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.
Made your Salad today for lunch, it is beyond spectacular.
My husband and I absolutely Loved it!
I will be making this all the time from now on!
Thank you so much for the Recipe!
Holy Cow! This is amazing!! I’m eating it as I type and had to share how much I love it! It makes a ton! I did make extra dressing since I love the flavor. Thank you for this recipe!
I’d recommend keeping the peanuts separate from the salad until the day you’re eating it! They’re edible, but sort of sticky and unappetizing on the outside due to the moisture from the veggies. I didn’t see this tip in the recipe, but I might have missed it! And as always, keep the dressing separate, which is recommended here :)
Absolutely fantastic!!!!!! I added rotisserie chicken for more protein. Lots of food and super delicious.
This is a recipe I make basically every week. I always have cabbage, carrots, and green onions on hand, so an extra snag of cilantro is super easy to do. I’ve also switched over to using the Japanese style buckwheat noodles (why not throw in some extra fiber?) and just making a giant jar of the sauce to have on hand. I’ve eaten this with and without proteins and it makes a handy complete lunch if I’m feeling super lazy that week.
Plus, if I keep out some of the salad mix and put together some sesame ginger dressing, I have a noodle dish + a slaw. Plus, it’s a fab bring for work potlucks. (Luckily, no one has a peanut allergy.) Easy, vegan-friendly, and filling.
I wish to make this gluten free. Will it work with rice noodles?
It will. Just keep in mind that rice noodles cook in 2 to 3 minutes and have a tendency to clump. Have everything ready to go before boiling them. XOXO -Monti
Literally my favorite meal prep! Stays fresh all week and that dressing is to die for. This past week I just used cole slaw mix in place of the cabbage and it was so easy and delicious! Love adding the honey sriracha tofu too.
This was great, but I should have weighed my pasta. I had a package (16 oz) with some already used and I assumed at first it was half. Then I remembered it was for a kids recipe that used very little, so mine was a little pasta-heavy. I think it would have been much better otherwise, and it was still actually really good!
This is still one of my favorite recipes! Because I eat lower to moderate carb, I use more vegetables and about half the noodles. I also make the sauce with Stevia instead of brown sugar. My favorite protein to add is tofu but I also like shrimp. This is just a beautiful recipe for a very hot summers!
Okay I was really concerned about this recipe at first LOL I tasted the dressing while making it and honestly thought it was horrible. But I am not one to waste food so I continued with the rest of the recipe. And when I tried the finished product—WOW, it was amazing!! I have no idea why the dressing tastes so bad alone yet SO GOOD in the actual salad.
Such a great and inexpensive summer recipe, I’ll be making it again for sure. And if it fits in your budget, I definitely recommend adding edamame :)
I made this and am really pleased with it. I left out the carrots and peanuts, just didn’t want to buy any. It was still good. Very flavourful and filling. Great meal prepping idea for the summer. I will make this again. Thanks, Beth!
This is delicious and makes a ton. We took it to a dinner with friends and it was a huge hit.
Has anyone served this hot??
Has anyone dressed it and refrigerated? Does it still taste good or is it necessary to wait to dress until you eat it?
I would wait because the noodles will probably absorb the dressing and it will probably end up a bit dry. :)
I liked this recipe as-is, and I want take it to work, but I work at a school and can’t bring any nuts. Do you think this would turn out okay with a sunbutter swap?
It’s hard to say without trying it, but I would definitely use the unsweetened sun butter.
Wow. Delicious. I used a bag of shredded cabbage with carrots, because I’m lazy. My only quibble is the recipe makes hardly enough sauce for more than a light, almost not there, coating. Or maybe I just like more sauce. I used up all on one bowl, so I’m going to make another, bigger batch ti go with the rest. I often find I like ti double the sauce for things like stir fry.