Ramen Salad with Asian Dressing is the perfect salad for a buffet or summer picnic! It keeps well on warm days and doesn't wilt easily. Packed with color and flavor, it is a great side for chicken, pork, fish or beef!
Ingredients
Salad
19-10 ozramen, I use organic wheat noodle ramen Hakubaku brand
1/216 ozpackage shredded cabbage and carrots (coleslaw mix) or about 1/4 of a head of cabbage, chopped small
1red pepper thinly sliced
1orange or yellow pepper thinly sliced
4-5cupsbroccoli blanched and cut into small pieces
1bunch green onions chopped
Mrs Dash and toasted sesame seeds, optional, but recommended
Asian Dressing
1/2cupextra virgin olive oil
2tablespoonssesame oil
1/2 cuprice vinegar
1tablespooncider vinegar
1/2teaspooncelery seed
1/2teaspoongarlic powder
1/4teaspoononion powder
2teaspoonsMrs. Dash Seasoning
2tablespoonssugar
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Instructions
Salad:
Cook ramen according to package directions. Do not over cook. Rinse with cold water, drain again. Place cooked ramen in large bowl or container.
Combine the chopped vegetables (including cabbage or bagged slaw mixture) with the noodles in a large bowl, toss together and set aside.
Salad dressing:
Combine dressing ingredients, whisk or place in blender until mixed well. Taste the dressing, it should have a little bit of a sweet/tart taste. If it's not tart enough, add a little more vinegar, if too tart, add more sugar.
Pour the dressing a little at a time over the salad ingredients, tossing as you add the dressing. There should be about ¼ to ½ cup of the dressing leftover.
Sprinkle the finished salad generously (1-2 tablespoons) with Mrs. Dash seasoning and sesame seeds. Toss again. Add additional salt and ground pepper if needed.
Place the salad in a serving dish, sprinkle with a few more sesame seeds and Mrs. Dash. Refrigerate until serving.
Notes
Add a couple of sliced chicken breasts to make this a main dish salad.
Mrs. Dash is a combination of several spices, pepper, celery seed, onion, marjoram, thyme, coriander, cumin, orange peel, lemon juice powder to name a few. It gives this salad excellent flavor.
Buy sesame seeds in the Asian section of grocery. They are less expensive than in the spice section.
Don't over cook the ramen, it's easy to do, because the noodles are so thin. They really only take about a minute or two.
If you use traditional ramen in packages with a spice or flavor packet, you can discard the packet when making this salad.