The rest of the salad is pretty kickin’ too. Layers and layers of good fresh veggies, sesame-seared beef, and just-al-dente rice noodles are about to be your new favorite easy dinner. Let’s do this!
The beef is a nice savory addition for us omnivores, but this noodle salad totally doesn’t need meat – it’s completely vegan- and vegetarian-friendly without it! Bonus, you don’t even need to turn on the stove.
Kirk and I are both happily meat-eaters overall, but most of our meals lately have none to be found and we’re pretty okay with that. For a million little reasons: meat is expensive, ethically-sourced-sustainable meat even more so (not to mention is-that-even-a-real-thing), it goes bad in the fridge too quickly… it’s a long list that we’ve all been learning more and more about recently.
So while I did pick up some super-on-sale beef round for this version, chances are the next time I make this, and the next, it’ll just be a rainbow assortment of veggies and noodles with too-much sauce. And it will be mmmmmingly tasty all the same.
Thai Beef Noodle Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 oz. rice noodles
- 2 T. sesame oil
- 1 lb. beef thinly sliced across the grain
- 2 carrots peeled & julienned
- 1/2 cucumber thinly sliced
- 4 oz. mushrooms thinly sliced
- 8 small radishes thinly sliced
- 4 green onions diced
- 1/4 cup cilantro roughly chopped
Spicy Peanut Sauce
- 1 inch fresh ginger peeled
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 T. soy sauce
- 1 T. lime juice
- 1 t. brown sugar
- 1/2 t. red pepper flakes
- pinch salt
Instructions
Spicy Peanut Sauce
- Puree ginger and garlic in a food processor.
- Add remaining sauce ingredients and pulse into a smooth sauce. Add more water by tablespoons to thin if desired.
Put It Together
- Prepare the rice noodles according to package directions, usually just by soaking in hot water for a few minutes. Toss with 1 T. sesame oil to prevent sticking and set aside.
- Heat 1 T. sesame oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet or wok. Add the sliced beef and stir-fry for just a couple minutes, until mostly cooked through. Remove from heat.
- Layer noodles, beef, and vegetables in a large serving dish or in individual bowls. Drizzle generously with sauce and serve!
Notes
Print Recipe
Love this! Looks super tasty. I will make it but instead of the noodles (hard to find here) I’ll put the meat and sliced veg plus that yummy dressing over lettuce and red&green cabbage. Thanks for posting!
That sounds delicious, I think this would be great with cabbage!