Cold Sesame Noodles

5 from 1 vote

These Cold Sesame Noodles are an easy, light noodle salad with spaghetti, crisp veggies, toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, lime, and sriracha!

Prep Time8

Cook Time12

Total Time20

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American, Chinese

Total Cost: $6.11 recipe / $1.53 serving

Servings: servings (about 2 cups each)

Calories: 309kcal

Author: Jess Rice

Equipment

Sauce Pan
Large Mixing Bowl

Ingredients

Noodle Salad Ingredients

½ lb. spaghetti uncooked, $0.49*
1 red bell pepper sliced thin, (julienne cut) $1.48**
½ cup grape tomatoes quartered, $0.75
½ clamshell fresh basil minced, (0.25 oz) $0.89
3 green onions sliced, $1.04
1 lime $0.25

Sesame Dressing Ingredients

½ Tbsp sriracha $0.05
1 Tbsp sesame seeds $0.42
2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil $0.64***
2 Tbsp soy sauce $0.10

Instructions

Gather ingredients. Set water to boil for the spaghetti noodles.
Meanwhile, prepare fresh ingredients: quarter the lime, julienne the red bell pepper, quarter the grape tomatoes, mince the basil, and slice the green onions.
Add spaghetti to the boiling water and boil for 12 minutes, or until al dente.
Drain cooked pasta and rinse with cold water.
Pour the cooked spaghetti into a large mixing bowl with the bell pepper, tomatoes, basil, onions, sriracha, sesame seeds, toasted sesame oil, and soy sauce.
Toss everything together and let it chill in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve. Give it another toss before you enjoy and serve each bowl with a lime wedge for squeezing over top!

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Notes

*I use spaghetti as I've always got it on hand, but most other noodles will work well, too. Angel hair pasta, wheat noodles, or your favorite gluten-free noodles are all good options. Follow the cooking time on the package and cook the noodles until they’re tender but still have a little bite, since they’ll soften slightly as they cool.

**Red bell pepper is my preference here because it adds sweetness and color. You can use any bell pepper you like, though! Green bell pepper is usually the most budget-friendly option, but it has a sharper, slightly more bitter flavor. Yellow and orange bell peppers will also work well, with yellow tasting the sweetest and orange landing somewhere between red and yellow.

***Toasted sesame oil is the main flavor in this dressing, so this is one ingredient I wouldn’t swap. Regular sesame oil tastes much milder and won’t give the noodles the same nutty flavor. If the bottle doesn’t clearly say ‘toasted,’ look at the color. Toasted sesame oil is usually a dark amber or brown, and regular sesame oil is much lighter and more golden (like vegetable oil).

Chill time: You can serve this recipe right away, but I think it tastes best after at least 30 minutes in the fridge. The noodles soak up some of the sesame-soy dressing, and the flavors settle in a little more!

Nutrition