If you love the flavor of Thai food, this simple pasta salad will satisfy your taste buds. The honey infused dressing has chili flakes to add spice to your palate. Cilantro brings the Thai flavor home, along with peanuts and snow peas for crunch.

We love the flavors of Thai food. While this pasta salad isn’t “authentic” Thai, the Asian flavored dressing so flavorful. I’m a bit sensitive to heat in spice, so I reduced the amount of chili flakes.

This recipe comes from a blog I’ve followed for years (The Stay at Home Chef). The only change I made to her recipe was to add snow peas because I wanted to add some type of vegetable. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Within the last minute of the pasta cooking, I tossed in the washed and trimmed snow peas. In the meantime, make the dressing in a pot, which only takes minutes. Add the dressing to the cooked pasta and refrigerate for at least four hours, or overnight.

Remove the salad from the refrigerator. I recommend allow it to come a bit to room temperature. Add cilantro (or parsley if you inherited the gene that makes cilantro taste like soap). Add chopped Honey Roasted Peanuts (or plain will work) and garnish with sliced green onion.

Give the pasta salad a good toss. Lunch or dinner is ready!

TASTING NOTES: We really liked this dressing and I would make this separately for salad or Cole Slaw. In fact, the recipe developer recently posted a version where she replaces pasta for a combination of shredded green cabbage, red cabbage and carrots. That sounds like a delicious alternative.

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Spicy Thai Style Pasta Salad

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Thai

Keyword: Pasta Salad, Thai Pasta Salad

Servings:

Calories: 448kcal

Equipment

1 Medium Size Pot
1 Salad Bowl

Ingredients

12 ounces bow tie pasta

For the pasta dressing:

1/4 cup honey
1 -2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes adjust to the level of spice you prefer
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce can use regular
1/2 teaspoon salt

Remaining ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup fresh snow peas (optional: my addition to the salad, for crunch)
1/2 cup honey roasted peanuts

Garnish:

½ cup green onion sliced

Instructions

Prepare cilantro and snow peas

Chop the cilantro and set aside.
Wash and trim off the ends of the snow peas and drain well.

Cook pasta:

Cook according to package directions.
In the last minute of the pasta cooking, add the snow peas, then drain well and transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Make the dressing:

Meanwhile, heat vegetable oil and sesame oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add in crushed red pepper stir, and cook for 2 minutes to infuse the flavor.
Add the honey, soy sauce, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the saucepan. Stir to combine, then remove from heat.
Pour the warm sesame mixture over the cooked pasta. Toss until evenly coated.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.*

Garnish and finish the salad:

When ready to serve, stir in chopped cilantro, peanuts and green onions.

Notes

Recipe source: Slightly adapted from “The Stay At Home Chef“.

This recipe is adaptable to add any type of veggies that you like. We liked the addition of snow peas. The original recipe developer recently mentioned that this dressing recipe can be adapted to a cole slaw version by adding shredded cabbage (red and/or green) and carrots. That sounds delicious, too!

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @afeastfortheeyes or tag #afeastfortheeyesblog!