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Discover the fresh and vibrant flavors of Thailand with our simple recipe for Thai glass noodle salad (Yum Woon Sen)! A healthy, fresh, low-carb, and vegetarian Asian Salad that is quickly prepared.
Thai Glass noodle salad, also known as Yum Woon Sen in Thai, is next to the papaya salad, one of the most popular and well-known Thai salads! It consists mainly of cellophane noodles (or glass noodles, hence the name) tossed with quite a spicy dressing.
The authentic recipe is prepared with shrimps, minced meat, and fish sauce. However, I’ll show you a vegan recipe variation with crunchy vegetables that tastes just as fresh, delicious, spicy, and intense as the original.
By using cellophane noodles made of green beans and mung beans, this salad is low-carb, gluten-free, and very healthy.
Learn how to make Thai glass noodles salad and bring authentic Thai cuisine to your home. You can serve it as a starter with any Thai dish or as a low-carb meal for lunch or dinner. The recipe is easy and quick to prepare.
Ingredients
See recipe card for quantities.
Visual Step-by-Step Instructions
This visual step-by-step instruction will help you along the way – definitely recommended if you’re a cooking beginner!
- Cook cellophane noodles according to the package instructions. Prepare all the veggies for the salad.
- Dressing: Place cilantro stems, garlic, ginger, and Thai chilies in a mortar and pound with the pestle into a paste. Add sugar and salt, pound until dissolved. Add lime juice and soy sauce, stir to mix. → If you don’t have a mortar, finely mince cilantro stems, garlic, ginger, and Thai chilies, then place them with the sugar, salt, lime juice, and soy sauce in a bowl and stir to mix.
- Place cooked cellophane noodles, cherry tomatoes, scallion, carrot, celery, peanuts, and chopped cilantro leaves in a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
Variations
- Protein-Packed: Boost the salad with some tofu or a vegan meat substitute of your choice!
- Vegetables: Feel free to add a variety of crunchy vegetables like bell peppers, snap peas, or red cabbage for some variation.
- Fruity: In the summer, I love to garnish the salad with some fresh, diced mango.
Storage Instruction
Store glass noodle salad in an airtight container in the fridge. Keeps fresh for 2 days. You can prepare the salad up to a day in advance, allowing the flavors to meld even more.
More Asian Salads
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📖 Recipe
Thai Glass Noodle Salad
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Ingredients
Salad
- 3.5 oz (100 g) cellophane noodles
- ½ cup (75 g) cherry tomatoes or one tomato, sliced
- 1 scallion or shallot, sliced
- 1 carrot julienned
- 1 stalk celery finely sliced, see notes
- 2 tbsp peanuts crushed
- ½ bunch cilantro chopped
Dressing
- ½ bunch cilantro stems chopped
- 1 clove garlic sliced
- ¼ inch piece (½ cm) ginger sliced
- 2 Thai chilies seeded & sliced
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
Instructions
- Cook cellophane noodles according to the package instructions. Rinse under cold water, drain, cut noodles 2-3 times with a pair of scissors, then squeeze out all excess liquid by hand. → This last step helps prevent your salad from being too watery, which would result in a diluted and less intense dressing.
- Roughly chop the cilantro and set the stems aside for the dressing.
- Place cooked cellophane noodles, cherry tomatoes, scallion, carrot, celery, peanuts, and chopped cilantro leaves in a large bowl.
- Dressing: Place cilantro stems, garlic, ginger, and Thai chilies in a mortar and pound into a paste. Add sugar and salt, pound until dissolved. Add lime juice and soy sauce, stir to mix. → If you don't have a mortar, finely mince cilantro stems, garlic, ginger, and Thai chilies, then place them with the sugar, salt, lime juice, and soy sauce in a bowl and stir to mix.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
Notes
- Use Chinese celery if you have the chance to (only available in large Asian Shops). Otherwise, the inner stalks and leaves of celery will do fine.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
