This loaded spring roll salad features a rainbow of fresh veggies and tender rice noodles tossed in a flavorful spicy ginger dressing. – it’s so easy to make ahead of time for lunch or a side dish!
This salad is otherwise known as the “lazy way” to enjoy spring rolls and we are HERE for it!
No fancy wrapping skills or ingredients required either since we’re literally just tossing a salad together and calling it a day.
And you guys, this salad tastes like the BEST parts about a spring roll and is about to 180 your salad game this summer.
Not only is this salad a total color bomb, but it’s also jam-packed with all kinds of incredible textures and flavors. We don’t do boring salads around here!
Only salads you would want to swan dive in.
This Spring Roll Salad features…
- Tender rice noodles.
- A rainbow of fresh veggies including sweet pepper, carrot, cucumber, and cabbage.
- Lots of fresh mint and cilantro.
- A flavorful spicy ginger dressing.
Making the Spring Roll Salad
(scroll down to the bottom of post for the full recipe)
Ingredients You Will Need
- Rice noodles
- Sweet pepper
- Cucumber
- Carrots
- Shredded cabbage
- Peanuts
- Cilantro
- Mint
- Sesame seeds
- Ginger
- Sesame oil
- Garlic
- Canola oil
- Red pepper flakes
- Soy sauce
- Agave nectar
- Rice wine vinegar
Choosing Your Vegetables
We like to keep things simple with this salad and use a combination of sweet pepper, cucumber, carrots, and shredded cabbage, but the sky’s the limit for what kind of vegetables you can use!
Cherry tomatoes, bean sprouts, or avocado would be great savory additions to this salad. You can even add a sweet kick by using fresh mango, pineapple, or orange!
Tips for Perfect Salad
- Rinse noodles with cold water – follow the package instructions for cooking noodles, then immediately rinse noodles in lots of cold water. This helps cool the noodles fast and keeps them from sticking together.
- Julienne vegetables in uniform size – ideally, you want all the vegetables in uniform matchsticks.
- Blend dressing – for ultimate ease, just blend all the dressing ingredients together in a food processor or blender.
- Dress salad just before serving – this will help keep the vegetables crisp.
Make Ahead Instructions
This recipe is a dream to make ahead of time for a cookout side dish or easy lunch salad.
- Cut vegetables and toss with cooked noodles. Store in refrigerator up to 4 days.
- Make dressing and store in refrigerator up to 7 days.
- When ready to serve, dress salad and top with peanuts, cilantro, and sesame seeds.
Mild Version of Salad
If you’re sensitive to spice, simply leave the red pepper flakes out of the dressing or add a few pinches to taste – this salad is easy to adjust to fit your spice preference!
This salad somehow tastes even better than it looks. The vegetables are perfectly crisp, the noodles are tender, and tossed in the spicy ginger dressing and fresh herbs just adds the most incredible flavor pop.
You won’t be able to stop making this salad all summer, you’ve been warned.
Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.
Watch this salad made step-by-step on Google web stories.
More summer salads to try next!
Spring Roll Salad with Spicy Ginger Dressing
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Ingredients
Spicy Ginger Dressing
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
- 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons canola oil or vegetable oil
- 1/2-1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Salt and pepper to taste
Spring Roll Salad
- 8 oz rice noodles
- 1-1/2 cups shredded green or purple cabbage
- 1 small cucumber, julienned
- 2 small carrots, julienned
- 1 medium sweet pepper, julienned
- 1/4 cup firmly-packed minced cilantro
- 1/4 cup firmly-packed minced mint
- 1/4 cup chopped roasted peanuts
- Additional cilantro and sesame seeds for topping
Instructions
Spicy Ginger Dressing
- In a food processor or blender, combine ginger, garlic, soy sauce, agave, vinegar, sesame oil, canola oil, and red pepper flakes to taste. Blend dressing until smooth.
- Season dressing with salt and pepper to taste and refrigerate until ready to use.
Spring Roll Salad
- Cook rice noodles according to package instructions. Rinse noodles well with cold water until noodles are completely cooled. Drain noodles and transfer to a large serving bowl.
- Add cabbage, cucumber, carrot, sweet pepper, bean sprouts, cilantro, and mint to rice noodles and toss to combine.
- When ready to serve, drizzle dressing over salad and toss well to evenly coat. Season salad with salt and pepper to taste if needed and garnish with peanuts, cilantro and sesame seeds. Enjoy!
Janet says
Measurement for bean sprouts?
Sarah says
Bean sprouts are an optional addition to this salad. If you choose to use them, I would recommend 1/2-1 cup.
Katie says
Who measures bean sprouts? Just throw some in to your liking
Misst says
Absolutely delicious. Omitted peanuts, sesame seeds and most of the oil, swapped chilli flakes for sriracha. Would definitely make again. Thank you.
Sarah says
I’m so happy to hear you loved this salad! Enjoy 🙂
Joanne DeCook says
I add sriracha too! Makes it delicious!
Alison Ferguson says
Could you use sugar in place of the agave? If so how much?
Sarah says
Yes you sure can! I would recommend 2 tablespoons sugar in place of the agave.
Joanne DeCook says
I used honey! Worked perfectly!
Kathryne says
Don’t know what I did wrong but maybe too much vinegar and wish the sauce was thicker.
Sarah says
Hi Kathryne – the sauce is traditionally supposed to be a little more on the thin side, more similar to a vinaigrette. You can definitely add a little more agave to offset the vinegar flavor!
Michael says
Very tasty!!!!!!
Sarah says
Wonderful to hear, Michael!
Dotti Lawson says
Very good. We had it for dinner tonight. I will make this again.
Sarah says
Awesome to hear, Dotti! 🙂
Mia M Moore says
This was DELICIOUS. I made it & my family loved it ,especially the dressing.
Sarah says
So awesome to hear, Mia! Thanks so much for letting me know. 🙂
Meredith says
I used precut cabbage and carrots which made it much faster to prepare, subbed a tsp of Sriracha for the red pepper flakes (I’ll add more next time bc I like heat), and honey for the agave. After I made it, I thought steamed shrimp on top would truly make it like a Spring roll so will do that next time. It’s a keeper!
Sarah says
So glad to hear you’ve found a new salad favorite, Meredith! Thanks for reporting back with your adjustments. 🙂
Shirley says
This salad looks yummy, but just to ask can I swap out oils for say avocado or olive oil?
Sarah says
You sure can! The dressing may not have quite as strong of a sesame flavor but you could always add extra sesame seeds.
Joanne DeCook says
Loved this dressing! I added honey instead of agave and added sriracha as well as red pepper flakes! I use the lettuce and the cabbage and whatever veggies I have on hand! Mushroom take on the flavour nicely too! Also I marinated some chick peas In the dressing for a few minutes and threw them in too! I’ve used breaded chicken or regular chicken and would like to try it with shrimp! Overall delicious! I always end up with a huge bowl of it! I usually double the dressing so I have some ready for next time!
Sarah says
So glad to hear this salad is a keeper recipe for you, Joanne! Love the sound of all your fun mix-ins! 🙂
PinkyLee says
Super easy and very tasty!
Magnolia says
Can you share the specific rice noodle you find that works best? There are so many types!
Sarah says
Hi Magnolia – this recipe works with a variety of rice noodles, but I typically use rice vermicelli noodles. 🙂
Wendy says
Could vermicelli noodles be used as a substitute?
Sarah says
Yes they can!
Katie says
The actual salad part of this is great! So colorful and tasty. However, the dressing to me was pretty awful. I couldn’t taste anything other than really strong, bitter ginger. It ruined the salad. Next time I will do my dressing.
Sarah says
Hi Katie – I’m sorry to hear this salad didn’t meet the mark! That’s strange that you say that the ginger gave the dressing a bitter flavor because as long as your ginger was fresh it definitely should not have. Regardless, we’ll return to the test kitchen with this one!
Katie says
Amazing!