Asian Peanut Salad with ingredients from Trader Joe’s

Asian Peanut Salad with ingredients from Trader Joe’s

The last few months our family has been hooked on this Asian Peanut Salad. I’ve found that most of the ingredients can be purchased at Trader Joe’s for pretty affordable prices. The dressing we use is specifically from Trader Joe’s – and we love it so much we haven’t ventured off from it, but I’m guessing we could (if we had to) come up with a homemade version (it would definitely be more cost effective).

Salad Ingredients

Rice noodles (such as these Thai Kitchen Gluten Free Thin Rice Noodles)
These take just under 5 minutes to “cook” – just follow instructions on package. You can cook them ahead of time and put in fridge. We keep them on hand in a container for when we are ready to make a salad.

Shredded cabbage

Carrot slaw

Diced cucumbers

Diced snap peas

Basil leaves

Sunflower seeds

Shrimp or Chicken
I don’t always add meat, especially if I don’t have any on hand or haven’t found it on sale recently. I don’t generally buy shrimp or chicken at Trader Joe’s – I like to get shrimp or chicken on sale at Kroger. Rotisserie chicken is a nice easy suggestion too. 

Trader Joe’s Spicy Asian Peanut Vinaigrette Salad Dressing (find in the refrigerated section)

Other items you can add to the salad – cashews, green onions, red bell peppers, bok choy, cilantro, mint, peanuts. . .what other suggestions would you have?

I love that a lot of these ingredients can be purchased already shredded or diced – making this salad incredibly easy to throw together. We have meal prepped a few days worth of these salads – but we leave out the noodles, sesame seeds and dressing until right before we eat it.

If you’re feeling ambitious – all these ingredients go beautifully into spring rolls! In fact, a lot of times we call this salad “Spring Roll” salad because it’s basically a deconstructed spring roll.

This salad also makes a great salad for entertaining – you can put all the ingredients out in a large platter and people can make their salad with the ingredients they prefer.

Let me know what you think of this salad and drop a comment if you have a recipe for the dressing and/or other ideas for toppings!