Thai Noodle Salad with Peanut Sauce

This Thai noodle salad is vegetables and noodles tossed in a crave-worthy peanut sauce. It's easy to make in only 20 minutes and can be served hot or cold.

This simple noodle salad is a light and fresh dish that's full of vibrant colors and flavors. Plus it's super versatile: you can make it for lunch, dinner or meal prep for your week (leftovers are tasty).

The best part of this recipe is the peanut sauce! It's what will make you want to eat this salad again and again. It uses a similar peanut sauce as our popular Peanut Butter Noodles (a noodle-only version of this recipe) and Asian Slaw Salad (a chopped salad version of this recipe).

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to make this noodle salad. The full recipe card and ingredient list can be found at the bottom of the page.

• Brown rice noodles (or pad thai, soba, fettuccine, or spaghetti noodles) 
• Carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• Red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• Red cabbage, thinly sliced

For the Peanut Sauce: 

• Creamy peanut butter
• Soy sauce 
• Garlic
• Ginger 
• Sesame oil 
• Fresh lime juice

Substitutions

Here's some of the most popular substitutions and additions for this recipe:

• Noodles - there are many options for the noodles in this recipe. I've used brown rice noodles, but you could also use pad thai, soba, fettuccine, or spaghetti noodles.
• Vegetables: this recipe includes about 3 cups of vegetables (sliced carrots, red bell peppers, and red cabbage). You can swap these out for your favorite veggies: for example, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, green onion, red onion).
• Soy sauce: to make this recipe gluten-free, swap out the soy sauce for Tamari sauce or coconut aminos and use gluten-free pasta.
• Sesame oil: sesame oil adds flavor to the peanut sauce, but in a pinch you can substitute avocado oil (or any neutral oil).

Instructions

Here's how to make this salad in 4 simple steps:

1. Make the sauce: in a small bowl, use a fork to stir together the ingredients for the sauce. Stir well, until the peanut butter is completely dissolved and the sauce is smooth (not grainy). Set aside. 
2. Cook the noodles: cook the noodles according to their package instructions. Drain the noodles and use tongs or two forks to toss them with the sauce in a large bowl.
3. Add vegetables: add the chopped carrots, bell pepper, and cabbage to the noodles and toss again, until everything is coated in the sauce. 
4. Serve: serve warm or refrigerate for 5 minutes if you prefer your noodle salad chilled. Optionally, top with chopped cilantro and roasted peanuts. 

Hint: be sure to stir your peanut sauce until the peanut butter is completely dissolved! Depending on the type of peanut butter you use, the sauce will be grainy as you start to stir it and then become smooth once completely combined.

Storage

• In the fridge: cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 - 4 days.
• In the freezer: it's not recommended to freeze this recipe.

Top Tip

Be sure to toss your noodles in the peanut sauce as soon as they are done cooking and while they are still hot/warm. This prevents the noodles from clumping together. Use tongs or two forks to toss the noodles and coat them completely in the sauce.

If you try this recipe, I would love to hear your thoughts! Please leave a comment at the bottom of this page. And if you share a photo on social media, I'd love to see it! You can tag me on: Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok.

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