Salad Ramen
Salad Ramen features cold ramen noodles, tons of colorful, crunchy vegetables, and a fabulously tangy dressing. This cold noodle salad recipe has EVERYTHING going for it!
Salad Ramen Recipe With Cold Noodles
Ramen noodles get me every time. Long and squiggly, I love their fun, chewy texture. And while I most often enjoy these noodles in a bowl of steaming ramen soup, this Salad Ramen recipe serves them up cold. And I love it!
With a base of cold ramen noodles, tons of colorful, crunchy vegetables, and a fabulously tangy dressing, this cold noodle salad dish has EVERYTHING going for it!
Tessa and I first made this Salad Ramen recipe last summer. And after each bite, we’d look at each other and say, “This is sooooo good!”
We’ve made it many times since then, playing around with different ingredients and quantities. It’s quickly become a favorite menu item – I just had to come back here and share about it!
Ingredients
Our family loves all the freshness going on in this salad. The recipe is broken down into the base of noodles and vegetables, plus the fresh lime dressing.
Noodles & Vegetables
- Dried ramen noodles – We use these soup packets (do not use the enclosed seasoning). But if you’re lucky enough to get your hands on some fresh noodles, use those!
- Kosher salt – Add some to the boiling water when cooking the dried noodles. This will infuse the noodles with a little extra flavor.
- Spring greens – We like to start with fresh tender greens on the bottom of our salad ramen bowls.
- Grape tomatoes – Slice them in half. If using larger tomatoes, cut them into bite sized pieces.
- Red bell pepper – Red sweet peppers are a favorite around here, but use whatever color you like. Cut it into thin strips.
- Shredded carrot – We take the easy route and buy a bag of pre-shredded carrots for this recipe. But you could also slice carrots into thin coins or shred carrots yourself.
- English cucumber – We like thin coin shapes.
- Zucchini – Slice it into matchsticks, for a different shape. Or just slice into thin coins.
- Red onion – Use whatever onion you like, but red onions do offer a very pretty color to the dish. Slice it very thin. Or chop it!
- Green onion – Green onions offer a brighter, fresher onion flavor. Slice or chop them.
- Sweetcorn kernels – Add them fresh, straight from the cob. We love these little pops of sweetness!
- Freshly ground black pepper – Give a couple good grinds of pepper over each finished bowl.
- Lime wedges – Offer fresh lime wedges to squeeze over each bowl, for even more zingy flavor!
Dressing
- Olive oil – Use a more neutral tasting olive oil for this, to let the other flavors shine.
- Toasted sesame oil – I use sesame oil in much of my cooking, love its flavor!
- Seasoned rice vinegar – This dressing is very acidic. Rice vinegar provides one half of the acidity.
- Lime juice – And fresh lime juice provides the other half of the acidity.
- Soy sauce – This adds salty, savory, beautiful umami flavor.
- Toasted sesame seeds – Adds both flavor and texture.
- Red pepper flakes – Just a little adds a nice tickle of heat! (Of course, you could add more if you like!)
How to Make Cold Ramen Noodle Salad
This salad is easy to make. The noodles cook in only a few minutes, so just allow time to prep the veggies and combine the dressing ingredients!
- Prep the vegetables: Chop, slice, cut!
- Make the dressing: Whisk olive oil, sesame oil, vinegar, lime juice, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Cook & dress the noodles: Cook the noodles in salted water according to package directions. This only takes a few minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Shake the noodles very well to get rid of excess water and then transfer noodles to a large bowl. Drizzle half of the dressing over the noodles and toss to coat (a tongs works great for this!).
- Serve: Add fresh greens to the bottom of four low wide bowls and then divide noodles among the bowls. Top with vegetables and drizzle with remaining dressing. Add freshly cracked black pepper over the top and a squeeze of fresh lime!
Variations
Here are a few ideas, if you’d like to switch up this recipe:
- Vegetables – The sky’s the limit here. This recipe includes my own family’s favorites. But feel free to include what you like! Some other options would be arugula, radishes, cabbage, yellow squash, and pea pods.
- Herbs – I often like to mix in fresh herbs. Thai basil, sweet basil, and mint are my favorites for this recipe!
- A touch of sweetness – This salad dressing packs an intensely acidic punch…and I LOVE it! If you’d like to tone it down a bit, try adding a little bit of honey.
- Protein – It’s easy to make this lighter dish more substantial. Add poached or grilled shrimp, medium-boiled eggs, shredded chicken, or thinly sliced steak for a hit of protein.
Can I Make This In Advance?
It’s easy to prep this ramen salad recipe ahead of time. And we often do!
Dressing – This can be made up to a day in advance. Just cover it and keep it refrigerated.
Vegetables – We like to prep all the veggies on a rimmed sheet pan, as shown in the photo above. Keeping all the veggies in their own little piles, for individuals to pick and choose which items they want in their own bowl. Simply cover the veggies and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Noodles – For the best noodle texture, I do like to cook these right before serving. But they cook fast!!
How to Store Leftovers
We don’t often have much for leftovers, but if you do, there are a couple ways you could store this dish.
First, you could keep all the different items separated, with separate containers for the noodles, dressing, and vegetables.
Or you could be super simple and combine everything (except the fresh greens) together in one container.
Like this recipe? Save it to Pinterest!
More Cold Noodle Salad Recipes:
Salad Ramen
Ingredients
for the vegetables:
- 4 ounces spring greens
- ½ pint grape tomatoes halved
- 1 medium red bell pepper sliced into thin strips
- 4 ounces shredded carrot
- ½ of a large English cucumber
- 1 medium green zucchini sliced into matchsticks or coins
- ½ of a large red onion sliced thin
- 2 green onions chopped
- sweetcorn kernels cut from 2 large ears of sweetcorn
for the noodles:
- 12 ounces four 3-ounce packages dried ramen noodles – or 20 ounces fresh
- kosher salt to add to the boiling water when cooking the noodles (I usually throw in a generous tablespoon)
for the dressing:
- ½ cup seasoned rice vinegar
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
to serve:
- freshly ground black pepper
- 4 lime wedges
Instructions
- For the vegetables: First prepare all the veggies.
- For the noodles: Cook the noodles in salted water according to package directions. This only takes a few minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Shake the noodles very well to get rid of excess water and then transfer noodles to a large bowl.
- For the dressing: Whisk olive oil, sesame oil, vinegar, lime juice, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Drizzle half of the dressing over the noodles and toss to coat (a tongs works great for this!).
- To serve: Add fresh greens to the bottom of four low wide bowls and then divide noodles among the bowls. Top with vegetables and drizzle with remaining dressing. Add freshly cracked black pepper over the top and a squeeze of fresh lime!
Notes
Nutrition Information:
5 star