Maple Lime Cold Noodle Salad
This Maple Lime Cold Noodle Salad is packed with veggies and protein. A perfect refreshing lunch or weeknight meal that comes together in less than 30 minutes.
A salad that doesn’t feel like you’re eating a salad. But, it still manages to pack in a lot of colorful veggies and even some good quality plant-based protein. The thing I truly love about it is that it is also perfect when you need something refreshing and easy to put together. As you can imagine, this one is constantly in the summertime food rotation list.
Why You’ll Love This Cold Noodle Salad
- Perfect refreshing meal. This is a cold noodle salad that is meant to relieve you from the heat. It’s served cold and packed with a lot of bright and colorful veggies.
- Packed with protein. Adding shredded tofu to the noodles helps make this a full and satisfying meal where you can get good quality protein in each bite.
- Easy to make. Minimal cooking is needed and you can use a shredding tool to help make cutting up the veggies a lot easier. A great lunchtime or weeknight meal that is easy to put together in under 30 minutes.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Noodles: I love using white or whole grain vermicelli rice noodles, which also happen to help keep this dish gluten-free. Feel free to use regular wheat based noodles if you prefer. Just make sure if using a different noodle that you follow the package instructions necessary for preparing.
- Tofu: I recommend using a super firm tofu that is vacuum sealed instead of in a tub of water. This style of tofu is ready to use and much easier to shred. Alternatively you can also use edamame or smoked tofu, neither which you need to roast or add additional seasonings to.
- Carrots: Adds a lovely crunch. You can feel free and swap with some shredded red cabbage or some radishes.
- Cucumber: I recommend using Persian or English cucumbers for this, seeds removed. Another easy alternative to use would be zucchini (yes you can have it raw)!
- Bell Pepper: I used a red bell pepper, but any colored pepper works for this. You can swap the bell pepper with some snap peas that are cut on a bias.
- Lime: Fresh is best since we need the zest and juice.
- Herbs: I used cilantro and mint. If not a fan of cilantro, try this with fresh parsley or basil!
- Soy Sauce: I prefer to use a wheat-free tamari, which happens to help keep this dish gluten-free. You can also feel free to use coconut aminos or a low sodium soy sauce to reduce the sodium as well.
- Sesame Oil: A toasted sesame oil helps add a good amount of flavor to our noodles. Feel free to omit or if you want this to be spicy, swap for chili oil.
- Sweet Chili Sauce: Adds a little sweet heat. If unable to find in your international section of your grocery store, swap for 1 tablespoon maple syrup or add it to taste.
- Maple Syrup: The sweetener I love to use, but feel free to swap with your favorite liquid sweetener like agave or brown rice syrup.
How to Make Maple Lime Cold Noodle Salad
Preheat the oven to 425F. Place a box grater over a parchment lined baking tray and grate the tofu over the largest holes on the grater. Top with soy sauce, lime juice, cornstarch and oil and toss to combine. Spread it out into an even layer then bake the tofu for 15 mins. Give the tofu a toss then bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until crispy around the edges.
Whisk together all the dressing ingredients and set to the side.
To a heat safe bowl add the dry noodles and cover with boiling water. Allow the noodles to soften for at least 3 minutes or according to package instructions. Give the noodles a whisk then run under cold water and drain.
Place the drained noodles in a large mixing bowl with the vegetables, pickled onions, cilantro, mint, pistachios and half the baked tofu. Pour over the dressing then toss everything together to evenly mix. Store the remainder of the tofu or add more to your bowl as desired. Portion out your serving then enjoy.
Expert Tips
- Rinse your cooked noodles under cold water. This will help remove some excess starch and prevent the noodles from sticking together.
- Customize the salad to your liking. Use the type of noodles you love and feel free to change up any of the vegetables used in this recipe for other vegetables you love. Check the key ingredients and substitutions section of this post for some inspiration.
- For some extra fiber, swap the white rice noodles for some whole grain rice noodles. I like this brand as they offer a whole grain noodle version that gives you 3 grams of fiber per serving.
- Turn this into a no cook recipe. Just swap the baked tofu for some thawed edamame or some shredded smoked tofu instead (ready to eat and can be shredded straight from package).
Frequently Asked Questions
This salad is meant to be eaten lukewarm or cold. However, you can warm the salad up if you prefer. Just heat the dressed noodles in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until warmed through to your liking.
With the dressing you can store the noodle salad in an airtight container and place in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also store the prepared noodles with shredded veggies in one container and the dressing in a separate container and store in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.
If you use the recommended rice noodles and wheat-free tamari listed in the ingredients, then this recipe is gluten-free as is. If you swap these two ingredients, just make sure to read labels to ensure you are using gluten-free alternatives.
Yes! Some other plant-based ways to add protein to this dish include adding some edamame and topping with some pistachios or pepitas. Pistachios and pepitas provide a nice little bump in protein as well as some additional minerals.
More Summer Friendly Vegan Recipes
- 15 Minute Gochujang Noodles (Bibim Guksu)
- Grilled Vegan Caesar Salad
- Zesty Black Bean Bowl with Lime Basil Sauce
- Vegan Burrito Bowl with Spiced Lentil Taco Meat
- Lemon Orzo Chickpea Salad
Maple Lime Cold Noodle Salad
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 2–3 servings 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Maple Lime Cold Noodle Salad is packed with veggies and protein. A perfect refreshing lunch or weeknight meal that comes together in less than 30 minutes.
Ingredients
Shredded Tofu
- 1, 16oz block super firm tofu, drained and pat dry
- 1 tbsp tamari or reduced sodium soy sauce
- Juice of half a lime
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
Maple Lime Dressing
- 2 tbsp tamari or reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2–3 tsp toasted sesame oil
- Zest of 1 lime
- Juice of half a lime
- 1/2 inch ginger, grated
Salad Assembly
- 2 bundles/servings (90 g) of vermicelli rice noodles
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 2 Persian cucumbers, seeds removed and shredded
- 1 large carrot, shredded
- 1/4 cup pickled red onions, optional
- 1/4 cup cilantro, stems removed and minced
- 8 leaves of mint, chiffonade (thinly sliced)
- 1/4 cup pistachios or pepitas, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Place a box grater over a parchment lined baking tray and grate the tofu over the largest holes on the grater. Top with soy sauce, lime juice, cornstarch and oil and toss to combine. Spread it out into an even layer then bake the tofu for 15 mins. Give the tofu a toss then bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until crispy around the edges.
- Whisk together all the dressing ingredients and set to the side.
- To a heat safe bowl add the dry noodles and cover with boiling water. Allow the noodles to soften for at least 3 minutes or according to package instructions. Give the noodles a whisk to loosen them up then run under cold water and drain.
- Place the drained noodles in a large mixing bowl with the vegetables, pickled onions, cilantro, mint, pistachios and half the baked tofu. Pour over the dressing then toss everything together to evenly mix. Store the remainder of the tofu or add more to your bowl as desired. Portion out your serving then enjoy.
Notes
Rinse your cooked noodles under cold water. This will help remove some excess starch and prevent the noodles from sticking together.
Customize the salad to your liking. Use the type of noodles you love and feel free to change up any of the vegetables used in this recipe for other vegetables you love. Check the key ingredients and substitutions section of this post for some inspiration.
For some extra fiber, swap the white rice noodles for some whole grain rice noodles. I like this brand as they offer a whole grain noodle version that gives you 3 grams of fiber per serving.
Turn this into a no cook recipe. Just swap the baked tofu for some thawed edamame or some shredded smoked tofu instead (ready to eat and can be shredded straight from package).
If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog, then let me know what you thought in the comments below! And if you loved it, don’t forget to rate it too. Feel free to follow on Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok for the latest nutrition tips and recipe videos.
★ Catherine
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My sister-in-law and I made this last night. It was delicious! It is light and perfect for a summer evening.
I know this is late, but appreciate so much that you made this and enjoyed it. Makes my day. 🙂