Thai Peanut Pasta Salad
This recipe for Thai Peanut Pasta Salad is filled with fresh vegetables, a flavorful peanut sauce, and is perfect for a summer side dish or a light lunch!
After a week of vacation and four weeks of being in a quarantine funk, I am finally feeling like I'm finding a routine in our day to day life. Inspiration has been low as far as recipe development, which is why I haven't been posting new recipes very often over the last month and a half. But I'm back with a REALLY good one - Thai Peanut Pasta Salad!
This pasta salad recipe actually wasn't planned at all, and when I came up with it in my head I actually had all of the ingredients in my pantry and fridge to make it.
Ingredients in Thai Peanut Pasta Salad
The ingredient list is not short, but if you are a fan of Thai peanut sauce and have made it before, you likely have a lot of the ingredients already.
Peanut Butter
Soy Sauce
Rice Vinegar
Garlic
Ginger
Sriracha
Olive Oil
Honey
Pasta
Broccoli
Carrots
Red Bell Pepper
Chicken Breasts
Cilantro
Peanuts
I have to tell you - this recipe is very adaptable for whatever produce you have on hand! If I had a bag of frozen peas, I probably would've added some of those, too.
How to Make Thai Pasta Salad
The recipe starts by cooking the pasta and chicken. I also add the broccoli to the pasta water for the last minute of boiling to blanch it really quickly so it's not completely raw. This is totally up to you - if you like raw broccoli, you can skip this step!
While the pasta and chicken are cooking, you can make the Thai peanut sauce and chop up the remaining produce. The sauce is made in the food processor and comes together pretty easily.
After giving pasta a rinse in cold water (you really want the pasta to be COLD when you add the sauce to it!), everything gets tossed together and served. Pretty simple!
We had this for lunch as a main dish but this would be a great addition to any summer BBQ or a potluck!
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Thai Peanut Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 16 ounces rotini pasta or any other favorite shape of pasta
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and shredded
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tablespoon fresh minced ginger
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoon honey
- ¼ cup water
- 3 carrots grated
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 4 green onions diced
- ⅓ cup fresh cilantro chopped
- ⅓ cup peanuts chopped
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions and add the broccoli florets for the last minute. Drain and rinse with COLD water to cool completely.
- Cook the chicken breasts and dice or shred. I like to bake mine at 350 for 25-35 minutes, depending on how thick they are.
- In a food processor, add the peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, Sriracha, olive oil, ginger, garlic, honey, and water and puree.
- In a large bowl, combine the cooled pasta, broccoli, diced chicken, carrots, bell pepper, green onion, and peanut sauce, and toss well to combine.
- Add the cilantro and peanuts, and toss to combine.
- Serve and enjoy!
Omg. The flavors in this are so fresh and tasty! Perfect amount of spicy as well. Fresh ginger was key. I followed exactly, and added 1/3 cup sliced English cucumber and 1/3 cup peas. Seriously DELICIOUS!!! My husband LOVED as well so this is def going in rotation. I'm pregnant and for whatever reason have been obsessed with pasta salad variations. I get my carbs and plenty of veggies and protein! Especially great for quarantine because its so easy to pull out of the fridge whenever, and gets even yummier the longer it sits. 10/10 yay thanks!
So happy to hear this!! Love the addition of cucumber and peas 🙂
Easy and tasty! I made the dish with tofu instead of chicken.