Thai Noodle Salad with the BEST EVER Peanut Sauce- loaded up with healthy veggies! Vegan and Gluten-Free!
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 eeeeeeeeeever!
This Thai Noodle Salad is great made-ahead, 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!
How to Make Thai Noodle Salad! |30-second Video
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, perfectly balanced.
The secret ingredient 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!)
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. Toss the pasta with 4 cups of shredded veggies. Add scallions, jalapeño and cilantro (or basil) and toss with the flavorful peanut sauce. Top with toasted, crushed peanuts.
The salad gets more and more flavorful each day.
Veggies like cabbage, carrots and radishes, stay crunchy in the salad, even over 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 cute serving bowl.
Garnish with the roasted crushed peanuts and chopped scallion at the end ( so they stay fresh and crunchy).
Healthy, delicious and filling- I love having this Thai Noodle Salad on hand for a quick healthy snack too!
Here it is with the Sesame Ginger Tofu….so good!
A fridge full of make-ahead salads, that’s what we’ve been feasting on at home this week. Super handy and time-saving, these are easy mid-week meals! Make a batch on Sunday and have throughout the week!
RELATED: MAKE-AHEAD VEGAN SALADS!
Hope you enjoy this one and if you do, please pin or share!
xoxo
Sylvia
SHOP! Serve your beautiful salad in our Wooden Bowls or Ceramic bowls – both found at our Bowl and Pitcher Store!
Thai Noodle Salad with Peanut Sauce
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!
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Vegan, Salad
- Method: Tossed
- Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients
- 6 ounces dry noodles (brown rice noodles, pad thai style rice noodles, soba noodles, linguini)
- 4 cups mix of cabbage, carrots and radish, shredded or grated
- 1 red bell pepper, finely sliced
- 3 scallions, sliced
- ½ bunch cilantro, chopped (or sub basil and mint)
- 1 tablespoon (or less, or more) jalapeño, finely chopped
- ¼–½ cup roasted, crushed peanuts ( garnish)
Thai Peanut Sauce ( tip! make a double batch and save the rest for another use)
- 3 thin slices ginger- cut across the grain, about the size of a quarter.
- 1 fat clove garlic
- ¼ cup peanut butter ( or sub almond butter!)
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice ( roughly ½ an orange)
- 3 tablespoon fresh lime juice ( 1 lime)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce or GF Braggs Liquid Amino Acids (Note: Tamari will turn this unpleasantly dark)
- 3 tablespoons honey or agave
- 3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- ½ –1 teaspoon cayenne pepper ( or a squirt of sriracha sauce)
- ½ teaspoon salt
Sesame Ginger Tofu (Optional) Go to Link
Instructions
- Cook Noodles: Cook pasta according to directions on package. ( See notes for rice noodles) Drain and chill under cold running water.
- Blend the Peanut Sauce: while noodles are cookig, blend the peanut sauce ingredients together using a blender until smooth.
- Toss: 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 the peanut sauce over top and toss well to combine.
- Taste: Adjust the salt (to you liking), add chili flakes if you want and serve, garnishing with roasted peanuts and cilantro and a lime wedge.
Notes
If cooking pad thai style rice noodles, add the noodles to a pot of boiling water. Turn heat off, stir and let steep 2-3 minutes until tender, drain and run under cool water.
Keywords: thai noodle salad, thai noodle salad recipe, thai salad, best peanut sauce, peanut sauce recipe, vegan thai noodle salad recipe
Made this for supper yesterday with the sesame ginger baked tofu. Delicious crunchy vegetables and slippery noodles all coated in the sweet and savoury peanut sauce – Wednesday suppers don’t come much better than this. 😀
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Yay! 🙌 Thanks so much Kelly!
Nice and good…especially the peanut sauce love it..🥰
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Omgosh. DELISH! I doubled the peanut sauce recipe & am SO glad I did! I also kept the veggies, noodles, & sauce separate until I was ready to eat so that the veggies stayed crisp! I also used the peanut sauce to marinade tofu, which I baked & also used in this salad. Thank you! It’s is wonderful!!
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Thanks so much!
Wow-The salad and especially peanut sauce were truly delicious! I’ve tried other peanut noodle recipes and this was hands down the best. It really was the hit of the party. Everyone was raving about it. I’m new to your site and everything looks fresh and amazing- can’t wait to try more. Thanks!
Thanks so much Jen! Appreciate this!
The sauce is AMAZING! It will definitely be my go-to peanut butter sauce now. Thank you
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Yay Tania Glad you liked it!🙌
It’s the day after making this salad and I cannot wait to eat it again tonight for dinner (if I were in the same house as the leftovers, they would be gone already). The only change I made was to use Thai-hot peanut butter and add two thai chiles to the blender. This salad is one reason we stock up on dry noodles. Love.
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Wow! Thanks so much for this recipe – it was delicious. I’ve been on a meal prep slump especially during this quarantine but this dish was a game changer. Will definitely try with the tofu next time!
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Wow, this was delicious, and that sauce was killer! I made this as just a salad, no noodles or added protein. And I had no red bell pepper or cilantro, but swapped out basil. I completely omitted the honey/sugar, 1/2 of the lime juice, and the salt. I would have added all, but it totally didn’t need it. I only had coconut liquid aminos, but that worked fine. And I left the spicy items (cayenne, sriracha, jalapeño) on the side for folks to add if they wished. Can’t wait to enjoy the leftovers tomorrow. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
Thanks and happy you enjoyed it!
This recipe is a life changer – I made it today for the first time and used it as a sauce for stir fry with tofu (tofu was air fried) and it was the perfect mixture of taste – sweet, with a little kick. I can’t believe I lived my life without this sauce this whole time! I made a second batch as extra to use as dressing on salads during the week.
haha! I’m so glad you liked it!
Hi there! This is so Dangerous. I can drink the peanut sauce alone and almost didn’t make it as a dressing to my salad. Thank you for sharing ❤️ your recipe is always wholesome, tasty and good.
By the way, how do you measure peanut butter in a cup? Is there a trick to it? The consistency makes it hard for me to measure it in a cup so i use tablespoon instead. For the noodles, I used edamame noodles – I was hesitant but when I put the salad together, it all seems to work. Thanks again. Be safe and take care.
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LOL 😂 I feel the same about that sauce. Great to know about the edamame noodles, will have to try those. I just kind of eyeball the peanut butter. 🙂
Hi!
I have done this at least three times now, such a winner.
Ran out of oranges, any substitute?
Also, how would this work with monkfruit instead of honey/agave?
Thank you!
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Oranges really make it! I’ve tried it without and felt something was “missing”. Not sure about monk fruit, but like the idea. Or even tossing in a few dates, to taste?
Hi there, we tweaked it a little but súch a great recipe! It’s one we will repeat often!
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Great to hear!!!
Thanks for this recipe! Delicious combination of flavors!
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This is so good especially with the hint of mint!
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It’s pretty good…added a little more orange juice to the dressing, and added salt at the table. I like it, but needs something, but not what, maybe some lime wedges to squeeze on top. But I plan to play with it….if I hit on something….I’ll email you 😊
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Delicious! Reminds me of the Nutty Noodles that Stir Crazy use to have in their menu. Everyone in my family loved it!
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Sylvia,
These noodles were amazing! I can’t wait to eat the leftovers tonight and to try some more of your recipes. I am very happy to have found your blog.
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This recipe was delicious! Thank you!
Have you ever tried freezing leftover peanut sauce?
If you don’t think that would work, do you think it would be ok to save in the fridge for a week?
I do think you could freeze it just fine!
Mare this today. It is really good. I added a splash of rice vinegar (couldn’t help myself) and used yellow bell pepper because that’s what I had. The cilantro is what sets it off.