Crunchy, flavorful, and healthy, all at the same time, this Oriental Ramen Noodle Salad is a breeze to make. Check out the recipe.
Looking for more refreshing salads? Then give some of my other favorites a try too – Kidney Bean Salad, Watermelon Feta Salad, Amish Potato Salad, Cucumber Avocado Salad, Som Tam Salad, Cranberry Chicken Salad, and Broccoli Apple Salad.
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About This Recipe
Flavors, texture, and colors make for a great Salad, and this Asian Ramen Noodle Salad is everything mentioned. This 10-minute salad is filled with the goodness of cabbage, carrots, crunchy ramen noodles, green onions, broccoli, and almonds, all tossed in oriental dressing.
Well, if you ask me this Asian Noodle salad has everything, flavor, texture, and colors.
What else you need when you ask for a good salad. Many of us stay from salads and also finds it boring, reasons can be everything from the rawness of vegetables, to fewer flavors and many more.
But this salad will surely satisfy your taste buds with its sweet, spicy, and tangy flavors. If you like to eat your salad spicy, just add more red chili flakes.
A perfect make-ahead salad, Ramen Noodle Salad is an absolute classic dish that’s a welcome addition to any party. Once the salad is ready, it is refrigerated for about an hour, which makes the noodles a little soft and creates that perfect texture required for the salad.
But, If you want a really crunchy Asian Salad, eat it immediately as soon as you make it or add Ramen only when you are serving it.
You can also change the flavors of this salad, by adding different flavors of Ramen. This salad has certainly become my favorite to make for house parties, barbecues, potlucks, and other special occasions.
This Noodle Salad is,
- Vegan
- Crunchy
- Sweet + Tangy + Refreshing
- Full of flavor
- Delicious
- Easy & Quick
- Loaded with vegetables
Ingredients
Ramen – Ramen Noodles are basic instant wheat-based noodles that are thin and are used a lot in Asian Cooking. They are made of four basic ingredients wheat flour, salt, water, and kansui, a form of alkaline water.
These noodles can be cooked and added to the recipes such as Noodles, Soups, Ramen Bowls and they can also be eaten raw as we have added here in the salad.
Vegetables – Hearty and classic, this delicious salad has vegetables such as cabbage, carrots, green onions, and broccoli, all tossed in oriental dressing. Here, along with Green cabbage, I have also added Purple Cabbage which not only adds to its texture but also adds to the beautiful color of the salad.
If you don’t have green onions, cilantro/coriander leaves is a great substitute. You can even add avocados and raw mangoes/ripe mangoes, for a delicious twist in this salad.
Almonds – I have added Almonds too, as they make this salad even more nutritious. You can add any nuts of your choice.
You can add in peanuts, if you want to substitute almonds in this salad.
Dressing – The dressing used for this salad is full of flavors, sweet, spicy, and tangy. Vegetable oil, rice vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, red chili flakes, and ramen seasoning are combined to get this dainty and delectable dressing.
You can replace vegetable oil with sesame oil for a more pronounced Asian flavor. Also adjust the amount of red chili flakes, as per the spice you want to add to the salad.
Roasted Sesame Seeds are sprinkled on the top, before serving. I have used white sesame seeds, but you can use black sesame seeds too.
Step By Step Recipe
Crush the ramen noodles into small pieces.
Add all the salad ingredients in a bowl except sesame seeds.
Mix the dressing ingredients in another bowl.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
To make a Non-Vegetarian Ramen Noodle Salad, you can add some shredded grilled or boiled chicken or sauteed prawns/shrimps to this salad. The addition of these proteins will make this salad more filling and wholesome.
It can’t be said that Ramen Noodles are healthy as they are often deep-fried in oil to get that crunchy texture and the seasoning packets that come with Ramen are very high in sodium.
It is added in the salad, as they give a beautiful crunch to it and the seasoning just adds a lot of flavors to this dish. But then other than Ramen, this salad is loaded with other vegetables, which definitely makes it a healthy option.
I like to serve this salad on the side with my weekend Asian Brunch meals. But as they are loaded with vegetables, this salad is very filling and can be served as a main dish too.
To make it even more wholesome, add in some Grilled Chicken, Shrimps, or even Tofu.
Ramen Seasoning is filled with sodium, and thus you can avoid adding it and add ingredients such as ginger, garlic for an added flavor.
I like to add it sometimes, as it gives the Salad a mouthwatering umami taste.
Variations
You can certainly experiment with your Ramen Noodles Salad.
Along with the regular ingredients used for this salad you can also add Chicken, Shrimp, Red Bell Pepper, Edamame, Peas, Corn, Mandarin Orange, Napa Cabbage, Iceberg lettuce, Coleslaw etc.
Cashews, Raisins and Sunflower seeds are also a great substitute to the Almonds.
For the dressing, you can also try sesame oil, red wine vinegar, Italian dressing etc.
Well, you can add any vegetable of your choice to add texture and color to this gorgeous salad.
Try and experiment and don’t forget to share with me, the new set of ingredients you have added to make this salad even tastier.
Storage Suggestions
You can make this salad ahead of time, as you also need to keep this salad in the refrigerator for about an hour so that vegetables and ramen can soak up all the flavors of the dressing.
You can chop the vegetables in the morning and you can mix it up when you are serving it for dinner or prepare the entire salad 1-2 hours prior to serving to get the best flavors.
If you have leftovers, you can probably store in an airtight container in a refrigerator and eat it for the next 2 days.
I will not suggest you freeze this salad, because the cabbage and ramen can become really soggy and will not taste good. Any salad will taste good, only when it is fresh.
Pro Tips By Neha
You can toast the almonds and ramen noodles a bit more added flavour.
If you like this salad to be crunchy, add the ramen noodles just before serving.
If you do not want to add brown sugar in the dressing, you can add honey too.
You can add a protein such as chicken, shrimp, tofu, etc to make it more filling and nutritious.
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Recipe Card
Ramen Noodle Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 packet Instant Ramen Noodles
- 1 cup Purple Cabbage (Shredded)
- 1 cup Green Cabbage (Shredded)
- 1 cup Carrots (Julienned)
- 1 cup Broccoli (Cut into small florets)
- 1/2 cup Scallions (Chopped)
- 1/2 cup Almonds (Slivered)
- 1 tsp Sesame Seeds
For the dressing
- 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 2 tbsp Rice Vinegar
- 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
- 1/2 tsp Red Chilli Flakes
- 1 packet Ramen Seasoning
Instructions
- Crush the ramen noodles into small pieces.
- Add all the salad ingredients in a bowl except sesame seeds.
- Mix the dressing ingredients in another bowl.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and serve.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!