Cold Sesame Noodles is a delicious, easy lunch.
You can meal prep this recipe and enjoy it throughout the week for work lunches. Or, you could even make and serve this refreshing dish at a picnic, BBQ, or a summer party.
Gluten-free rice pasta (if not dining gluten-free, you can sub for wheat pasta), spiralized zucchini, shredded carrots, chopped red cabbage, chopped green onion, chickpeas, sesame seeds, chopped seared chicken thighs, and a tangy Homemade Sesame Ginger Dressing. Yum.
*If making as a side dish for a picnic, you can totally leave out the chicken in this recipe.
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How to Make Homemade Sesame Ginger Dressing:
Ingredients:
- Soy sauce
- Vegetable oil *Important: I use vegetable/canola oil instead of olive oil because vegetable oil doesn’t harden in the refrigerator.
- Rice wine vinegar
- Sesame oil
- Freshly-squeezed lime juice
- Minced garlic
- Honey
- Fresh grated ginger
- Water
- Sesame seeds
- Red pepper flakes
Add all ingredients to a large glass mason jar or bowl; shake or stir until combined. Tip: You may need to adjust to your liking. If not salty enough, add a little more soy sauce, if not vinegary enough, add a little more rice wine vinegar. If you need sweeter, add a little more honey.
How to Make Cold Sesame Noodles:
- Prepare Homemade Sesame Ginger Dressing. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Heat a large oven-safe grill pan, cast iron skillet, or frying pan over medium-high heat. Add in 1 tbsp. of cooking oil.
- Sear chicken thighs until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes each side. Lightly salt and pepper as they cook. Once seared, transfer pan to oven. Cook until the center is cooked through and reads 165 F, about 8-10 minutes. Once cooked through, remove from oven and allow to cool. Then, chop once cool and set aside.
- Meanwhile, boil gluten-free spaghetti along with 1 tbsp. cooking oil to prevent noodles from sticking. *I used Jovial’s Capellini. Drain and set aside.
- To prep vegetables: Spiralize zucchini. (If you don’t have a spiralizer, you can use a Y-shaped vegetable peeler to cut into ribbons, or just dice it). Chop red cabbage. Chop green onion.
- To assemble: Add cooked noodles to a very large mixing bowl. Add in spiralized zucchini, red cabbage, green onion, drained chickpeas, shredded carrot, and chicken thighs. Pour over 1/2 of the dressing. Use a pair of tongs to help mix the ingredients together until the noodles are completely coated and the vegetables are well-dispersed. If still dry, add in remaining dressing. Sometimes, after chilling the noodles will become drier and you may want to save some dressing to add to it. Sprinkle over additional sesame seeds.
- Chill at least 1-3 hours before eating. Enjoy!
Storage Instructions: Keep refrigerated, and eat within 3-4 days.
Notes:
- You can use already cooked shredded chicken to make this recipe quicker to make. You can also omit the chicken completely to make this a vegan recipe.
Cold Sesame Noodles with Zoodles and Homemade Sesame Ginger Dressing
Ingredients
For the Homemade Sesame Ginger Dressing:
- 1 cup vegetable oil - *I use vegetable/canola oil instead of olive oil bc it doesn't harden in the fridge
- ⅓ cup honey
- 6-8 tbsp rice wine vinegar - *adjust to liking
- 4-6 tbsp gluten-free soy sauce or tamari - I use the brand San-J. *Adjust to liking
- 4 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp freshly-squeezed lime juice
- 2 tbsp freshly-grated ginger
- 1 ½ tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
- a pinch of red pepper flakes - (about ¼ tsp)
For the Cold Sesame Noodles:
- 2 lb. chicken thighs
- 12 oz. thin gluten-free brown rice pasta (or wheat spaghetti) - *I used Jovial Capellini
- 2 zucchinis - spiralized or ribbon cut
- 1 ½ cups shredded carrots - *I used 2 carrots and shaved them with a veggie peeler
- 2 cups red cabbage - chopped
- 1 can chickpeas - drained
- 2-3 green onions - chopped, only the green parts
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
For the Homemade Sesame Ginger Dressing:
- Add all ingredients to a large glass mason jar or bowl; shake or stir until combined. Tip: You may need to adjust to your liking. If not salty enough, add a little more soy sauce. If not vinegary enough, add a little more rice wine vinegar. If you need sweeter, add a little more honey.
For the Chicken:
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Heat a large oven-safe grill pan, cast iron skillet, or frying pan over medium-high heat. Add in 1 tbsp. of cooking oil.
- Sear chicken thighs until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes each side. Lightly salt and pepper as they cook. Once seared, transfer pan to oven. Cook until the center is cooked through and reads 165 F, about 8-10 minutes. Once cooked through, remove from oven and allow to cool.
- Then, chop once cool and set aside.
For the Cold Sesame Noodles:
- Meanwhile, boil gluten-free spaghetti along with 1 tbsp. cooking oil to prevent noodles from sticking. Drain and set aside.
- To prep vegetables: Spiralize zucchini. (If you don't have a spiralizer, you can use a Y-shaped vegetable peeler to cut into ribbons, or just dice it). Chop red cabbage. Chop green onion. To assemble: Add cooked noodles to a very large mixing bowl. Add in spiralized zucchini, red cabbage, green onion, drained chickpeas, shredded carrot, and chicken thighs. Pour over ½ of the dressing. Use a pair of tongs to help mix the ingredients together until the noodles are completely coated and the vegetables are well-dispersed. If noodles are still a little dry, add in more dressing. Tip: Sometimes, after chilling the noodles become drier. You may want to save some of the dressing to add to it.
- Sprinkle over additional sesame seeds.
- Chill at least 1-3 hours before eating.
- Enjoy!
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