Recipe: Cold Peanut Soba Noodle Salad

It’s still summer out there, and although the fading sunlight in the evenings and the cool undercurrent of the breeze hints at the approach of autumn, it’s still pretty friggin’ hot some days. So on days like these, when my air conditioner already fights to keep the apartment cool, I like to minimize the amount of cooking I do. This recipe uses only one pot on the stovetop, and takes 20 minutes from start to finish!

The basis of this cool salad are soba noodles. Soba noodles are a Japanese noodle variety made from buckwheat flour. In the package they’re usually a grayish brown color and often come pre-bundled by serving, which is convenient! They’re already salted, so cook them in unsalted water. The soba I have takes a mere 5 minutes to cook, which makes it a quick and easy option for a weeknight meal.

Cold Peanut Soba Noodle Salad

Ingredients

Salad

• 6 oz dry buckwheat soba noodles
• 10 cups shredded salad mix (I used 2 bags of Mann’s Rainbow Salad)

Dressing

• 4 tbsp all natural peanut butter (I use Crazy Richard’s)
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp chili garlic paste
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 limes, juiced
• ¼ cup water

Garnishes

• 1 cup scallions (the green part only), sliced
• 1 oz cocktail peanuts, chopped
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 4 tbsp cilantro (optional)

Directions

1. Cook soba according to package directions, drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking process. Drain well.
2. Combine all of the dressing ingredients except the water until smooth. Whisk in water until you get a smooth consistency. Add more water if you like your dressing thinner.
   

   
3. In a large bowl, toss rainbow salad, noodles and sauce together until well coated. Divide into four bowls or plates.
   

   

   

   
4. Garnish with scallions, sesame seeds and chopped peanuts.
5. Garnish with cilantro if desired and enjoy!

This recipe is vegetarian but can easily be made vegan by swapping out the honey for maple syrup. Now I know you all want to know the nutrition facts on this, so here we go:

Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 418.7
Total Fat: 16.6 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 1,121.7 mg
Total Carbs: 56.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 9.1 g
Protein: 17.5 g

Not bad right? I hope you give it a shot! If you’re hesitant about sodium feel free to swap out regular soy sauce for low-sodium soy sauce.  If you need gluten-free, some soba noodles are labeled as such, and you can swap out the soy sauce for tamari. I hope you give this one a shot! (Hey, if you’re reading this at the time of posting you have plenty of time to run out and grab the ingredients for this recipe before dinner tonight. *wink wink, nudge nudge*)

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