Soba Chicken Noodle Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing
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This Asian-inspired noodle salad is everything you want a summertime meal to be: flavorful, light, and totally satisfying.
Photo by Johnny Miller (Clarkson Potter, 2021)
Years ago, I wrote a salad column for the popular food site, Serious Eats. Among my contributions, the most popular was this Asian-inspired noodle salad. It marries chicken and veggies with a punchy dressing flavored with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and peanut butter. The salad is perfect summer fare: full of fresh flavors, light on the palate, and totally satisfying. For the chicken, I’ve provided cooking instructions, but if you’re looking for a shortcut, this recipe is perfect for using up leftover chicken or a store-bought rotisserie. If you opt for the latter, you’ll need 2 cups of cooked, shredded chicken.
A heads-up about the dressing: it might seem a bit sharp and salty on its own, but that’s intentional. The noodles absorb a lot of flavor, so it’s important to over-season the dressing slightly. While you can prepare the dressing ahead of time, I’d suggest cooking and tossing the noodles just before serving to keep them from becoming soggy.
Soba noodles, similar in appearance to spaghetti, are made from buckwheat and hail from Japan (indeed, “soba” translates to “buckwheat” in Japanese). They are available at Asian markets and most grocery stores. However, if you can’t find them, spaghetti makes an excellent substitute.
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Soba Chicken Noodle Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing
This Asian-inspired noodle salad is everything you want a summertime meal to be: flavorful, light, and totally satisfying.
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (see note)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Salad
- 10 ounces soba noodles (or spaghetti)
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced into bite-sized pieces
- 4 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
- ½ cup chopped salted peanuts
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
For the Dressing
- 6 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil
- 1 tablespoon Asian/toasted sesame oil
- 1½ tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 2 small garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger (see note)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Instructions
- Cook the chicken: Preheat the oven to 350°F and set a rack in the middle position. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the chicken breasts on the prepared pan. Rub the skin with the vegetable oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle.
- Begin the salad: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to the package instructions, stirring occasionally so they don't stick. Drain and rinse well under cold water.
- Make the dressing: Meanwhile, in a small food processor or blender, combine the soy sauce, vinegar, peanut oil, sesame oil, peanut butter, garlic, ginger, and sugar; blend until smooth.
- Finish the salad: Remove the skin from the chicken breasts and shred the meat into bite-sized pieces. In a large bowl, toss the shredded chicken with the noodles, bell pepper, scallions, peanuts, cilantro, sesame seeds, and dressing. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve immediately.
- Note: If you'd like to use leftover chicken or a store-bought rotisserie, you'll need 2 cups of cooked, shredded meat.
- Note: Check out easy guidance on how to peel, grate, and chop fresh ginger here.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 708
- Fat: 36g
- Saturated fat: 6g
- Carbohydrates: 67g
- Sugar: 7g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 37g
- Sodium: 2099mg
- Cholesterol: 56mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Oh, that’s awesome. I added a bunch of shredded broccoli and carrots to bulk it out, but gosh that’s good!
I would like to make this tomorrow – but am out of peanut butter — I have plenty of Tahini – would that be a good substitute?
Thank you – made your Chipotle Salad Dressing the other day – it is delicious.
thank you.
Glad you liked the salad dressing! Unfortunately, I don’t think tahini would be a good substitute for the peanut butter — sorry!
I have made this many times and love it. I am thinking about trying it with sautéed shrimp instead of chicken and wonder if you or any of your readers have made it that way? Thanks for all your great recipes.
Hi Cathy, I haven’t tried it that way but it should be delicious.
Delicious! In this terrible heat, we have eaten this two nights in a row. The only change I made was using thighs instead of breasts. The dressing is so good.
I’m making this for the second time tonight-and will keep on making it! It’s a great recipe.
There are better recipes out there…keep searching. Sometimes I think when a website has a following they “love” everything that the site posts. Not so in this case. I was disappointed very much. Although you gotta try her rice crispy/marshmallow/golden graham bars…soooo good.
You know you could be more pleasant by not saying something derogative. Just move on and say nothing – nobody wants to listen to ugliness.
My thoughts exactly – some people are just rude.
First let me say I LOVE all your recipes!! I have yet to find one I haven’t loved. You are always the first place I check when I’m looking for a recipe. I want to make this recipe in advance and separately prep each component/ingredient. Your recipe says to make the soba right before but I don’t have time for that every day before work. Do you think if I cook the soba in advance and toss them in EVOO do you think they’ll still get soggy or they’ll be okay? Thanks!!
P.s.- can’t wait to get your new cookbook!! It’s on my Christmas wish list!!
Hi Kat, So glad you like the recipes! 💗
Yes, I think you can get away with preparing the soba ahead as you described.
This is yet another amazing recipe ! I will make again and again.
Absolutely Terrific! My husband loved it and was surprised because he typically doesn’t love the peanut dressing salads as much as I do. Very fresh tasting, great at room temperature. Forgot to add sesame seeds so guess I’ll have to make it again soon. Think I’ll add some seedless cucumber next time. Thank you, Jenn, for another fabulous yet easy recipe.
Do you think this would work as a hot entree? Shred cooked chicken, mix chicken, noodles and dressing when warm?
Sure, Mona, it would be perfectly fine to serve this warm. I’d love to hear what you think of it!
Awesome flavor! I added 1tsp of sugar to balance the sauce out. My 7y/o and 43y/o loved it.