Rice Noodle Salad with Lime Vinaigrette

This is a light and refreshing salad that is a tasty and eye-catching side dish for almost any meal, and a perfect potluck dish. Rice noodles are high in carbohydrates to help fuel your workouts, while the tomatoes, sweet peppers, basil, and parsley provide many important nutrients essential for good health.  

Ingredients

Honey-Lime Vinaigrette

  • Juice and zest of 2 limes (should yield about ¼ cup lime juice)
  • 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp. honey
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 3/4 tsp. salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Some heat: ¼ – ½ tsp. red pepper flakes, or hot sauce, or ½-1 tsp. chopped hot green chili like jalapeno (optional, to taste)

Noodles and Mix-Ins

  • 1 small package (225 g) rice stick (flat) noodles; this should yield about 4 cups of cooked noodles
  • 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2½ cups of chopped sweet peppers (green, yellow, or orange are good colours to complement the tomatoes)
  • 2½ cups grape of halved cherry tomatoes (about 50 whole grape tomatoes)
  • ½ cup green onions, chopped
  • Fresh basil – about 20 leaves, torn
  • ½ cup parsley, stems removed
  • ½ cup crumbled feta cheese, or more to taste

Preparation

  1. Whisk together dressing ingredients in small jar or cup. Set aside.
  2. Prepare vegetables and herbs.
  3. Cook the rice noodles according to package directions. Strain noodles in a colander, and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Drain them well to remove as much excess water as possible. Put the drained noodles in a large bowl and toss with the olive oil.
  4. Toss the lime dressing onto the noodles and stir to combine. Add vegetables, fresh herbs, and feta cheese to the noodles (if noodles are clumping and you’re having a hard time distributing the vegetables, take some scissors or a knife and cut some of the noodles). Adjust the seasonings to taste, and serve.

Advance Prep: You can prepare the noodles, vegetables, and dressing in advance. Toss these together before serving.

YIELD: Makes about 12 cups of salad

Nutrition Per Cup of Salad

  • 135 calories
  • 2.3 g protein
  • 5 g fat (1.4 g sat)
  • 5.5 mg cholesterol
  • 21 g carbohydrate
  • 2 g fiber
  • 230 mg sodium
  • 200 mg potassium
  • Iron: 3 % Daily Value
  • Calcium: 4.2 % Daily Value

This recipe is from sheilakealey.com.  Visit the website for more healthy recipes and sports nutrition articles.

Sheila Kealey is a health promotion consultant, writer, and athlete passionate about encouraging lifestyle habits that promote good health.  She has a Masters’ degree in Public Health and has collaborated on many research articles related to diet and health. Sheila cross country ski races with XC Ottawa, and also competes in triathlons and running races (5k’s are her favourite, but she has gone the distance once, running a 2:57 marathon).  Sheila loves developing healthy recipes, and sharing advice on nutrition, physical activity, sports science, and tasty nourishing foods on twitter and her website.