This delicious Vietnamese zoodle noodle salad is packed full of crunchy veggies, tossed in a sweet and savory honey ginger dressing, and topped with crispy shallots.
If you’re like me, you have a ton of zucchini during the summertime!
This Vietnamese zoodle noodle salad is a fun and delicious way to use up all those sweet summertime zucchinis.
This salad combines fresh zucchini zoodles, crunchy coleslaw mix, carrots, cucumbers, and soft rice noodles, all tossed in a delicious sweet and savory dressing.
The best part of this salad (in my opinion!) is that its top is sprinkled with crispy shallots and garlic. This rounds out the flavors and makes it the perfect summertime weeknight dinner.
Plus, zoodles are fun to eat and super easy to make using a spiralizer!
This one attaches to your KitchenAid stand mixer, and does all of the hard work for you! Bonus – kids love to help make these!
Trust me, you’re going to love this Vietnamese zoodle noodle salad.
Table of Contents
Ingredients for Vietnamese zoodle noodle salad
For salad:
- Rice noodles – Chewy and soft, rice noodles provide the perfect texture to our salad.
- Coleslaw mix – Coleslaw mix is usually a blend of shredded cabbages and can come with or without shredded carrots. Feel free to use your favorite store-bought variety.
- Zucchini – This versatile veggie turns into lovely spirals (zoodles) that are sweet and delicious.
- Cucumbers and carrots – Crunchy and cooling, cucumbers and carrots are great additions to the salad.
- Serrano peppers – These peppers are 2 to 5 times hotter than a jalapeño! Feel free to substitute a jalapeño if you’re more comfortable.
- Herbs – Mint, cilantro, and Thai basil give an aromatic and herbaceous sweetness to our salad. Fresh is the best! I do not recommend using dry herbs here.
Crispy shallots and garlic:
- Avocado oil – This oil can be found easily in the oil aisle of any major grocery store. It has a higher smoke point than olive oil, which makes it perfect for frying up our shallots and garlic.
- Shallots and garlic – Classic additions that will add earthiness to our salad.
For dressing:
- Reserved oil from shallots and garlic – This oil is already packed full of delicious flavor from lightly frying our garlic and shallots!
- Lime juice – To keep the flavors light and bright, lime juice provides the perfect acidity and freshness to the dressing.
- Fresh ginger – Ginger will give our dressing a slightly warm and spicy kick!
- Fish sauce – This fermented fish condiment will give us dressing a salty and briny bite.
- Green onions – A delicate onion flavor with a green freshness.
- Honey – Honey will give us some sweetness to bring all the flavors together.
How to julienne vegetables
Now, for this cold Vietnamese salad, I used julienned carrots and cucumbers.
It sounds fancy, but it’s just a word that means vegetables cut in short thin strips.
The reason we do this is that it helps them blend easily with the zoodles and the rice noodles.
I know it sounds fancy but try not to be scared by the term.
I promise, making julienned vegetables is easy!
First, take your washed carrot and give it peel.
Next, with a sharp knife, cut the carrot lengthwise into thin planks.
Lastly, stack the planks on top of each other on their wide, flat side, and, (taking your time,) cut lengthwise into the planks making thin matchsticks.
Viola! You have just successfully julienned a vegetable!
What are rice noodles?
Rice noodles are simply noodles made from rice flour!
They are commonly used in Vietnamese noodle dishes.
Rice noodles have become more widely available in most major grocery stores, usually in the Asian/world food aisles.
To cook rice noodles, you simply follow the directions on the package!
Most likely, you will put your uncooked rice noodles in a separate bowl, and in a pot on the stove, bring water to a boil.
Once a boil has been achieved, you’ll pour the boiling water over your rice noodles and cover, and let sit for 4-6 minutes. Then drain and use!
I’ve used thin rice noodles here, but feel free to use brown rice noodles as well.
Finally, don’t worry if you can’t find rice noodles, you can always use regular vermicelli pasta.
Storage and leftovers
Lastly, this Vietnamese zoodle noodle salad can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
More zucchini recipes
- Craving something sweet? Try my Chocolate Zucchini Bread.
- Love all things lasagna? Try my Zucchini Lasagna Rolls.
- Want something sour and crunchy? Try my Sweet and Spicy Zucchini Pickles.
- Need something fried and crispy? Try my Greek Zucchini Fritters.
Vietnamese Zoodle Noodle Salad
Ingredients
For crispy shallots and garlic:
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 large shallot thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
For salad:
- 10 ounces spiralized zucchini noodles
- 8 ounces rice noodles prepared according to package instructions, rinsed under cold water and drained
- 2 cups coleslaw mix
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 2 large carrots julienned
- 2 serrano peppers thinly sliced
- 1 large English cucumber julienned
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh Thai basil
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh mint
- Kosher salt to taste
For dressing:
- Reserved oil from frying the shallot and garlic
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 large green onions minced
Instructions
For crispy shallots and garlic:
- Heat the avocado oil over medium-low heat in a large skillet.
- Once hot, fry the sliced shallot and garlic chips with a pinch of salt for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.
- Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and reserve the oil.
For salad:
- In a large bowl toss together the zucchini noodles, rice noodles, coleslaw mix, bean sprouts, carrots, serrano peppers, cilantro, Thai basil, mint, fried shallots, and garlic.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss.
- Season to taste with salt. Serve immediately.
For dressing:
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients.
Nutrition
