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.
YASD (Yet Another Stellar Dish) from BudgetBytes. It’s going to be hot here in the PNW this weekend, and I used cabbage, carrot, and green onion from my CSA box to make this cold salad today (when it’s only 89 degrees out) and there’ll be enough for the two of us tomorrow, when it’ll be over 100 degrees and I won’t want to A) boil noodles or B) eat hot food. Mmmmm!
Hahah, I love that acronym! Thank you! :)
This dressing is so good that I licked it out of the blender. I regret sleeping on this recipe so long.
I couldn’t taste it over the cabbage, though. Maybe I cut it too thick, but my cabbage is pretty strong flavored. I’m eating the rest over spinach.
Crispy and tasty! And easy to adapt. I had parsley to use up so I replaced cilantro with it. I topped one of the salads with leftover kale bits. I had soba in the cupboard so I used that in place of pasta. I didn’t bother trying to mix everything together. I mixed the salads as I ate them. This will be nice for picnics.
This is a wonderful recipe! Like some of the other commenters, I also found I didn’t have a bowl quite big enough to mix everything properly – next time I might have the recipe. I used rice noodles as my partner can’t have gluten, and we doubled the amount of sauce over the several nights we had this for dinner.
This salad is ridiculously GOOD! I did end up having to alter the recipe with what I had in my cupboards and preference. I subbed whole wheat pasta with soba noodles.
I omitted the oil for the dressing as I am not that keen on adding oils to salad. The PB seemed creamy enough in texture so didn’t feel like it needed more, which also happened to be crunchy so I omitted the chopped peanuts :-)
Also I misread the amount of soy sauce, so I ended up adding 2 tbsp, but IMO that worked out great as I hadn’t added any salt to the noodles. I think I might even add some more. Didn’t have any red cabbage so used red pointed cabbage instead, they’re basically the same and I also subbed the green onions with garlic chives cos that’s what I had in my fridge.
Also forgot to add the sugar as I was too busy entertaining guests, but again I didn’t miss it and a big red pepper, which a little kick and sweetness and it all came together beautifully!
Once my office reopens after Covid, I will most definitely add this on my meal prep plan. It is also a perfect salad for potlucks or picnics and it is very filling. This is going to be a go-to recipe for when it becomes hot and with some poached, shredded chicken breast and a glass of white wine. Beth, you absolutely rock!!!
Wow great work. This will definitely become a staple at our house. Thank you so much.
Best Asian salad ever! I buy shredded carrots and sub broccoli slaw to make things easier.
Has anyone tried this with a shorter pasta? I’d like to try for my toddler but she doesn’t particularly like to ‘eat’ long spaghettis.
Good question! Thicker type pasta might not absorb the flavours quite as well. I would try Orzo pasta! Even rice!
Delicious. I really liked the dressing. It made a very large amount and so it was great for meal prepping.
Made yesterday and LOVE it! Pretty easy and fast using a food processor shredder attachment for both the cabbage and carrots. Always like to make the recipe first time as is with no or minimal alterations. On this one I did chopped raw almonds (instead of peanuts) and add them in when I dress to keep the crunch. The dressing: I used toasted sesame oil (and a bit less than called for), bragg’s liquid aminos (instead of soy) , added a bit of chili sauce. Subs were made merely because it’s what I had on-hand. Must say it’s absolutely delicious and will definitely make again … with likely a bit less oil since I used a non-neutral oil. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Going on the regular lunch rotation! Used a bag of prepped cabbage slaw mix instead of plain purple cabbage to save a little time. Added a pinch of crushed red pepper for a kick! Perfect!
This is A VERY GOOD SALAD! I was so incredibly surprised by how this turned out. I swore I would not make this dish because cold noodles…. yuck. But I was searching for something veggie-heavy to pack for lunch that would hold up well for meal prep and decided to take a risk on this with the positive reviews. WOW! The sauce is as amazing as everyone says. I doubled it and added a splash of sesame oil. This recipe is very large, especially for the price, I barely had a bowl large enough to mix everything. Do not dare skip the mix-ins – the peanuts and herbs are crucial for this recipe. I will definitely make this on repeat. PS – It went great with my menu this week because we made the cumin lime slaw and green chile chicken enchiladas one night, and basically all of the ingredients overlap. Two totally different cuisines, same head of cabbage!
I’ve made this twice now and it’s definitely a keeper! I found a pre-shredded broccoli stalk/carrot/cabbage slaw at my grocery store to make that step a little easier. I also added a splash of sesame oil to the dressing (since that’s something I have on hand already) and I would recommend that.
Now I’ve got lunch sorted for the next few days!
A new favorite! My grocery store didn’t have red cabbage, so I had to substitute broccoli slaw. I also added some cucumber (because I needed to use them). The peanut sauce is amazing and really is the star of the salad.
I’ve made this several times and it’s great! Fresh flavors but also filling, easy to make, and holds well in the fridge for make-ahead lunches. I use less oil and more soy sauce in the dressing (probably about 2 T of each), sprinkle the peanuts on top of each serving to keep them crunchy, and usually top with a squirt of sriracha. I tend to make pasta salads a lot in the summer, and this is a good alternative to my traditional version.