Nothing is simpler to make than an Asian Ramen Noodle Cabbage Salad. Packed full of veggies, oranges, and nuts, drizzled with a fun sweet chile vinaigrette, this ramen salad easily takes a gourmet turn when grilled shrimp, salmon, or chicken is added. Enjoy as a side or a whole meal.
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My husband and I eat over at my in-law’s house… quite a bit. I won’t say a lot, but would about once a week be considered a lot?! Maybe for some people, depending on your in-laws. I happened to score in the in-law department so I don’t mind going over there as often as we do. Plus, my mother-in-law makes some mighty fine food, this ramen noodle salad included.
Well, let me back up. This is my version of a salad that she makes. And I guess this isn’t even her salad either. But she still makes it and I still love it so, so much. It’s probably one of my favorites that she makes.
I decided to do a LIVE Facebook cooking video highlighting this Asian ramen salad and it got quite the response from viewers. People were dying for this recipe. I, of course, must give the people what they want but I had to jazz it up first.
What’s in Asian Ramen Noodle Cabbage Salad
What I absolutely love about this salad are the ramen noodles. They’re uncooked which helps lend for an awesome texture. I just love that these are the simple instant cook ramen noodles that we all either grew up on or survived college with. But this salad dresses the ramen noodles up just a bit.
I wanted to bring a lot of color to this salad because the original salad, which is still to die for, was very green. Which is great, but I wanted more pizzazz (I very much love a lot of color in my food and try to find ways to incorporate it in my cooking).
In order to get the rainbow of colors I wanted, I had to think of colorful foods that stuck with my Asian theme. Enter red cabbage, mandarin oranges, and carrots.
All in all, in this salad you get:
- Red and green cabbage
- Peas
- Carrots
- Radishes
- Scallions (green onions)
- Almonds
- Mandarin oranges
If you feel like a dish is becoming monochromatic, find a fun way to incorporate color!
Sweet Chile Vinaigrette for Asian Ramen Noodle Cabbage Salad
What softens these noodles up is this fantastic sweet chile vinaigrette. The original vinaigrette called for vinegar, oil, and the flavoring packet from the ramen noodle packaging. Which was great and all but I felt strongly that an adjustment to the vinaigrette would give this crunchy ramen noodle salad an Asian twist.
When I began to develop my version of the vinaigrette, I knew that I needed to add some bold flavors to make this salad shine.
My vinaigrette has orange juice, rice vinegar (because it is an oriental cabbage salad, of course!) and a sweet chile sauce. It’s the perfect dressing for this ramen noodle salad and softens up the noodles within half an hour. The flecks of chile flakes only had a slight bit of heat while still delivering a punch of sweetness.
How Do You Make Asian Ramen Noodle Cabbage Salad
Salads are easy to make, in my humble opinion, and there is nothing complicated about this salad. All it takes is a chunk of time to cut all the vegetables and toss. Voila, the salad is made.
One tool that makes this Asian ramen salad easier to through together is a mandolin. If you decide that you want to shred your cabbage instead of chopping it, this would be the perfect tool to use. It’s also perfect when shredding the carrots and radishes!
A note about the peas. I feel like I can only get really great fresh peas in the late spring and even then, they are labor intensive to clean and blanch. I like using frozen peas and thawing just the amount I need to add to the salad. No need to heat them up.
The only type of “cooking” involved in this salad is the toasting of the sesame seeds and nuts. This ramen noodle salad is the perfect salad to enjoy in the summer for this reason!
This salad is very much a vegan salad, and it’s perfect with almonds. However, if you did want to add some animal protein to this dish, I very much recommend (as well as my mother-in-law) the following
- Grilled/roasted chicken
- Grilled shrimp
- Roasted tenderloin
- Grilled salmon (this would be perfect with my Moroccan Honey BBQ Sauce)
Can You Make Asian Ramen Noodle Cabbage Salad Ahead of Time
YES!!! I love eating this salad right away when the ramen noodles are still crunchy. However, if you like a bit of softer noodles, you can make this about 30 minutes ahead of time and still get a great tasting salad.
I would say that all-in-all, this salad is only good for about 3 days before the vinegar in the dressing starts to turn some of the vegetables. I would not freeze this salad though. Freezing does weird stuff to uncooked veggies. If you happen to have more than what you can eat in a reasonable amount of time, pawn it off on your favorite neighbor. They’ll be more than happy to take this salad off your hands.
I really enjoyed giving my own spin on my favorite salad from my mother-in-law. If you have enjoyed this recipe, be sure to leave a comment down below telling me about your experience, along with a rating!
Happy eating!
You might also enjoy these other fun salads on the blog!
Kale and Brussel Sprout Caesar Salad
Cold Green Bean Salad with Greek Yogurt Herb Dressing
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My Asian Cabbage Ramen Salad is the perfect salad to be used as a side or as part of the main dish. Enjoy with roasted chicken or salmon!
- ½ head red cabbage cut in half, quartered and small diced
- ½ head green cabbage cut in half, quartered and small diced
- 1 bunch green onions sliced
- 6 ounces green peas
- 3 each carrots julienned
- 3 each small radishes sliced thin
- 3 each mandarin oranges segmented (you can also use small Valencia oranges
- 2 T sesame seeds toasted
- 1/2 c shaved almonds or slivered almonds toasted
- 1 package ramen noodles crumbled
- 3 T sweet chile sauce
- 3 T vinegar
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 1/3 c vegetable oil
- 1 t salt
- 1/4 t pepper
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and toast nuts and seeds for about 4 minutes (or until golden brown). Allow to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all cut vegetables and peas. Crumble noodles in the bowl as well. Mix to combine.
- Mix together all ingredients for the salad dressing in a small mixing bowl. Pour over veggies and noodles.
- Stir to dress the entire salad. Serve as a side or as a main dish.
Recipe Video
*Note* If you like the crunchy noodles, it’s best to eat this salad promptly. If you want the noodles to be softer, wait about 30 minutes so that the noodles can soak up the dressing.
love how crunchy and fresh this sounds!
It is one of my favorite salads because of the crunch!
so fresh and colorful! great recipe!
I’m so glad that I was able to bring my own unique twist to it!