Cold Noodle Salad With Spicy Peanut Sauce

By Hetty Lui McKinnon

Total Time: 20 minutes
Rating: 4(7,204)
Notes: Read community notes

Soba, Japanese buckwheat noodles, are ideal for salads because they taste particularly great when served cold. Crunchy vegetables are highlighted here, adding lots of crisp, fresh texture. Substitute with any raw vegetables you have on hand, such as cabbage, carrot, fennel, asparagus, broccoli or cauliflower. The spicy peanut sauce is very adaptable: If you don’t want to use peanut butter, you can use any nut or seed butter, like cashew, almond, sunflower or even tahini. Both the soba and the peanut sauce can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the fridge overnight, but wait to combine them until you are ready to eat for the best texture and consistency. The peanut sauce thickens as it sits, so add a tablespoon or two of water to loosen it up, if necessary.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

For the Salad

Kosher salt
10ounces soba noodles
1medium zucchini or cucumber (about 6 ounces)
5radishes (about 4 ounces)
1bell pepper (any color)
1tablespoon sesame oil
½cup roasted salted peanuts (about 2 ounces), roughly chopped
2scallions, trimmed and finely chopped
Handful of cilantro leaves
1lime, cut into wedges for serving

For the Spicy Peanut Sauce

½cup smooth peanut butter (not natural)
¼cup soy sauce
2tablespoons maple syrup
2tablespoons lime juice (from 1 lime)
1tablespoon sesame oil
2teaspoons chile oil or hot sauce, plus more to taste
1garlic clove, grated

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Add the soba, stir to prevent sticking, and cook according to package instructions until just tender. Rinse under cold water until the noodles are completely cold.
Step 2
Meanwhile, make the sauce: In a medium bowl, combine the peanut butter, soy sauce, maple syrup, lime juice, sesame oil, chile oil or hot sauce, and garlic. Add ¼ to ½ cup water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and whisk until the sauce is a pourable consistency. Taste and add more chile oil or hot sauce as desired; set aside.
Step 3
Cut the zucchini or cucumber and radishes into ⅛-inch thick slices, then cut into thin matchsticks. Slice the peppers into ⅛-inch pieces. Place them all in a large bowl.
Step 4
Loosen the soba noodles by running them under some water, then allow to drain again. Add them to the vegetables, add the remaining 1 tablespoon sesame oil and toss to combine.
Step 5
When you are ready to serve, drizzle with spicy peanut sauce and top with peanuts, scallions and cilantro. Serve immediately, with lime wedges alongside.

Ratings

4 out of 5

7,204 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Acfh3 years ago

Why not natural peanut butter? Also can I use spiralized zucchini or summer squash noodles?

lynn rogers2 years ago

Because the processed peanut butters emulsify more readily into the sauces… because of the added stuff, oils in them. I won’t use them and like you always am able to make great results with natural peanut butter …

Beto3 years ago

I like a little fresh grated ginger and chopped cilantro in my peanut sauce.

Sueiseman3 years ago

For those watching their caloric intake, peanut powder is great. By adding water, it's peanut butter/sauce with the fats removed. Just watch the ones with added sugar!

Haidee Courson2 years ago

Blend the noodles and sauce together and then place vegetables on top of that mixture, they remain crisper and the color is better.

Martha Stewedrat3 years ago

Add some of those styrofoam peanuts for extra crunch...

Russ2 years ago

Added some savoy cabbage since we had some. Used a bit of sriracha instead of chile oil. Biggest thing I find with soba is to make sure you tend to it while it is boiling and then rinse it well, otherwise it gets sticky and gummy. I rinse with cold water in a colander and then transfer the noodles into a bowl of cold water. At that point I scrub the noodles to remove the starch and drain back into the colander.

Harold Lee Miller3 years ago

Again, why not natural peanut butter? Just curious, I will use it anyway, as I don't have anything else, and I won't buy anything else. Why would you eat peanut butter mixed with Crisco (hydrogenated vegetable oil)? If the recipe needs the Crisco for some reason, I'm sure it will be just as good without it. I've made any number of peanut sauces like this with natural peanut butter and they're all different and they're all good.

Lenna3 years ago

This was so easy and so good and so versatile. Everyone loved it. The sauce is just perfect. We added extra hot sauce and extra lime juice, just because that’s what we love. This is a total winner. We used whatever vegetables we had in the house. Thank you for this recipe!!

sissydude2 years ago

Super delicious! I highly recommend a few splashes of rice wine vinegar on the noodles when you add the oil to them. I did that to my leftovers today. Just gave it a nice kick... and punched up the peanut sauce.

Cordau2 years ago

Forget about whisking the sauce by hand. Put all of the sauce ingredients in a glass measuring cup or another deep container along with 1/4 cup of water and use an immersion blender to mix them. A few seconds of immersion blending produces a sauce that pours perfectly.

E.Peevie2 years ago

I know you meant silkiness, but I’m all in favor of silly sauce

Derek2 years ago

My recommendation for an easy spicy peanut sauce is to start with Trader Joe's Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette; and whisk in an equal volume of smooth peanut butter, and Sambal Oelek to taste. A little toasted sesame oil probably wouldn't hurt, too; but I've often gone with just three ingredients.

Kay3 years ago

Zucchini and summer squash have a LOT of water in them. If you eat the salad right away, it should work fine. If you store in the fridge awhile, it will get watery and not so nice.

Kikihughes2 years ago

This is such an interesting recipe. The spicy peanut sauce is very assertive on its own (I made it exactly to the recipe) but became almost bland when I tossed everything together. Next time I will *up* the ginger and garlic in the sauce. For those who find this time-consuming, a mandoline is a wonderful thing. It made short work of the radishes, cucumber, and bell pepper with the julienne plate. Soba noodles are wonderful summer food.

Sally2 days ago

Toasted sesame oil or plain sesame oil? Thank you

laurie3 days ago

7,000 reviews can’t be wrong I figured. And they are right ! Had company and served this with NHT sesame cucumber and avocado salad and grilled Asian salmon. Quite a combo!! Will make this for company again this summer.

Joanna6 days ago

For mahjong group: leave out the garlic, and only use 1/4 tsp of sriracha (instead of chili oil). I also topped with basil instead of cilantro.

Perfect For A 90° Day's Dinner!1 week ago

Made it almost as written, just no bell peppers, don't like them. Halved everything except the dressing. (I think it'll be great in a chicken wrap tomorrow for lunch!) I also threw some shrimp in the noodle water at the end. I found that using my immersion blender did a great job blending the peanut dressing. Will definitely make it again.

thomas1 week ago

A little too spicy with two teaspoons of hot sauce. One would be enough.

me1 week ago

Made this with bottled sauce and soba from Whole Foods zucchini and red pepper

Mary Beth1 week ago

Used Portland Creamery Whey syrup in place of maple, probably less sweet, but it was fine. Only one teaspoon Sriracha. Peanut butter was crunchy natural and also worked well. Preparing veggies super quick and easy with a new mandolin thanks to Wirecutter. The adults loved this. The toddler did not.

Brushjl2 weeks ago

Delicious. Yes soba noodles were great. I substituted honey for maple syrup but didn't change anything else.

Fran2 weeks ago

Very tasty recipe with lots of crunch. I used crunchy peanut butter because that’s what we had and it worked fine. Next time I will leave out the maple syrup or reduce it.

maryp3 weeks ago

My grocery store was out of soba noodles so I used rice noodles instead. The sauce seemed a bit bland to me so i added a bit of ginger. Turned out great. Trying with Soba tomorrow…I think we’ll be eating this a lot this summer.

Penelope Daner3 weeks ago

After combining all the sauce ingredients, I popped it into my blender! Creamy and perfect! Like the best satay sauce ever!!!

Mary H3 weeks ago

I don't get it. Everyone seems to love this recipe, but I made it exactly as written and found it just inedible. Hated it. The soba noodles were gray after boiling, so the combo of gray noodles with brown peanut sauce looked awful, too. No amount of fresh vegetables was going to save this dish for me. Total miss. On to the next recipe.

anne-marie3 weeks ago

Natural almond butter works really well instead of peanut butter -- very flavorful. It was a big hit at a summer potluck. (Natural is fine -- you really don't need the emulsifiers.)

JTK3 weeks ago

Made last night with a couple subs. Thought I had toasted sesame oil in the pantry, I did not, so added a little tahini and grated fresh ginger to the sauce. Added some shredded green cabbage for more veg content. Beware the "20 minute Total Time". It took at least 35-45 minutes, making soba, rinsing & chopping vegetables. I cook nightly & had all my ingredients ready to go but 20 minutes is a stretch. Served with some large boiled shrimp, leftover peanut sauce was great for dipping.

DKH3 weeks ago

This is delicious! Made one pound of soba noodles instead of the 10 oz recipes calls for and had had more than enough of the peanut sauce for the pound. This will definitely be a repeat!

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