Healthy Ramen Noodle Salad Recipe

Healthy Ramen noodle salad recipe? Yes, this recipe is chock full of fresh veggies and a light lime dressing that adds flavor without too many calories. It’s an easy, inexpensive recipe that uses fresh garden peas, onions, and celery in a flavorful salad.

Healthy Ramen Noodle Salad Recipe

I have a confession to make: I love those packages of Ramen noodles, the staple of college dorm room fare. Perhaps it’s from my days working as a copywriter for a small in-house agency. At 10 a.m. sharp each morning, the roach coach (food truck) would roll into the parking lot, and the team would troop down four flights of stairs, rain or shine, cold or heat, to buy coffee and snacks. My friend and I would buy cups of Ramen noodle soup, which served as breakfast and lunch on those days when my wallet contained about a dollar’s worth of coins and my car ran on gasoline fumes. I loved my work, really loved the team I worked with, but lived on not just a shoestring budget – a broken shoestring poorly tied with bakery twine, so to speak.

So perhaps on days when I’m really busy with copywriting work from my agency, Seven Oaks Consulting, that old craving for Ramen noodles kicks in as a little taste bud reminder of good times past. It’s like hey, remember those days? You dreamed about doing this for a living…and now you are…and isn’t it wonderful?

I usually pile my hot Ramen noodle with cheese to make an impromptu mac and cheese, but the calories really pile up. I realized today that I have a bowl of fresh garden peas in the fridge. Why not, I thought, make a vegetable-Ramen noodle salad, a healthy Ramen noodle salad that uses plenty of fresh vegetables and my favorite noodle?

Recipe for Healthy Ramen Noodle Salad

This recipe omits the MSG and salt-laden packets that come with the plastic-wrapped noodles and just uses the noodles as a base. The flavor comes from the dressing and the spices you include.

Ingredients

Recipe serves 2

You will need:

1 package of Ramen noodles
1 cup of fresh garden peas, shelled
1 stalk of celery, diced into tiny pieces
1 slice of onion, diced fine (I used red onion for color – you can use any kind)

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon fresh or bottle lime juice
1 teaspoon honey (or more to taste)
Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Whisk the dressing together and set aside. Heat water on the stove top to boiling. Remove the Ramen noodles from the package and break into small pieces. Cook noodles for 3 minutes. Add peas. Cook for 2 more minutes, stirring gently. Remove from heat and drain, rinsing under cold water until cool.

Toss in a bowl with celery, onions, Ramen/pea mixture and dressing. Serves 2 or one for a giant meal.