23 Cold Noodle Recipes (Salads, Bowls, and More)

When the warm weather strikes, trade in your hot noodles for these refreshing cold noodle recipes.

From salads to soups, these noodle dishes are incredibly refreshing. They’re also impossibly addictive! 

20+ Cold Noodle Recipes

You know that feeling you get when it’s hot, and you’re hungry, but nothing sounds appetizing?

Well, these cold noodle recipes are the solution. 

Between the vegetable salads, tantalizing sauces, and slurp-worthy noodles, they’re guaranteed to please.

So the next time you need to beat the heat, bust out one of these cold noodle recipes. You won’t be disappointed.

1. Sour Spicy Cold Noodles

When you just want a big bowl of noodles smothered in Asian sauce, this bowl will be waiting. 

Chili oil gives it a spicy kick while Shanghai rice vinegar plays on the umami sauce to make it sour. 

It doesn’t require a ton of fillings to complete it. Cucumber slices and scallions are all you need. 

2. Cold Spicy Peanut Sesame Noodles

Indulge your tastebuds with a mess of peanut butter-slathered noodles!

The balance of sweet, nutty, creamy, umami, and spicy hits all the right notes. 

The hard part is deciding whether to use chewy spaghetti or thin rice noodles. 

If you’re looking to skip the gluten, go with the latter. Although, spaghetti does give it a nice mouthfeel. 

3. Bibim Guksu

Bibim guksu is a type of cold noodle Korean dish that’s very popular come summer. 

With thin wheat noodles as the base, you pile on an assortment of toppings like cabbage, cucumbers, radishes, boiled egg, and kimchi.

Oh, and don’t forget the spicy gochujang sauce for an explosion of flavor.

4. Chinese Cold Noodle Salad with Sesame Dressing

Persian cucumbers are the perfect cooling touch to your umami noodles. 

And boy is this umami! 

The dressing consists of sesame seeds in three forms, Chinese soy sauce, black vinegar, and sugar. 

There’s also a spoonful of chili oil for a kick. 

5. Cold Noodle Salad with Creamy Tahini Dressing

Asian meets Mediterranean in this refreshing dish. 

The zesty tahini dressing is a healthy nut-free alternative to peanut sauce.

Creamy, garlicky, ginger, and spicy, it adds an astounding amount of flavor to the rice noodles. 

Since it’s a salad, it wouldn’t be complete without the fixings. So load up your bowl with an array of crunchy veggies. 

6. Vietnamese Noodle Salad with Tangy Dressing

Grab a piece of paper and jot this one down. You’ll be using it all summer long!

From lunches to light dinners to outdoor gatherings, this 15-minute salad has everything you want in a summer meal.

It’s like a bahn mi and summer roll combined in deconstructed form.

Both of these are two of my favorite things!

7. Chili Garlic Rice Noodle Salad

Now, this is my idea of a cold noodle salad! 

It’s bursting with crisp veggies, fresh herbs, tender noodles, lime, chili, and garlic.

Seriously, what more could you ask for?

The whole thing takes less than 30 minutes, and you barely have to heat the stove. 

8. Cold Thai Noodle Salad

This Thai noodle salad is off the charts! 

Savory pork, cooling cucumbers, fresh herbs, and rice noodles all come together in one satiating bowl.

And it has the best Thai peanut dressing to match!

Do yourself a favor and make it today.

9. Sichuan Cold Noodles

Got a stocked pantry but fresh produce is slim pickings? Sichuan cold noodles have your back. 

Scallions and garlic are the only fresh ingredients you need.

The rest of the ingredients are for the Asian sauce and chili oil that smother the lo mein noodles.

If you happen to have a bottle of chili oil on hand, you can cut down on the workload too.

Otherwise, the whole thing will take you 20 minutes tops.

10. Cold Sesame Noodles with Crunchy Vegetables

If you like creamy Asian sauces that encompass a wide range of flavors, you’ll love this one. 

It doubles down on the creamy factor with peanut butter and tahini. 

Then it ramps up the flavor with soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and garlic chili sauce.

And that’s just the sauce!

11. Cold Asian Noodle Salad with Grilled Shrimp

I had this salad once this week, and I’m already making it again tonight. That’s how floored I am about it!

The dish itself is pretty simple. Tender soba noodles, grilled shrimp, and fresh mint make up the bulk. 

Yet it’s the sauce and the marinade that truly makes it. 

12. Cold Noodles with Shredded Chicken

From the shredded chicken to the sauce, this salad is perfect.

The poached chicken cooks in a water bath with ginger and scallions.

The noodles get perked up with veggies, peanuts, cilantro, and a tangy garlic sauce. 

When the chicken is ready, pile it on top. 

13. Taiwanese Cold Noodles with Sesame Dressing

This popular Taiwanese dish manages to turn cold noodles into a remarkably comforting meal. 

A lavish peanut sauce drenches Chinese noodles in decadence.

Soft-boiled eggs, sliced ham, cucumbers, and carrots seal it with cozy vibes. 

Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you could eat this any time of day and it won’t take you long to make.

14. Hiyashi Chuka (Cold Ramen)

Hiyashi chuka is a cold ramen dish that’s popular in Japan.

It takes fresh ingredients and merges them with savory meats. 

Ham, crab, and omelet strips load it up with protein.

As for the produce, keep it light and easy with tomatoes and cucumbers. 

While it’s optional, you should try it with Japanese mustard and pickled ginger.

It has that little something special you don’t want to miss. 

15. Vegan Cold Ramen with Sesame Sauce

Want to try Hiyashi chuka, but don’t eat meat? No problem, make it vegan.

Between the creamy tahini sauce and succulent noodles, nobody will be missing the meat.

If you do want a boost of protein, though, add tofu on top.

16. Cold Ramen Noodle Salad

If you give me a bowl of ramen, I’m a happy gal.

Give me this cold ramen salad, and I’m through the roof with excitement!

It’s a bounty of crunchy veggies and ramen noodles doctored up with a zippy ginger sesame dressing. 

Fresh, healthy, and low-calorie, it’s everything a cold noodle salad should be and more.

17. Cold Noodle Bowl with Sriracha Peanut Crumble

By now, you’re probably picking up on a trend that cold ramen is scrumptious!

What makes this one stand out is the signature Sriracha peanut crumble.

Spicy, salty, and crunchy, it adds complementary flavors and texture to the dish. 

I’ve tried it before with just the noodles, veggies, and hoisin lime dressing. And I have to say, it’s really good. 

But there’s something about the crumble that makes it swoon-worthy.

18. Cold Peanut Noodle Salad

Meal prep Sunday, meet the new lunch that tops the to-do list.

It’s a vibrant display of whole wheat spaghetti speckled with carrots, red cabbage, green onions, and peanuts. 

Right before serving, drizzle on the peanut lime dressing and coat everything with that goodness. 

Not only is it very easy and affordable, but it will also last in the fridge for up to 5 days.

You have work lunches covered for the week.

19. Cold Sesame Noodles with Spiralized Vegetables

Get the perfect forkful by spiralizing your veggies! 

As much as I love chopping up veggies and tossing them in, it’s easy to miss a few when you go to take a bite.

That’s not the case with spiralized veggies.

Twirl spaghetti and you’ll also be twirling spiralized zucchini and carrots. How perfect is that?! 

This is another stellar lunch you’ll want to add to your meal prep day.

20. Cold Soba Noodles in Beef Broth

Craving Asian soup without the hot broth? You’ve come to the right place.

Soba noodles take an ice-cold bath in beef broth with juicy slices of beef shank, jammy egg, cucumber, kimchi, and apple slices. 

It has everything you’re jonesing for with the temperature you need to beat the heat. 

21. Korean Cold Noodle Soup

Here’s another way you can make cold noodle soup. 

At a single glance, it looks rather simplistic. But once you get into the process, it’s more complex than you think. 

You build the layers of the beef broth, prepare the cucumber and radish pickles, boil the eggs, and make the yellow mustard. 

Once it’s complete, you have an invigorating noodle soup perfect for a hot day.

22. Cold Salmon Noodle Bowl

I need to take a second to address just how much I love this cold noodle bowl. 

It has salmon, noodles, and avocado for an irresistible dish.

To take it up another level, the whole bowl is dripping with ponzu, which is my favorite Asian sauce to put on everything.

Healthy, savory, and fresh, it makes clean eating an easy routine.

23. Vermicelli Noodle Salad

Before you go, I have one more recipe I have to mention. It’s my go-to 15-minute noodle salad. 

Cabbage, carrots, and bean sprouts give it a wonderful crunch. The vermicelli noodles also keep it light. 

Like all Asian dishes, you need a flavorful sauce. So for the dressing, you use soy sauce, rice vinegar, bird’s eye chili, garlic, and sugar.

It touches on all the right flavors, and it’s less than 200 calories per serving!