba Noodle Salad
- Asian Cucumber Salad
Hope you enjoy this one – please rate and share your comments below! Pinning and sharing is always appreciated too!
xoxo
More from Feasting At Home
Thai Noodle Salad | 60-sec video
Thai Noodle Salad with Thai Peanut Sauce
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: Vegan, Salad
- Method: Tossed
- Cuisine: Thai
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A simple delicious recipe for Thai Noodle Salad with Peanut Sauce, loaded up with healthy veggies. Vegan and Gluten free, this make-ahead salad is perfect for midweek lunches or large gatherings. Add Sesame Ginger Tofu for added protein! Watch the video.
Ingredients
- 6 ounces dry noodles (brown rice noodles, pad thai style rice noodles, soba noodles, linguini)
- 4 cups mix of red cabbage, carrots and radish, shredded, or thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, finely sliced
- 3 scallions, sliced
- 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped (or sub basil and mint)
- 1 tablespoon (or less, or more) jalapeño, finely chopped
- 1/4–1/2 cup roasted, crushed peanuts (optional garnish)
Thai Peanut Sauce (You may not need all- so save extras for another use.)
- 5 thin slices ginger- cut across the grain, about the size of a quarter.
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (or sub almond butter!)
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice ( roughly 1 large orange)
- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice ( roughly 2 limes)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce or GF Braggs Liquid Amino Acids (Note: Tamari will turn this unpleasantly dark)
- 1/3 cup honey, agave, or maple syrup
- 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
- 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper ( or a squirt of sriracha sauce)
- 1 teaspoon salt
Add this Baked Sesame Ginger Tofu (Optional)
Instructions
- Cook Noodles. *See notes for rice noodles. Cook pasta according to directions on the package. Drain and chill under cold running water, drain.
- Peanut Sauce. While noodles are cooking, add all the peanut sauce ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. (You can do this up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate.)
- Prep your veggies. Slice, grate, and chop.
- Combine. Place shredded veggies, bell pepper, scallions, cilantro and jalapeño into a serving bowl. Toss. Add the cold noodles to the serving bowl and toss again. Pour some peanut sauce over top and toss well to combine- no need to use all, just use enough to coat it well, generously. (Save any extra sauce for any leftover salad, as it can soak up the sauce overnight.)
- Taste. Adjust the salt (to your liking), add chili flakes if you want, or more lime, and serve, garnishing with roasted peanuts and cilantro and a lime wedge.
Notes
Rice Noodles: If cooking pad thai style rice noodles, pour boiling water over the noodles in a baking dish, let soak until softened, drain.
Salad will keep 4 days in the fridge.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 214
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 280.5 mg
- Fat: 9.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 29.9 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 2.9 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
A favorite. Every time I make this for guests, the recipe is requested. Simply delicious!
Great to hear Suzanne!
Ok, so this is the best and easiest recipe on the blog I have made. It is so quick to throw together and is perfect to make in advance for dinner guests. I have made it with tofu, chicken and shrimp, with Soba and rice noodles and even quinoa when I forgot to buy noodles–no matter what, it always is a hit. My partners most requested during hot summer days!
Awesome Liz! Love how you innovate. 🙂
Best peanut sauce/dressing I’ve ever come across- so good! I brought this to a bbq with friends and everyone kept asking for the recipe. I’ll be trying some of your other recipes too- thank you!!
Wonderful Becca, glad you gave it try!
A guest at my business’s annual fall potluck brought this dish, and it was absolutely fabulous! I’ve been trying to make a Thai Peanut noodle dish, and have only been moderately successful. Now, with your Thai Peanut Salad recipe, all my dreams have come true! I can’t wait to make it for myself.
How nice to hear this Mary! Thanks for taking time to let us know. 🙂
Love this salad, but I’m the main salad eater in our house. Do you think the dressing would freeze well?
It does! I freeze small portions of it all the time. 🙂
Delicious dressing, super fresh salad. I used coriander and mint for extra freshness. Thanks for the recipe ❤️
So glad you enjoyed Kate! Yes to fresh herbs- the best!
This recipe is a flavor, color, and texture party! All the chopping ended up being more than worth it. I can’t wait for lunch tomorrow so I can eat it again. This will be in regular rotation. I made some crispy baked tofu shreds to add some protein and it was perfect. Shrimp or chicken would be great as well. Oh – and the DRESSING. Daaaaaaaaamn.
Great to hear this Kelli! Tofu shreds sound fun. Thanks for the review. 🙂
Delicious!! I used protein plus spaghetti noodles cut in half. We don’t use sesame oil so I subbed in equal amount of tahini to get a closer sesame taste then sprinkled on sesame seeds with each serving. The veg options are endless with this recipe!
Great idea Kim! Glad it was a hit. 🙂
Would adding cooked chicken breast to this be good. Making it for people that want meat.
Thanks
Lucy
It would be delicious!
I need to make this recipe for 60 people. I need help figuring out how to adjust measurements. Anyone??
HI Kate- Would be a side salad, part of a larger spread? If so I would take the recipe and times it by 7 or 8.
Delicious! The peanut sauce was so good! And realistically simple to make!
Glad you enjoyed Kate!
Sorry about this Kerry- I have never had this happen? Maybe your cabbage was full of extra polyphenol goodness. A good thing!
I’m the one who left the rating for purple noodles. I reread the recipe which called for purple cabbage and other vegetables, shredded or grated. I used a mandoline to shred the cabbage to the point of almost being grated. I am sure that was the problem. Hint to readers: do not follow the instructions that say you can grate your red cabbage unless you like sickly purple noodles.
Hi Kerry- yes this makes sense now. At this point, I would try to embrace the purple, knowing how good it is for you. 😉 I’m sure the flavor is still there.
This is one of the best recipes – easy to make, tasty, and a fan favorite at my house.
So glad you are all enjoying! Appreciate the review!