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Topped with Thrilling Foods Bakon™️ pieces, this noodle salad elevates those nostalgic soup packets with rich Asian flavors juxtaposed with crunchy coleslaw, roasted nuts, and the smokey-sweet flavors of traditional bacon.
Ingredients
Salad
- 4 packets vegan ramen reserve flavor packets
- 2 bags tri-color coleslaw
- 1 bunch green onions chopped
- ½ cup sliced almonds/cashews toasted
- Crispy rice noodles as garnish
- ½-1 lb Thrilling Foods Bakon Bits as garnish
Dressing
- 4 ramen flavor packets
- ⅓ cup peanut oil
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons organic sugar or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tsp shaoxing wine
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Whisk all dressing ingredients together (or shake in a sealed mason jar). Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add ramen noodles and cook 4 minutes.
- Drain noodles and chill. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Add coleslaw, noodles, green onions, and roasted nuts, reserving a few onions and nuts for garnish. Add dressing and toss ingredients together.
- Top with nut blend, onions, Thrilling Foods Bakon™️ bits and crispy rice noodles before serving.
Notes
Noodle salads are the best because you get to enjoy a full pasta-based meal and still call it a salad! Growing up, this salad made an occasional appearance at various picnics, potlucks, and cookouts. It was always one of my favorites because it was bold in flavor and a bit rebellious.
While most Southern potluckers placed bowl after bowl of potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, and deviled eggs on the picnic table, it was usually someones oddball auntie who brought "that weird noodle salad", which ended up blowing everyones minds when they found out it was made with those 4 for $1 ramen noodle packs and a couple bags of coleslaw. Plus, you get to use the included flavor packets to season your dressing?! Genius! It's the ultimate combo of sophisticated and trailer-trashy and I love it.
Over the years, I became the oddball auntie, made the dish my own and it's now among my most-requested potluck salads. I love it so much I chose to serve it at the "Peeled" Red Carpet Premiere in Hollywood, just to let the fancy LA folk know what Southerners are all about when it comes to flavor.
Plant-based since 1997, the crispy bacon topping didn't get added until I was introduced to Thrilling Foods Bakon™️, which is a mind-blowing product that mimics traditional bacon better than any plant-based alternative I've tried. It's taken my little country salad to a whole new level!