Spring Roll Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing

Spring Roll Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing (via abeautifulmess.com)Fresh spring rolls are one of my favorite healthy snacks. The only draw back is they can take a little while to put together since you have to roll up all the prepped ingredients into the wrappers. Not a big deal, but if you’re pressed for time, it can be a concern.

Spring Roll Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing (via abeautifulmess.com) In many ways, this is the LAZY or quick version of fresh spring rolls. All the ingredients and even a similar peanut dressing, but it only takes about 15 minutes to throw everything together. Perfect for a quick lunch. 

How to cook cellophane noodlesSpring Roll Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing, serves 2 (you can easily make more servings).

For the salad:
1-2 oz. cellophane noodles (about half what you see pictured above, I went too crazy)
1/2 head of lettuce, chopped
1/3 or 1/2 head of red cabbage, shredded
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into matchsticks
2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
a big handful of peanuts, chopped

For the dressing:
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 tablespoon red curry paste
2 tablespoons natural, creamy peanut butter
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar (optional, but it does add a nice sweetness)
1/4 cup peanut oil or water (to thin the dressing)

Begin by soaking the cellophane noodles in hot water for 10-12 minutes (check your package directions as soak times can vary). Prep all your vegetables. 

Spicy peanut salad dressingFor the dressing whisk together the first five ingredients listed above. I made my dressing with peanut oil, but you could also use water. The oil adds a richness, but it has a tendency to separate. You can simply whisk it again before pouring it over your salad. Either way, whisk the oil or water in last, slowly drizzling it in as you whisk to help it blend in with the other ingredients. 

Spring Roll Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing (via abeautifulmess.com) Assemble your salad and pour the dressing over the top. Enjoy and happy salad days! xo. Emma

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.

  • This looks SO good! I love spring rolls but rarely have the patience to make them. Definitely going to make this for dinner tomorrow 🙂

  • omg rice noodles a.ka. cellophane noodles (so cute!) are so my jam! I add them to all of my asian-style salads and even into my rice paper spring rolls. I need to try this peanut dressing. yum!! Your recipes are always so fresh and healthy. Your mindfulness is really appreciated 🙂

  • Oh my goodness this is such a great idea!! I love spring rolls too but I like that you can eliminate the wrap part here and keep it a little leaner. Well done!

    xx Jill
    Latest Post – Everything You Need to Know About Dairy Part 1: Your Skin and Hormones

  • Looks so delicious! I eat salad every day for lunch but this is unusual idea, will definitely try!

  • I love colorful salads! It always makes it that much easier to pass up the hamburger for it haha 🙂 Thanks for the recipe share!

  • This looks so delicious. So colorful! I like those same veggies for stir-frys because of the color, but this salad is a great idea.

  • This is A. Brilliant. B. Beautiful C. Serendipitous? We just posted a recipe for salad rolls yesterday. Love the easiness of this though.

    xoxo-Heather and Melissa

  • I love the idea of deconstructed foods! Great recipe.

    Cleaning My Room (in fast forward, I swear it’s not as boring as it sounds)

  • This is such a great idea! I would love to try it with some sort of duck sauce inspired dressing…that’s what I always put on my spring rolls. Probably not half as healthy because it’s so sweet, but I’m a sucker for that sweet plum flavor!

  • would that be the coconut milk from a can? just want to be on the same page.

  • I’ve never made spring rolls because because they do look time consuming, but a spring roll salad is a quick meal I can definitely make! I love the dressing choice!

    Mocha and Moccasins
    M.

  • This recipe looked so good, I ran to the store and bought all the ingredients so I could have it for lunch! It was just as delicious as I had hoped – thanks for the great recipe! I added in fresh mango and grilled chicken, so it was less of a ‘spring roll’ salad and more of a generic Thai salad, but it’s potentially my new favorite. Can’t wait to make it again!

  • Hey, this comment is not really about this post (though this looks delicious) but about your blog format. Have you considered shortening/changing the home page in some way so that your posts are more compact? I love your stuff but have stopped reading because I don’t like scrolling through each step for a post that I’m not interested in to see what else is new. It’s unstreamlined and hard to navigate. Also, maybe I just missed it, but it’s super hard to get in touch with you guys any other way than via comment! Do you have a ‘suggestions box’ somewhere on the website or an email address I missed? That’s why I’m posting this here 🙁

  • Sometimes the wrappers can fall apart easily, so this is a nice alternative to that. I think it’s great you thought to combine all the veggies and spices in a noodle bowl!

  • Hi! Thanks so much for your input. I’ll be sure to forward it on to our team. 🙂 You can contact us at support AT abeautifulmess DOT com. Our contact information is listed on our FAQ page. -Jacki

  • Um… WHY DID I NEVER THINK TO DO THIS?!?! So brilliant! This will save me from struggling to wrap my rolls in the mornings when prepping my lunch to take to work. I might add some cold shrimp to this, too! Thank you, Emma 😀

  • Looks insanely amazing! I love peanuts so damn much!!

    Love if you could check out my blog: evie-dylan.blogspot.co.uk

  • Will be making but I plan to use my shirataki noodles
    Nice and easy lunch for me:)
    Thanks

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  • I ended up making this salad for dinner last Friday and it was soooo delicious! I added some green onions and used a whole Tbsp of curry paste in the dressing, but otherwise stuck to the recipe. My boyfriend was skeptical, but we both went back for seconds after our first bowl (this recipe makes a LOT of salad), and it kept us full for the rest of the night. So good! Definitely a salad we will be making again.

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