Cold Sesame Peanut Noodle Salad with Chicken

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A giant bowl of cold noodles tossed in a garlicky sesame-peanut sauce with shredded rotisserie chicken, crunchy cucumber and carrot. It's built to be made hours ahead, carried in one bowl, and eaten at room temperature — no reheating, no serving spoon fights, and it only gets better as it sits.

Ingredients

• 1 lb spaghetti or lo mein noodles
• 3 tbsp toasted sesame oil, divided
• 4 cups shredded cooked rotisserie chicken
• 1 large English cucumber, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 6 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp honey
• 4 cloves garlic, finely grated
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated
• 1 tbsp chili garlic sauce or sriracha

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil and cook the spaghetti for 1 minute past the package time, about 10 to 12 minutes, so the noodles stay tender once chilled. Scoop out 1 1/2 cups of the cooking water and set it aside before draining.
2. Drain the noodles and rinse them under cold running water for a full minute, tossing with your hands until they are completely cool. Shake dry, tip into your largest bowl, and toss with 2 tablespoons of the sesame oil so they don't clump.
3. While the noodles cook, whisk the peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, garlic, ginger, chili garlic sauce and remaining 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a medium bowl. It will seize up and look thick — that's normal.
4. Whisk about 3/4 cup of the reserved cooking water into the sauce a splash at a time until it is smooth and pourable, roughly the thickness of heavy cream. Taste and add more chili garlic sauce if you want more heat.
5. Pour three-quarters of the sauce over the noodles and toss with tongs until every strand is coated. Add the shredded chicken, cucumber, carrots and about two-thirds of the scallions, then toss again.
6. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. Keep the remaining sauce and the last 1/2 cup of cooking water in a separate jar in the fridge.
7. Thirty minutes before serving, let the bowl sit out to come to room temperature. Loosen the noodles with the reserved sauce, thinning with a splash of the cooking water if needed, then scatter with the remaining scallions and the sesame seeds.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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