Thai Rice Noodle Salad with Vegan Chick’n
Salty, sour, spicy, and a little sweet, it’s cold rice noodle salad with vegan oyster mushroom chicken! This salad bursts with delicious Thai flavors, without using any fancy, hard to find ingredients. It’s full of fresh herbs and vegetables, and the spicy king oyster mushroom “chicken”, that fills the place of chicken but tastes like delicious oyster mushroom (and some nutritional yeast, naturally). It’s perfect for meal prep, as the recipe makes a pretty big batch and the flavors will actually deepen and improve after a day or so in the fridge. Perfect for a picnic basket, or just a lunch in the office, this simple rice noodle salad will keep you going back for seconds.
Skip the post, Click for a Print-Friendly Version
Who Doesn’t Love Noodles?
Real question- do you know anyone who doesn’t love noodles? This dish uses rice noodles too, so all you gluten-free folks can still enjoy (although you’ll have to sub out the soy sauce for tamari, but that’s an easy swap). Noodles have deep roots in many different cuisines, and are one of my favorite ways to compose a meal. Not only are noodles themselves incredibly satisfying, but they’re a versatile ingredient that works well with strong and subtle flavors. In the current climate of low-carb, high-protein eating trends, pasta can get a bad rap- but not in my book. It’s a cheap ingredient, that’s attainable to most people. Without much practice, everyone can learn to make it, and depending on the toppings and sauces, it can be causal or fancy. So don’t hate on pasta or carbs, because once the keto-style trends fade, we’ll all be back to loving pasta again. And I’ll have been a fan of pasta all along.
Try one of these Cold Pasta Dishes!
- Spicy Vegan Cold Noodles, Sichuan Style
- Mayo-Free Radish Mint Pasta Salad
- Stir-Fried Korean Sweet Potato Noodles (Japchae) with Kale
- Pea Tendril Vegan Pasta Salad with Orange Dressing
King Oyster Mushrooms as Chicken
I said this in the first paragraph, but it bears repeating- although I’m calling this chicken, it’s not going to taste like chicken. It’s has some of the texture of chicken, and it fills the place of chicken, but really it’s going to taste like a delicious mushroom. Sorry, not sorry- mushrooms are great! To get the texture, chop off the brown caps of the mushroom- we won’t be using them. Loose the bottoms too, just the little bits that are dirty looking. Then simply scrape a fork down the length of the mushroom, all around the stalk. It will form shreds that you may want to cut in half. We’ll cook them a little bit before adding it to the rest of the ingredients in the rice noodle salad.
How to Make Thai Rice Noodle Salad
This recipe is wonderful in the sense that it’s easy. The steps are:
- Make the oyster mushroom vegan chick’n
- Prepare the rice noodles
- Chop the vegetables
- Mix the sauce
- Combine it all together
Super easy! I gave some more information about making the oyster mushroom “chicken” in the paragraph above, so we’ll skip that part here. I used vermicelli style rice noodles for my salad, but feel free to use whatever style you can find or have around. Make them according to the directions on the package, and then shock them under cold water to stop any further cooking. After that it’s all chopping, grating, mixing, and eating!
Thai Rice Noodle Salad with Vegan Chick’n
Ingredients
- 6 king oyster mushrooms
- Olive oil, for cooking
- 1/3 cup + 2 tsp. soy sauce (divided)
- 2 tsp. garlic chili sauce
- 1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 8 oz. rice noodles
- 3 large scallions
- ½ cup roasted peanuts
- 25 mint leaves
- Bunch of cilantro (about 1 ounce)
- 1 large carrot
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1-2 serrano peppers
- ½ inch piece of ginger
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 ½ cups bean sprouts
- 1 tbsp. dulse flakes
- 2 limes
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- 1 tbsp. brown sugar
Instructions
- Chop off the tops of the king oyster mushrooms and reserve for a different use. Remove the bottom with any dirt, and discard. Use a fork to shred down the length of the stem, until it has a shredded chicken appearance. Repeat with all the mushrooms. Heat a skillet with a little bit of olive oil, and add the shredded mushrooms. Add the garlic chili sauce, nutritional yeast, and 2 tsp. soy sauce and sauté for 5 minutes or so, until the mushrooms are soft and well cooked. Set aside.
- Make the rice noodles according to the directions on the box. Once cooked, shock in cold water, drain, and add to a large mixing bowl along with the king oyster mushrooms.
- Chop the scallions, mint, cilantro, and peanuts into small pieces and add to the mixing bowl. Chop the carrot and bell pepper into thin strips and add to the bowl as well (I used a spiralizer for my carrot). Seed the serrano pepper(s) and mince finely, along with the garlic and ginger. Add the bean sprouts to the mixing bowl too.
- In a small jar, combine the dulse, sesame oil, sugar, remaining soy sauce, and juice of the two limes. Mix well and pour into the mixing bowl. Toss all of the ingredients, and serve immediately or chill for later use.
Click for a Print-Friendly Version
Like this Post? Pin it!
1 thought on “Thai Rice Noodle Salad with Vegan Chick’n”