Soba Salad With Seaweed, Cucumbers, and Asparagus Recipe

By
Daniel Gritzer
Daniel Gritzer
Daniel Gritzer
Editorial Director
Daniel joined the Serious Eats culinary team in 2014 and writes recipes, equipment reviews, articles on cooking techniques. Prior to that he was a food editor at Food & Wine magazine, and the staff writer for Time Out New York's restaurant and bars section.
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Updated February 26, 2019
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The best noodles for salad-like pasta salads: Asian ones. . Daniel Gritzer

Why It Works

  • Lightly blanching the asparagus gives it a perfect crisp-tender texture while preserving its vibrant green flavor.
  • Cucumber keeps this salad cool and refreshing.

This simple and refreshing pasta salad is made with soba (buckwheat) noodles, raw cucumber, lightly cooked asparagus, and wakame seaweed. It's tossed in a lemon-soy vinaigrette with sesame oil, sesame seeds, and a hit of fresh ginger.

Recipe Details

Soba Salad With Seaweed, Cucumbers, and Asparagus Recipe

Active 25 mins
Total 25 mins
Serves 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 pound asparagus, woody ends trimmed

  • 1/2 ounce dried wakame seaweed (see note)

  • 300g (about 10 1/2 ounces) dried soba noodles

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce

  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

  • 1/4 cup fresh juice from 2 lemons

  • 2 tablespoons canola, vegetable, or grapeseed oil

  • 1 (1 1/2-inch) knob fresh peeled ginger, grated

  • 1 large English cucumber, ends trimmed, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced into quarter-moons

  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, plus more for garnish

  • 2 scallions, white and light green parts thinly sliced on the bias

  • Kosher salt

Directions

  1. Place wakame in a medium bowl and cover with plenty of warm water. Let stand until softened and rehydrated (about 10 minutes), then transfer to a fine mesh strainer to drain. In a large pot of salted boiling water, blanch asparagus until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Using tongs, transfer to an ice-water bath to chill. Slice chilled asparagus into 1 1/2-inch lengths on a slight bias.

  2. In a new pot of salted boiling water, cook soba noodles until tender, according to package instructions. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold running water until chilled.

  3. In a small mixing bowl, stir together soy sauce, sesame oil, lemon juice, canola oil, and ginger. Drain wakame and squeeze out excess water with your hands.

  4. In a large bowl, combine soba noodles, asparagus, wakame, cucumber, sesame seeds, scallions, and soy dressing and toss well. Season with salt and serve, sprinkling more sesame seeds on individual plates, if desired.

Notes

Wakame is a dried seaweed that can be found in Japanese markets or ordered online.

This Recipe Appears In

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
239Calories
13gFat
28gCarbs
9gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories239
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 13g16%
Saturated Fat 2g8%
Cholesterol 0mg0%
Sodium 742mg32%
Total Carbohydrate 28g10%
Dietary Fiber 4g13%
Total Sugars 3g
Protein 9g
Vitamin C 21mg105%
Calcium 95mg7%
Iron 3mg14%
Potassium 520mg11%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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