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.
This looks perfect to bring to our summer concerts in the park. Thanks for the recipe!
this was a hit! I decided to also make the tofu from “SOY MARINATED TOFU BOWLS” which was a great idea as the tofu was soft and creamy which paired well with the crunchy vegetables. There are a lot of leftovers – I think I will make the rest of the spaghetti and double the dressing. looking forward to eating this for lunch the rest of the week!
All I had on hand was bucatini and subbed that for the spaghetti, also I added a teaspoon of sesame seed oil. Absolutely delicious, noodle salad that was crisp and fresh. Thank you
Made this using udon instead of spaghetti because I had it on hand and udon’s always good cold. I doubled the dressing like a lot of the comments suggested and I’m glad I did – these servings are HUGE. So good!
Love this recipe so much! We’ve made it like 10 times at this point. I’ve also started doing a quick 10-minute version for when I really don’t feel like cooking after work. Sub a bag of coleslaw mix for the cabbage and carrot, use micro cilantro to save time on chopping, and make a quick version of the dressing by adding peanut butter and lime juice to makoto ginger dressing and ta-daaa time for reality tv and noodles.
What is micro cilantro? Thanks
Very small cilantro.
Glad I gave this one a shot! It was pretty easy to put together. The peanut lime dressing is yummy – I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out as I was making it but it came together nicely. I followed the advice of some other commenters and doubled the dressing, and I’m glad I did. I would also nice to give my own tip – do yourself a favour and do not use a bunch of baby carrots instead of regular carrots. It was a total pain to shred them. Live and learn!
What I do now to save on prep time is buy a bag of mixed greens and simply split it between portions. Easiest meal prep ever! All you have to do is boil the pasta and make the dressing.
This was spectacular and so refreshing. I didn’t have any ginger on hand so I used a splash of ginger beer in the sauce instead lol. Still turned out delicious. I served it alongside a small portion of teriyaki chicken. This is definitely going into my meal rotation.
This is a fantastic salad that I keep coming back to for healthy, easy-to-pack lunches. It’s wonderful as written, but it’s also very adaptable. I’ve used broccoli slaw along with the cabbage and recently made it with farro instead of noodles. Like other commenters, I make extra dressing and sometimes add sriracha if we’re in the mood for some heat.
This is a great recipe. I don’t use neutral oil in the peanut sauce, I don’t think it needs it. I just add water or oat milk until the sauce is thin enough to pour.
This is in my regular rotation. I do sub soba noodles for the spaghetti and use regular creamy peanut butter. I also just sprinkle the peanuts over the top of each serving. Delicious and it keeps well for lunches through the week.
I often prep this for my husband’s lunches and it’s one of his favorites! Great because it’s full of veggies and doesn’t need to be refrigerated on the road. The only change I make is I double the peanut sauce (at his request). Delicious, easy, and budget friendly!
Love this recipe! Like others, I will also be making more of the dressing as I am heavy handed. I think another great way to enjoy this throughout the week is to roll it up with rice paper and make spring rolls!
So so good! I had to stop myself from eating a second plate. I omitted the cilantro, added a thinly sliced red bell pepper, and doubled the sauce. Will definitely be making this again!
This is proving to be a lovely lunch! I winged it based on what I had on hand and used kale instead of cilantro and edamame instead of peanuts. I definitely will need a second batch of the dressing, though, it’s really tasty and I run generous with my dressing.
This is a super delicious summer salad that I am making for my second time now! Going back into the office, it is a great meal to throw in my backpack and take for lunch without needing to heat and neutral smell. =) I added some grilled chicken to give some added protein and I also prefer a bit less lime in the dressing so I halfed the lime juice and it’s perfect for me! This will be a go- to this summer. Thanks Beth!