Crunchy Ramen Noodle Salad - Make Ahead

Chicagoland Chef du Jour's Note:

This makes a great meatless meal, a lovely luncheon or dinner salad when topped with a grilled & sliced chicken breast. I tend to like a tangier dressing so I use less oil than vinegar. Feel free to adjust to your taste. The amount of added veggies, fruits & nuts can be increased as well. I recently discovered that by adding sugar snap peas & seedless cucumbers it has a more "Asian" flair to it. Enjoy! This can be made a day ahead and tossed with the dressing before serving. Prep time does not included grilling chicken breast or shrimp. If serving as a side salad, this will serve up 8-10+.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 16 ounces shredded coleslaw mix
• 1 bunch green onion, sliced with tops
• 1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup cashew halves
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 3 ounces oriental-flavor instant ramen noodles, reserve seasoning packet
• 1/4-1/2 cup grated carrot
• 1 apple, with peels, diced
• 1/2 cup sweetened cranberries
• 1/2-1 cup seedless cucumber, quartered, peels on
• 1/2-1 cup sugar snap pea, trimmed and halved
• 1/4 cup radicchio, for color (optional)
• 2 grilled chicken breasts, 1/2 per person (optional)

Dressing

• seasoning packet from soup
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar or 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar or 1/2 cup white vinegar

Directions:

1. Mix all veggies, nuts and fruits together.
2. Break up DRY noodles (**do not boil) and add to veggie mix before serving.
3. At this point you can refrigerate overnight.
4. Toss with dressing, serve and top with chicken or shrimp, if desired.

Reviews

[TexasGal #2]

I tripled this recipe for our pool party and our guests loved it. I substituted one bag of Broccoli Slaw for one bag of coleslaw to add color and texture. To keep the toasted Ramen noodles crunchy, I added them at the last minute before serving. So glad we had some leftover for my lunch! Great recipe!

[JOY1998]

This was a very tasty salad! I didn't have the sugar snap peas, but I did add the cucumbers. Great flavor. I will make it again. Thank you for posting this lovely recipe.

[zeh ani]

Fabulous salad! Served it today at dinner party and each of the guests asked me for the receipe. Beautiful flavours and very eye appealing. As it was served as a side dish I did not include the chicken and it still tasted fantastic.