This Cold Peanut Noodle Salad is the perfect meal prep for summer! No need to reheat, it’s light but filling, and the flavors are oh so fresh. It’s topped off with a homemade tangy, sweet, and creamy Peanut Lime Dressing to make everything finger-licking good. So have a salad for lunch this week, and enjoy it.
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The meal prep containers and dressing containers shown above can be found in my Amazon Shop.
Where’s the Protein?
I didn’t include a “dedicated protein” ingredient in this salad, but that doesn’t mean the meal is void of protein. The vegetables, nuts, and pasta all contain protein, even if in smaller amounts (see 5 Easy Sources of Plant Based Protein). The whole wheat spaghetti alone provides 7 grams of protein per serving. But, if you want to go heavier on the protein you can add something like shelled edamame, Honey Sriracha Tofu, or rotisserie or grilled chicken.
How to Store Cold Peanut Noodle Salad
I suggest keeping the dressing separate from the salad and adding it just before serving, not because the vegetables will get soft, but because the pasta will likely absorb the dressing and it might get dry. I always suggest keeping your meal preps no longer than 4-5 days because textures and flavors tend to go down hill quickly after that. The ingredients in this recipe are all very sturdy and refrigerate extremely well. If anything, you might have a little color bleed from the purple cabbage onto the pasta, but that will not affect the flavor.
How to Use Leftover Cabbage
Cabbage is tricky. No matter how small of a head you get, you always have some left over. So, if you don’t want your leftover red cabbage to go to waste, I suggest trying these recipes: Vinaigrette Slaw with Feta, Sweet Crunch Winter Salad (this will also use your leftover carrots and green onion), or Braised Red Cabbage.
Cold Peanut Noodle Salad
Servings 4 about 2 cups salad eachIngredients
Peanut Lime Dressing
- 3 Tbsp natural-style peanut butter ($0.21)
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.04)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger ($0.05)
- 1 medium lime, juiced (2 Tbsp juice) ($0.69)
- 2 tsp soy sauce ($0.08)
- 1/4 cup neutral oil* ($0.82)
Salad
- 8 oz. whole wheat spaghetti ($0.55)
- 4 cups finely shredded red cabbage ($1.12)
- 2 carrots ($0.22)
- 1/2 bunch cilantro (about 1/2 cup chopped) ($0.75)
- 4 green onions (about 1/2 cup sliced) ($0.45)
- 1/2 cup peanuts, chopped ($0.24)
Instructions
- To make the peanut lime dressing, combine all the ingredients in a bowl or blender. Whisk or blend until smooth. Set the dressing aside.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil for the whole wheat spaghetti. Break the spaghetti in half to make it easier to stir into the salad ingredients later. Once the water is boiling, add the spaghetti, and continue to boil until the pasta is tender. Drain in a colander and rinse it briefly with cold water to cool it off. Let the pasta drain well.
- Meanwhile, shred the cabbage as finely as possible using either a knife or the shredding attachment of a food processor. Shred the carrots using a large-holed cheese grater. Roughly chop the cilantro and peanuts. Slice the green onion.
- Combine the cooled and well drained pasta in a large bowl with the cabbage, carrots, cilantro, green onion, and peanuts. Toss the salad until the ingredients are evenly combined.
- Serve the salad and peanut lime dressing immediately, or divide the undressed salad between four containers (about 2 cups each) and divide the dressing between four smaller containers (about 2 Tbsp or slightly more each). Refrigerate up to 4-5 days.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Chef’s Knife
- White Cutting Boards
- Glass Meal Prep Containers
- Dipping Cups
Notes
Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Cold Peanut Noodle Salad – Step by Step Photos
To make the peanut lime dressing, combine 3 Tbsp peanut butter, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, one minced clove of garlic, 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger, 2 Tbsp lime juice, 2 tsp soy sauce, and 1/4 cup neutral oil (any mild-flavored oil) in a bowl or blender.
Whisk or blend the ingredients until smooth. Set the dressing aside.
Next, bring a pot of water to a boil for the noodles. You’ll need 8 oz. of whole wheat spaghetti for this recipe. I always break my spaghetti in half when I know it’s going to be stirred into other solid ingredients. It helps them combine more evenly instead of creating one big clump of pasta in the middle. Boil the pasta until tender, then drain in a colander, and give it a brief rinse with cold water to cool it off. Let the spaghetti drain well.
Finely shred about 4 cups of red cabbage. Making sure the cabbage is shredded VERY finely is key here. Thick pieces of cabbage are not good in this recipe. 4 cups is roughly equivalent to 3/4 to 1 pound of cabbage whole. So if you have a 2 lb. cabbage, use about half of it.
Shred two carrots using a large-holed cheese grater. Or, if you used the shredder attachment on a food processor to shred the cabbage, you can switch to the grating attachment to do the carrots.
Roughly chop about 1/2 bunch cilantro and slice about 4 green onions. You’ll want about 1/2 cup of each, but it’s extremely flexible. Also roughly chop 1/2 cup peanuts.
Combine the cooled spaghetti, cabbage, carrot, cilantro, green onion, and peanuts in a large bowl.
Toss the salad ingredients together until evenly combined.
Either serve the cold peanut noodle salad with the peanut lime dressing immediately, or divide it between four containers. I suggest leaving the dressing separate and adding it just before serving. These meal prep and dressing containers can be found in my Amazon store.
That dressing, crunchy cabbage, and cold noodles is just magic together! SO FRESH.
Wish I read the comments before hand, because the sauce recipe definitely needs to be doubled. Besides the dryness it was a tasty recipe.
Really yummy I just wish it showed a calorie count.
Delicious!! Made this tonight. Had to swap in ground ginger for fresh (thought I had some but didn’t) and I used low sodium soy sauce, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. So good! The hubs added some leftover grilled chicken to his. Doubled the sauce so there would be plenty for the leftovers. Can’t wait for lunch tomorrow. Yum!!
Its Superb !.
best wishes from
Kancor Ingredients Limited-a pioneer in the field of Capsaicin oleoresin extract
So, so good. I’m literally using the second half of the red cabbage to make a second batch. Perfect for a work lunch.
Just made this up for lunch this afternoon. I doubled the dressing (and added a small squirt of Sriracha) and dressed the salad with half of it so the noodles and veg could absorb the flavors. I added celery too. And when we eat I’ll add in the peanuts and some shelled edamame (sp?) along with additional dressing! I can’t wait for lunch! Assuming it’s as good as every other budget bytes recipe I’ve made, I’ll be making it again for a healthy pot luck using the edamame spaghetti from Aldi which can nearly be counted as a protein it’s got so much of it! Can’t wait! Thanks Beth!
Should you use peanuts with the brown “shell” or without?
Without the shell. :)
Really fantastic. This recipe is super simple to make and delicious.
This recipe is amazing, I’ve mad it for lunch two weeks in a row. I add a couple hard boiled eggs for extra protein
I’ve made this a couple times now. Just flagging that I always have extra veggies leftover, so when I make a batch, I double the sauce and store the extra veggies separately. Later in the week, I spread the sauce on some warm naan and top with the veggies – instant easy Thai pizzas – Sooo good!
This is brilliant!
Made this today. I assumed I wouldn’t like it. I hate cold pasta, I don’t love red cabbage. Kept out the cilantro since I have the soap gene. Otherwise kept everything the same and it’s delicious. I could not stop eating it. Seconding another commenter that said they would likely double the sauce in the future. It’s probably a healthy amount of sauce to begin with but the sauce is just SO tasty I would have liked a little more of it. This one’s a winner.
Absolutely delicious! My husband, a peanut butter HATER, even loved it. I think the sauce quantity is allllmost enough, as the flavors are so great that you don’t really need a ton, but I will be increasing it by 50% or just doubling it next time. I had it for lunch today, and ate another container of it when I just got home! We have company coming next week and I’ll be making this with grilled chicken thighs on top! Thanks for an amazing recipe.
Wowza. So super delicious. Used parsley instead of cilantro, added a pound of tofu. Crazy good.
If I put this in a fancy to-go box and a fancy bag I could seriously trick people into thinking it is a $20 salad. Absolutely amazing!!!
Made this today and it was so good! I subbed bagged coleslaw mix for the cabbage and carrots because I had it on hand but it was still perfect!