Soba Noodle Salad
This soba noodle salad is one of my go-to lunch favorites, and my kids love it too! With spinach, tofu, red bell pepper, purple cabbage, cucumbers, and red onion, this salad is loaded with a rainbow of veggies. Plus it’s easy to swap out veggies based on what you have available at home and your personal favorites. Sliced avocado and shelled edamame are delicious additions!
Eat the Rainbow
I love the cheery idea of eating the rainbow—the concept of eating a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables for a healthy diet. Also known as colorful nutrition, it is an easy visual take on healthy eating. Plus, its playful and easy for kids. With my kids we like to play a game and count how many fruits and veggies we’ve eaten and see if we’ve eaten the whole rainbow. This soba noodle salad contains a whopping 6 different kinds of fruits and veggies, of varying bold shades!
Buckwheat Soba Noodles
I really like the flavor of buckwheat soba noodles, plus we try to vary our grain intake. Our western diets are on wheat overload, where I can add in some variety with a healthy alternative, I’m all for it! Even though it has wheat in the name, buckwheat is actually gluten free, it is a from a seed, not a grain. Buckwheat has a higher nutritional value than wheat or even oats. 3.5 ounces of raw buckwheat contain 13.3 grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber. Plus, according to Food Struct, a super awesome nerdy nutrition website, buckwheat “has a lower glycemic index than oats and is richer in potassium, magnesium, copper, zinc, phosphorus, vitamins B2, B3, and B5.” Oatmeal is better than wheat, but buckwheat may just be even better.
To my gluten-free friends, careful when buying buckwheat noodles! Be sure to read the ingredients. I recently realized my favorite kind of buckwheat noodles indeed has wheat as the first ingredient.
Cold Mountain Mellow White Miso is my absolute favorite miso paste and I highly recommend it. I love the mild flavor of this miso. It’s a great base for sauces. We use it in everything from soups to as a grilling marinade. It is probably our number one used condiment.
Soba Noodle Salad with Red Pepper, Tofu, Purple Cabbage and Miso Dressing
A tasty whole food lunch! This cold soba noodle salad is loaded with veggies: spinach, purple cabbage, red bell pepper, cucumber, and red onion. Top it off with some tofu and sesame seeds for some delicious plant-based protein.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: Plant-based
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 4oz. of buckwheat soba noodles
- 2 cups of fresh spinach
- 1 cup of thinly sliced purple cabbage
- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 of a cucumber, sliced
- 1 tablespoon of red onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup of extra-firm tofu, cubed
- 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds (or peanuts)
Miso dressing
- 2 tablespoons of white miso paste
- 1/2 cup of rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
Instructions
- Cook buckwheat noodles: per the instructions on the packaging. After straining, rinse the noodles with cold water.
- Miso dressing: add the miso paste and rice vinegar to a small bowl. Whisk together until combined, then add the olive oil. Give it a final whisk to mix all ingredients together.
- Layer up: to build your salad add 1/2 the buckwheat noodles to a large bowl or plate. Then add the spinach, purple cabbage, red bell pepper, cucumbers, red onion, and tofu.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with miso dressing on the side!
Notes
If you love this as much as we do, you can make up a large batch of soba noodles and miso dressing. Then making this salad for lunches during the week is a breeze.
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