Cold Peanut Noodle Salad with Chicken
A simple recipe featuring homemade peanut sauce served with chicken, noodles, and any veggie you can find. Great for an almost-no-cook dinner and quick lunches using any leftovers you have in the fridge.
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
For the peanut sauce:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp peanut butter heaping; smooth is best
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp dried chili flakes
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1/2 tsp liquid chicken stock or a crumbled stock cube
For the noodles:
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1.3 lb egg noodles about 21 oz
- 5.25 oz bean sprouts about generous 1 1/2 cups; blanched
- 4.5 oz kale (cavolo nero) about generous 1 3/4 cups; loosely packed, chopped
- 8.75 oz cold roast chicken diced or shredded; about generous 1 3/4 cups
- 1.5 oz cucumber peeled and diced; about 1/3 cup
- 0.75 oz radishes finely sliced; about scant 1/4 cup
- 2 scallions (spring onions) chopped
Garnish:
- 2.75 oz salted peanuts roughly chopped; about 1/2 cup
Instructions
- Whisk together all the peanut sauce ingredients in a bowl. Give it a taste and adjust accordingly.
- Cook the egg noodles, rinse under cold water, and pop into a bowl.
- Put the chicken, cucumber, radishes, scallions (spring onions), bean sprouts, and sesame seeds in with the noodles.
- Quickly fry the kale (cavolo nero) and then add it to the bowl.
- Pour over the dressing and give it a really good stir. Garnish with the chopped peanuts and enjoy!
Notes
Make-ahead and storage
Storage: This cold noodle salad can be made a day ahead and kept in an airtight container (making it a great grab-and-go lunch option). You might want to store the peanut sauce separately and add it right before serving to ensure it doesn't get too soggy. Make-ahead: You can certainly prep all of the ingredients ahead, storing them in the fridge separately, then assemble the salad just before eating it.More quick tips
- Adapt ingredients to taste: With a salad like this, the exact measurements are not entirely important. I would suggest following the peanut sauce as instructed, though if you like a little more spice, add some extra chili and adjust the veggie and chicken portions to suit your taste.
- Swap the veggies: You can use any sort of vegetable you have in the fridge (the salad is a great way to use them up!). Fresh red peppers, fried kale, blanched broccoli, raw carrots, bean sprouts…literally anything.
- Vegan and vegetarian options: Skip the chicken (maybe try tofu instead) to make the dish vegetarian. Swap the soy sauce for tamari or make sure your soy doesn't include anchovies, and use egg-free noodles to make this dish vegan.
- Choose your noodles: If you don't have egg noodles, try this salad with udon or rice noodles.
Nutrition
Calories: 897kcal | Carbohydrates: 112g | Protein: 46g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 166mg | Sodium: 964mg | Potassium: 932mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 3529IU | Vitamin C: 40mg | Calcium: 197mg | Iron: 6mg