Healthy Recipe Challenge – Rice Noodle Salad

I began a health and fitness challenge in January to get my body into the best shape of my life this year.

One of the things I’m trying to do is cook over 90% of my meals at home and healthy options at that.

I have my favorites which I eat a lot but I’ve been experimenting more. I discovered a Thai rice noodle and chicken salad at my local coffee shop but it was a tad expensive.

It also contained one or two ingredients I wasn’t happy with so I started looking into recreating my own version at home.

Enter this delicious and healthy rice noodle salad. A great option for lunch. It’s simple and easy to make and takes less than 30 minutes.

Health Rice Noodle Salad Recipe

• About 4 – 6 oz of Thai rice noodles
• A handful of red cabbage
• A handful of lettuce
• A handful of cilantro
• Dressing – soy sauce, sesame oil, fresh ginger, fresh lime juice, brown sugar, garlic, red chili & salt

Directions

• Cook the noodles according to the instructions and set aside.
• Rinse and shred the cabbage and lettuce and set aside.
• Rinse and slice the cilantro thinly. This is optional but I quite like the bite of cilantro.
• For the dressing, mix 2 tablespoons of soy sauce with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, dissolve a teaspoon of brown sugar in the mix then stir. Add in 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger, 1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice, 2 thinly sliced cloves of garlic, 1 sliced red chili, and some salt. Stir thoroughly and set aside for about 20 minutes, then sieve through a cheesecloth and the dressing is ready. Refrigerate.
• Place a large salad bowl on the kitchen counter and layer with the lettuce, add in the noodles, layer the cabbage over the noodles and lettuce, sprinkle with cilantro. Refrigerate.
• After ½ an hour, add in the dressing to the salad and toss. You can add some chopped peanuts if you like. Feel free to also add in roasted chicken as well as other vegetables like spinach, rocket leaves, and cucumbers.

Thai Kitchen Stir Fry Noodles

Below is a picture of my rice noodle salad once ready. I hadn’t added the cilantro here.

I’m currently looking into a hot version of rice noodles as well and will be sharing that once I’m satisfied with the recipe.

Regarding the calorie content, 100 gms of rice noodles is about 109 calories.

Combined with the Thai dressing and other components, the meal should come down to around 350 calories but that’s purely an estimate on my part.

For a more in-depth breakdown of the calories contained in rice noodles, have a look at this article.

I will be sharing at least one new healthy recipe every week to stay motivated on my fitness journey for the year.

I’ve recently moved my fitness journey over to a dedicated site on Fitness At Every Age. Learn more HERE.