Peanut Soba Noodle Salad Recipe

If you're looking for ways to add extra veggies and greens into your meals, but don't necessarily love plain salads, this peanut soba noodle salad from recipe developer Alexandra Shytsman of the plant-based blog, The New Baguette, is for you. It's packed with nutritious vegetables — cucumbers, bell peppers, and even kale! — but tastes nothing like "health food." Plus, unlike a boring side salad, this soba salad is an entire meal in itself, as it's packed with proteins, carbs, and healthy fats. The secret to this dish's indulgent quality is a rich and nutty peanut sauce, which makes anything it comes into contact with absolutely irresistible.

Cold noodle salads are quite popular across Southeast Asian cuisines; soba noodles are Japanese buckwheat noodles, which taste especially good cold. And peanut sauce, specifically, is a common accompaniment to things like Vietnamese spring rolls, Indonesian gado-gado salad, and skewered grilled meats, to name a few.

To make the salad, you'll need soba noodles, cucumbers, a bell pepper, lacinato kale, and scallions. For the peanut dressing, you'll need natural peanut butter (the kind where the only ingredient is peanuts), fresh garlic and ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, and seasoned rice vinegar. If you don't have soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles), feel free to substitute with other types of noodles, like lo mein, udon, or even fresh ramen. If you only have unseasoned rice vinegar, add a splash of maple syrup or honey to the dressing.

Start the recipe by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. While you wait, slice up your cucumbers, bell peppers, kale, and scallions. Be sure to place the cut veggies in a bowl large enough for combining the entire salad — noodles and all — to avoid dirtying extra dishes. Aside from the vegetables listed, you can use other fresh and crunchy options, like sliced radishes, shredded cabbage, celery, or carrots.

Be sure to slice the kale super thinly so it's not hard to chew. To do this, pull the kale leaves off their stems, roll them up cigar-style, and slice thinly with a sharp knife. This technique is known as "chiffonade."

When your veggies are ready, start on the sauce. In a medium bowl, combine the peanut butter (you can use creamy or chunky, by the way), minced garlic and ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, and seasoned rice vinegar. Using a fork or sauce whisk, combine everything until a homogenous mixture forms. Then add some water and continue whisking until it's creamy. At first it may seem challenging to incorporate the water, but just keep whisking and the lumps will eventually disintegrate.

When your water has come to a boil, add the soba noodles. Be sure to stir them right away, and continue stirring as you cook to prevent them from sticking together. Soba noodles cook faster than wheat noodles (like spaghetti, for example), so they're typically ready in about 6 minutes or so. Refer to your noodle package for specific cooking times and be careful not to overcook them. When the noodles are cooked through, drain them and rinse thoroughly under running water to wash off the excess starch.

When everything is ready, add the noodles to the large bowl with the vegetables and drizzle with the sauce. Gently toss the ingredients together until everything is evenly coated — it's a good idea to do this with your hands to avoid noodle breakage, but tongs work well, too. Garnish the salad with sesame seeds before serving.

This soba salad is best served at room temperature or cold. Leftovers are delicious as well, and will keep in the fridge for about 4 days.