Spring Roll Salad
Imagine a spring roll without the wrapper and you've got this salad. A familiar chorus of flavors - sweet, sour, tangy, hot, and nutty all projected onto a mound of serpentine rice noodles and seasonal vegetables with a peanut dressing and lime splash.
A spring roll salad is for the times you crave the flavors and textures of Vietnamese spring rolls, but want to skip out on the "assembly" part of the equation. A number of you spotted this on my Instagram feed, and I wanted to post the recipe - it's fantastic. You've got the freshness of spring rolls, but use rice noodles in place of rice paper wrappers. It's a familiar chorus of flavors - sweet, spicy, tangy, sour, salty, and nutty - all projected onto a mound of serpentine rice noodles.
Spring Roll Salad Game Plan
I throw together two quick sauces while a big pot of water is coming to a boil, and cook everything else in one pot of water. This means the noodles, and whatever seasonal vegetables I plan on using. It's spring as I'm writing this, so a quick blanch of some snap peas, and fiddleheads in the pasta water was all that was needed - asparagus would have been welcome. Later in the year you might substitute green beans and other summer goodness! And yes, the sauces can be made ahead of time.
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More Spring Roll Inspiration
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Spring Roll Salad
There are a couple make-ahead components here. You can make the peanut sauce and dressing up to a few days before putting the rest of the salad together.
- 1 cup unsweetened full-fat coconut milk
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 medium shallots, peeled
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar, maple syrup, or honey
- 1 + tablespoon shoyu or soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 6 tablespoons hot water
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar, maple syrup, or honey
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon serrano chile pepper, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon shoyu / soy sauce
- a few handfuls of seasonal vegetables: asparagus, snap peas, fiddleheads, green beans
- 12 ounces dried rice noodles
- 1 head napa cabbage (or other lettuces), thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup toasted peanuts, chopped
- to serve (any of the following): limes, sliced avocado, extra peanuts, sliced radishes
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Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While the water is heating, make both your sauces.
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Place all the peanut sauce ingredients - coconut milk, peanut butter, cayenne pepper, shallots, brown sugar, soy sauce, and lime juice - in a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth. Taste, and adjust with more soy sauce or lime, if needed. Also, thin with little splashes of hot water to thin the consistency, if you like. Set aside.
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To make the lime dressing, place the hot water in a small bowl and sprinkle in the sugar. Stir in the garlic, chile pepper, lime juice, and soy sauce. The sauces will keep for a week refrigerated. Bring to room temperature, or gently heat, before using.
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Once the water is boiling, salt well and add your vegetables to the pot. Blanch for just under a minute, remove with a slotted spoon or strainer, and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Set aside. Bring the water back to a boil, and cook the noodles per package instructions. Drain, and rinse under cold water until completely cold. Place the noodles in a large bowl, or on a large platter, and toss with the cabbage, peanuts, and a generous amount of the peanut sauce. Top with the blanched vegetables, and give another light toss. Just before serving, drizzle generously with the lime dressing. Serve both dressings at the table, so people can add more to their liking.
Serves 4-6.
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Comments
I took the suggestion of carrot juice for the dressing and I love it, but I admit I did add more peanut butter and a drop ir two of sesame oil.
I made this salad tonight with the first sugar snap peas and lettuce from the garden – it was delicious and even my son loved it. Will surely make it again! Thank you!
Made this last night and it was AWESOME! Although my husband and I were the only ones for dinner, it would be a great dish for entertaining. Once you have the dressings made and vegetables chopped, there is very little left to do except blanching the vegetables for a minute and boiling the noodles for 2 minutes! We followed the recipe exactly (as my husband always does, but I rarely do) using asparagus, petite peas, snap peas, radishes, and green beans for the veggies. Might try adding some pan-fried tofu cubes and/or egg (strips or hard-boiled) next time.
This is lovely. I just made it to serve for dinner tonight. I think I’m going to want to add more soy sauce to get more salty taste in. Also, it makes a ton. Next time I think I’ll halve the recipe for just my husband and me. It won’t go to waste, though. It’s too good!
Delicious! Perfect for when you’re yearning for the fresh, sweetness of spring rolls without the faff. Will be trying this tonight
heidi, this is exactly what spring should be. thank you always.
I was wondering if this could be made ahead of time for a lunch time potluck.
Made this last night and it was great. Thanks!
We loved this, and will make it again, using whatever produce is fresh and local. I used baby bok choy, edamame, green beans and cucumber, and next time, will throw in lots of scallion, cilantro, avocado, but also jicama and mango – one of our favorite asian fusion places uses them in their spring rolls and it is an amazing combo of crunch, sweet, tangy.
This almost looks like bun cha, which is basically a Vietnamese spring roll without the roll. Whenever we go out for pho, I inevitably end up ordering the bun cha instead. And throw a crispy spring roll on top. Not necessary, but so good. I love this dish though, with all the freshness of the salad, the green vegatables, and the tang of the dressing. I think I may need this tonight!
This is brilliant. Can’t wait to make it.
Are the curly things fiddleheads? They look like pikopiko that we have in nz as a kind of bush food. Yum.
Hi Charlotte – they are!
Thoughts on making peanut sauce with almond butter?
Go for it! I’ve done it quite a number of times in the past. Still really delicious in its own way.
I already mentioned this on Instagram but this looks amazing! I love spring rolls but you’re right, they’re a bit time-consuming to put together! This seems like the perfect solution and I can’t wait to play with it.
To make the peanut sauce less calorific, substitute carrot juice for Coconut milk, and rice bran syrup for maple syrup. This cuts out a huge number of calories and though it does change the taste, it is still very flavourful.
Thanks for the tip Jan!
I LOVE that you used rice noodles instead of rice paper wrappers! Such a creative idea! 🙂
The recipe looks so refreshing. I’ll be trying it. Thanks
Thank you so much! This is the best. I can’t wait to make this! Spring rolls made properly are one of my favorite foods but I can’t ever seem to make them right. This is the Perfect answer!
That has got to be one of the prettiest salads I’ve ever seen. How could I NOT make it immediately?
You are a genius! This is PRECISELY what I’ve been craving lately!
That salad looks gorgeous! It has many flavors and textures. I think that it would be fun to add some scallions, mint and cilantro to the mix as well because those are Vienamese flavors that are common in fresh spring rolls. Before I make changes, I will try your recipe first, though!
GORGEOUS! I can’t wait to try it. I made your golden dumplings and orange tofu last week – absolutely delicious!
Yum. Made this today, and it was as delicious as it sounds. Thanks!
Needed something quick and easy for dinner tonight and came across this recipe. This was seriously amazing!! My husband and kids loved it! And I love that I didn’t have to go through all the effort of making spring rolls! Thanks Heidi! As always, love everything you do!
love this! i love the flavor of spring rolls but i don’t always want rice paper (i’d rather have more noodles!), so this sounds perfect for those times (:
Perfect! Looks easy and quick.
Love your idea! Will make it this weekend!
What a great idea! I always have the intentions of making “spring rolls” and then never get around to it! Hahaha.
I tried out your pizza yesterday and just had to comment! It was really lovely so I thought why not try another one? I’m a big salad person, especially for lunch because you won’t get as tired afterwards so you can maintain your productivity! Gonna make this tonight and save some for tomorrow as well! Thank you for all the great recipes!
This is a great idea and so much less daunting than rolling them up!
Thank you- I needed this.
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