Ramen noodle salad is usually the first bowl scraped clean at a cookout. It has crunchy cabbage, toasted noodles and almonds, and a sweet-tangy dressing that settles into every bite. It takes about 15 minutes to make, travels well, and goes with anything on a picnic table.
Most versions rely on the ramen seasoning packet and half a cup of white sugar. This one skips both. The packet goes in the trash. The flavor comes from honey, fresh ginger, garlic, and toasted sesame instead of a foil packet of powder.
Honey Instead Of Sugar
If you have wondered whether these salads can be made without a pile of white sugar, this is the version that answers it. Most ramen noodle salads use granulated sugar, sometimes as much as half a cup. This one uses three tablespoons of honey instead.
The honey does the same job of balancing the soy sauce and vinegar without making the dressing taste heavily sweet.
The Bagged Coleslaw Shortcut
The slowest part of this salad is shredding the cabbage. A 16-ounce bag of coleslaw mix replaces the green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrots, cutting the prep down to opening a bag.
Freshly shredded cabbage works too, but the bag is useful when you are making this after work or trying to get out the door for a cookout as you can have the whole thing ready in about 15 minutes.
How To Make It Ahead And Keep The Crunch
Ramen noodle salad is at its best shortly after it is dressed. Given enough time, the cabbage releases water and the toasted noodles soften. There is no dressing ratio that completely gets around that.
Prepare the three parts separately:
- Refrigerate the cabbage mixture.
- Keep the cooled noodles and almonds covered at room temperature.
- Shake the dressing and store it in its jar in the refrigerator.
Everything can be prepared a day ahead, then tossed together just before serving. Once dressed, leftovers will keep for a couple of days, but they will be softer than the first bowl.
Break the noodles small before they toast. Big chunks are awkward to eat and they do not distribute through the salad the way small pieces do.
What To Bring This To
This is more potluck salad than dinner salad, made for the table at a barbecue or family gathering. Serve it alongside creamy KFC-style coleslaw and loaded baked potato salad, and the cold sides are handled. Each brings something different, so the table feels generous without serving three versions of the same thing.
Make It A Meal
As written here, this is a side, and it earns its spot next to baked BBQ chicken thighs, ribs, or anything coming off the grill. Add shredded rotisserie chicken or cooked shrimp, though, and it becomes an easy lunch on its own. Any of these go in at the same point the noodles do, right before serving.
If what you are really after is the warm, main-dish version of ramen and protein, that is a different recipe rather than this one with meat stirred in. A shrimp ramen stir fry or a chicken ramen stir fry is built for that, hot off the stove instead of cold from the fridge.
This post was originally posted in May 2023.
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Ramen Noodle Salad
Ingredients
Dressing
- ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
- ½ cup seasoned rice vinegar
- ¾ cup mild olive oil
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 ½ teaspoons grated ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons grated garlic
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
Salad
- 6 ounces ramen noodles, crushed and season packet discarded (two 3-ounce packages)
- ¾ cup sliced almonds, reserve 1 to 2 tablespoons for garnish after toasting if desired
- 5 cups thinly sliced green cabbage, about ⅔ of a large head
- 1 ½ cups thinly sliced red cabbage, about ⅓ of a small head
- 1 cup matchstick carrots
- ½ cup sliced green onions, plus additional for garnish if desired
Instructions
- To make the dressing, add to a large lidded jar the low sodium soy sauce, seasoned rice vinegar, mild olive oil, honey, grated ginger, grated garlic, and sesame oil. Attach the lid and shake vigorously for 30-45 seconds or until all the ingredients are fully combined. Alternatively, whisk the ingredients in a medium bowl until emulsified then set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Spread the crushed ramen noodles on half the prepared baking sheet and the sliced almonds to the other half being sure that the ramen noodles and sliced almonds are in an even layer.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven to toast the ramen noodles and sliced almonds. This should take 5-7 minutes or just until the almonds are lightly golden and fragrant. Check the almonds at the 5-minute mark to ensure they are not burning. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and set aside to cool completely while preparing the remaining salad ingredients. Reserve 1-2 tablespoons of the toasted sliced almonds to use as a garnish if desired.
- To a large bowl add the green cabbage, red cabbage, matchstick carrots and green onions, cooled ramen noodles and sliced almonds.
- Pour the prepared dressing over all the salad ingredients then toss to evenly combine all the salad ingredients and evenly coat the vegetables with the dressing.
- Transfer the ramen noodle salad to a serving bowl and garnish with the reserved toasted sliced almonds and additional sliced green onions if desired before serving.
Notes
- If you do not want to shred your own cabbages, you can substitute a 16-ounce bag of pre-shredded coleslaw mix (green cabbage, red cabbage and carrots) for the green cabbage, red cabbage and matchstick carrots in this recipe.
- Be sure to keep a close eye on the sliced almonds as they are toasting in the oven to ensure they do not burn.
- You can substitute Mirin or dry sherry for the seasoned rice vinegar in the dressing.
Nutrition
Comments
Donna Crisp says
Best Ramen Noodle Salad I have EVER had!!! I’m very picky and this is the best one I have ever found !!!