Five Spice Turkey Rice Noodle Salad
This Five Spice Turkey Rice Noodle Salad is pretty much the farthest thing from Thanksgiving that still involves turkey, and that’s just what I love about it, because it’s light, bright, full of fresh veggies and herbs and teeming with some of my favorite Asian fusion flavors.
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 1 teaspoon five spice powder
- 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 cup turkey shredded
- 8 ounces rice noodles
- 1/2 cup shredded carrot
- 1/2 cup bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup cucumber thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup mint
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 1/4 cup crushed peanuts
For the chile-lime vinaigrette:
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon chile garlic sauce or Sriracha
Instructions
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In a small bowl, whisk together five spice powder, soy sauce, brown sugar and vegetable oil until sugar dissolves. Add turkey and toss to combine. Set aside.
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Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add rice noodles and remove from heat. Allow to sit for 8-10 minutes or until noodles have softened. Drain and rinse well, then add to a large bowl.
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Add turkey, carrot, bell pepper, cucumber, mint and cilantro to bowl and toss with noodles.
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To make chile-lime vinaigrette, combine rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice and chile-garlic sauce in a bowl and whisk until sugar dissolves. Toss vinaigrette with rice noodle salad. Top with peanuts before serving.
Recipe Notes
Don’t get hung up on the fact that this recipe uses turkey. It happens to be super convenient for this time of year when leftover remnants of holiday meals are just begging to be used up, but honestly, make this salad ALL THE TIME with what you have on hand- chicken, beef, shrimp, tofu- because it’s that good and you will want to eat it ALL THE TIME.