Asian Noodle Salad | Cabbage & Peanut Dressing

Cold Asian Noodle Salad with a creamy Asian peanut dressing is full of veggies like cabbage, bell peppers, celery, and green onions. This healthy and quick asian salad is a great meal prep or perfect for a potluck or lunch salad.

This cold asian noodle salad is a great meal to have on hand. It’s easy to make, and stays fresh for days. Plus, this recipe makes enough to last you for a week.

Make a batch of this Asian Noodle Salad at the beginning of the week to have on hand. It is great to take for lunches and you can add some rotisserie chicken or tofu on top to make it a full meal. It’s great cold, so no need to wait for the microwave during your lunch break!

Asian Noodle Salad is also vegan friendly. Made with no animal products, and filled with lots of healthy ingredients, you can now feel extra virtuous about your meal choice.  And it’s super delicious!

For another delicious make-ahead lunch salad, be sure to try this Parsley Quinoa Chickpea Salad. Another tasty choice is my Farro Tabbouleh Salad.

The cost of the salad is another great benefit. The dressing is made with ingredients you probably already have on hand, although you may need a trip to the grocery store for cabbage and bell pepper, which will run you about $2 to $3! Well worth it to be able to eat healthy all week and not spent a fortune on buying lunches.

What Veggies are in Cold Asian Noodle Salad?

Asian Noodle Salad is also a great way to use up any fresh veggies you may have in the fridge. Made with cabbage, bell pepper, green onions, and celery, you could also toss in any other veggies you may have on hand.

It would be great with cauliflower, broccoli, bean sprouts, edamame, or shredded carrots. Also, you can substitute a bag of coleslaw mix for the cabbage if you don’t feel like chopping! 

As for the cabbage, you can use either green or red cabbage. Just be sure to slice the cabbage thin. I also like to cut the slices in half so they are easier to eat.

What Noodles Work Best?

There are many different noodle options with Asian cooking. For this salad, I like to keep it simple and use whole wheat spaghetti noodles. They are hearty enough to hold up without getting mushy. Plus, they work well with the peanut sauce.

Another delicious option for this salad would be buckwheat noodles. These may be harder to find but they will give you more of a nutty, earthy taste.

You could also use ramen noodles for this salad. Ramon are more traditional with asian cooking. If you are looking for a gluten-free option, the Lotus Brown Rice and Millet Ramen Noodles would be a great choice.

How to Make Cold Asian Noodle Salad

This recipe for cold asian noodle salad makes a lot of salad! So, it’s important that you have a very large mixing bowl on hand when prepping this recipe.

Firstly, you will need to boil the noodles. Here I use a 16 ounce box of whole wheat spaghetti. To make eating the salad easier, I break the noodles in half with my hands as I’m adding them into the boiling water. Just cook as directed on the package until the noodles are al dente.

Once the noodles are done cooking, drain and set aside. To make this recipe quicker, prep the veggies and dressing while the noodles cook.

Add the noodles to your very large mixing bowl. Top with thinly sliced cabbage (red or green work), diced red bell pepper, celery, green onions, and cilantro. Not a cilantro fan? You can either omit it or use parsley instead.

Asian Peanut Dressing

This asian peanut dressing is perfect for topping your cold asian noodle salad. Plus, it’s made with ingredients you probably already have on hand.

Firstly, you will need to add the peanut butter. If your peanut butter is cold, it’s a good idea to microwave it for about 30 seconds so it combines easier with the other ingredients.

Then, just whisk together the remaining ingredients. For this asian peanut dressing I use peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger, oil, rice vinegar, sesame oil, agave nectar (honey works), and lime juice.

This dressing is great for your cold asian salad. It’s a delicious tip for tofu, chicken satay, or roasted veggies.

When the dressing is ready, simply pour over the noodles and veggies and toss together using tongs. If you don’t have big enough tongs, clean hands work well here.

I like to top my asian noodle salad with a generous drizzle of sriracha hot sauce. This would also be delicious with chopped peanuts, grilled chicken, and a squeeze of lime juice.

This Asian Noodle Salad is sure to be one of your new favorites to have on hand. Perfect for lunches it would also be great to serve as a side at BBQs, picnics, and as a brunch item.

Make-Ahead Cold Salads

I love to meal-prep salads so I can always have something healthy and delicious on hand. Some of my favorite make-ahead cold salads are:

Greek Pasta Salad is made with whole wheat pasta noodles and is full of flavor.

Rotisserie Chicken Pasta Salad is a quick dish to put together with store-bought rotisserie chicken and frozen peas.

Italian Tomato Onion Salad is delicious to have on hand and goes great with crusty bread.

Red Quinoa Beet Salad is a healthy side dish that gets better the longer it sits.

Shrimp Mango Cucumber Salad is the perfect salad for a warm day.

Pesto Pasta Salad is a made with only five ingredients and is great by itself or as a side dish.