Cold Sesame Noodles
on May 22, 2026
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Tossed in a creamy tahini peanut dressing, these cold sesame noodles have shredded cabbage, carrots and cucumbers. They’re fresh and nutty with a touch heat from chili crisp in the dressing. Ready in 15 minutes, you can enjoy this salad for a meal prep lunch or dinner.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
It is a quick & easy noodle salad with lots of vegetables. Using a coleslaw mix reduces the prep work in this already simple recipe.
The tahini peanut dressing is full of fantastic flavor. Starting with a base of tahini and peanut butter makes it lightly creamy. I also include a little chili crisp to add some spice in this cold noodle salad.
You can customize it depending what you have in your kitchen. Include leftovers like roasted vegetables or add a protein such as tofu, shredded rotisserie chicken, salmon or shrimp. The dressing will bring it all together.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Chinese egg noodles: These long thin noodles work well with the shredded cabbage and carrots and cucumbers because they all end up tangled (in a good way) and mixed together in each forkful.
- Coleslaw mix: This is one of my favorite kitchen shortcuts. Because this recipe doesn’t call for the entire bag, I will use the rest of it in this baked tofu salad.
- Cucumbers: I like Persian cucumbers because they are small with delicate skins and less seeds than regular ones. Also, they are easy to cut into matchsticks.
- Scallions: These green onions always work well in recipes with Asian flavors like sesame, peanut and ginger.
- Sesame seeds: To bring out their flavor, toast them either in a 350-degree F oven for 5-7 minutes or in a dry skillet on the stove.
- Tahini peanut dressing: I let both the tahini and the creamy peanut butter sit at room temperature while I get everything ready, so they more easily combine with the ginger, garlic, salt, pepper, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and chili crisp.
How To Make These Cold Sesame Noodles
1. Prep the tahini peanut dressing. Stir together minced ginger & garlic, salt, pepper, tahini, peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and chili crisp.
2. Cook the noodles. Check the recommended cooking time on the package. They should turn out al dente, so they have good bite to match the crunch of the cabbage. Rinse them with cold water in a colander.
3. Combine the salad ingredients. That includes the egg noodles, coleslaw mix, cucumbers, scallions and sesame seeds.
4. Drizzle the dressing into the noodles. Toss everything together.
Serving
As mentioned, these noodles are good for a make-ahead lunch or dinner. Add rotisserie chicken, baked tofu, shrimp or salmon. Another option is to make sauteed snap peas for more vegetables or serve these noodles with this rainbow vegetable stir-fry.
More Noodle Recipes
Sesame Soba Noodles with Bell Peppers
Edamame Noodle Salad
Asparagus Mushroom Stir-Fry
Cold Sesame Noodles
Ingredients
For dressing
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon chili crisp
For noodles
- 6 ounces Chinese egg noodles
- 3 cups coleslaw mix
- 2 Persian cucumbers, cut into matchsticks
- 3 scallions, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
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Instructions
- For the dressing, whisk the ginger, garlic, salt, pepper, tahini, peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and chili crisp in a small bowl.
- Cook the noodles according to package instructions in a large pot of salted boiling water. Drain them in a colander and rinse with cold water.
- In a large bowl, combine the noodles, coleslaw mix, cucumbers, scallions and sesame seeds.
- Pour the dressing into the noodles, tossing to combine.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
