This cold soba noodle salad with ginger soy dressing is one of the quickest and most delicious noodle salad recipes ever! You only need 20 minutes to make this light and refreshing soba noodle salad that is perfect for meal prep or an easy weeknight dinner. Whenever I want an Asian-inspired noodle dish during summer, this is the recipe I make! It is suuuuper yummy, very quick and easy to prepare AND healthy. This recipe totally checks all the boxes!
Ingredients
To make this cold soba noodle salad, you need a few basic ingredients that are used in Japanese cooking. You should easily find them in a regular grocery store or in an Asian supermarket. Here are the things you need to make this super delicious noodle bowl:
- Soba noodles
- Cucumber
- Carrots
- Cabbage
- Spring Onion
- Homemade Ginger Soy Dressing (soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, fresh lime juice, ginger, chili paste)
And that’s it. These are all quite basic ingredients, but throw them all together and you get a super refreshing bowl that is full of tasty soba noodles and yummy veggies that are covered with a very light and tasty ginger soy dressing.
How to make cold soba noodle salad with ginger soy dressing
Making this salad is super easy and simple. All you basically do is throw things together in a bowl and that’s it. Here is a more detailed description for making this tasty soba noodle salad:
- Cook the soba noodles. Make sure you read the package instructions as soba noodles are cooked differently compared to regular pasta. Also check out my tips below.
- Prepare the vegetables. Simply spiralize the carrots, deseed (optional) and slice the cucumber, shred the cabbage with a knife or mandolin and chop the spring onion.
- Prepare the ginger soy dressing. Grate the ginger and add all dressing ingredients to a bowl. Then mix everything until the ingredients are well combined.
- Combine. Throw the soba noodles, veggies and sauce in a bowl and mix everything.
And you are done! This really is a super effortless recipe that tastes incredibly good and is super healthy. It seriously deserves its place as a summer fave!
Quick tips for cooking soba noodles
As soba noodles are cooked differently than traditional Italian pasta, make sure you check out these three tips. I did not follow these rules the first time I cooked soba noodles and I ended up with a mushy and sticky noodle mess. So make sure you follow them and you will totally fall in love with this soba noodle salad recipe (and soba noodles, they are yummm).
- Pay attention to cook time: The cook time for soba noodles varies, but usually is something between 3-5 minutes! This is much shorter than the time other types of noodles need to cook. So make sure that you check the package, as soba noodles get really mushy if cooked for too long. If they are al dente, they are perfect for making this cold soba noodle salad.
- Don’t add salt to the water: We are all used to adding salt to the water when cooking pasta, but don’t do this with soba noodles. They can easily change their texture, so stick to the no salt rule and you will love your soba noodle result.
- Rinse with water after cooking: Rinsing the soba noodles with cold water after cooking gets rid of any excess starches and makes sure you don’t end up with super sticky soba noodles.
A few more tips
- Make it gluten-free: Use tamari or coconut aminos as a substitute for soy sauce if you want the recipe to be gluten-free. You should also check the label of the soba noodles you are buying. Some of them contain wheat. So make sure you buy 100% buckwheat soba noodles.
- Make it soy-free: Use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce and enjoy this yummy cold soba noodle salad with the most delicious ginger soy dressing.
Variations
- Use other veggies: You can totally add different or more veggies to this soba noodle salad. Edamame, bell pepper and zucchinis all go well with this recipe. Feel free to be creative!
- Add protein: I love to enjoy this recipe with salmon whenever I have a bit more time for making dinner. Feel free to add fish, tofu or some other kind of protein to this recipe.
More noodle recipes
I love pasta dishes! Check out these recipes for some more inspiration. The recipes are all healthy, delicious and very easy to make.
Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Ginger Soy Dressing
Equipment
- Spiralizer
Ingredients
Soba Noodle Salad
- 5 oz soba noodles
- ½ cucumber deseeded and sliced
- 1 ½ carrots spiralized
- 1 cup shredded cabbage
- 2 tablespoon spring onion
Ginger Soy Dressing
- 3 tablespoon soy sauce alternatives: tamari and coconut aminos
- 1 ½ tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 ½ tablespoon honey or maple syrup
- 1 ½ teaspoon chili paste
- 1 ½ teaspoon grated ginger
- 2 teaspoon fresh lime juice
Instructions
- Cook the soba noodles according to the package instructions, rinse with cold water and let them cool.
- Prepare the vegetables by spiralizing the carrots, deseeding and slicing the cucumber, shredding the cabbage with a knife or mandolin and chopping the spring onion.
- Prepare the ginger soy dressing by adding all ingredients to a bowl and mixing them.
- Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until everything is well combined. Enjoy!
Notes
- Make it gluten-free: You can make this recipe gluten-free by using tamari or coconut aminos instead of soy sauce. You should also look at the ingredient list of the soba noodles you buy. Some soba noodles contain wheat. Make sure you buy soba noodles that only contain buckwheat.
- Make it soy-free: Just use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce and you have a soy-free alternative. You might have to add some salt to the recipe if you don't add any soy sauce.
- Make it vegan: Simply substitute the honey with a sweetener of choice or just skip it.
Kelly
This recipe is bang on and sooooo delicious on a hot summer day. I used rice spaghetti noodles and added a crushed clove of garlic to the dressing, but I’m sure it would have been just as delicious without it. So fresh and simple to throw together! I gave my 4 year old a deconstructed version, light on the dressing, and she loved it too. Will def make again! Thank you!
Beri
Hi Kelly, the noodle salad you made sounds delicious! Happy to hear that you like the recipe. 😊
Elaina
This is a good solid recipe. The dressing is so flavourful! I made mine with red bell pepper, radishes, carrots, and cabbage. The salad had such a fresh taste to it. I made enough so we could have leftovers the next day. The texture of the noodles wasn't as good the second day; next time, I will get everything prepared for a double batch, but make separate noodles on the second day.
Beri
Hi Elaina, the combination of vegetables you picked sounds delicious! I'm happy that you liked the recipe. 😊