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.

Thai Glass Noodle Salat served on a plate

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.

Cellophane Noodles (Glass Noodles) – The main ingredient! A type of transparent noodles made from starch (usually bean and mung bean starch) – also known as bean thread noodles or mung bean noodles. You must squeeze the cooked cellophane noodles very well by hand to remove any excess liquid. This helps prevent your salad from being too watery, which would result in a diluted and less intense dressing.
Celery – The authentic recipe uses Chinese celery, which is more delicate and less intense than regular celery. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find Chinese celery; your best shot is a large Asian market. Therefore, it’s OK to use regular celery’s light green inner stalks.
Tomato, Carrot, Peanuts – The crunchy vegetables provide a little more flavor in this vegetarian version. The peanuts simply belong in any Thai salad – for more flavor, use roasted peanuts!
Scallion – Authentic Thai glass noodle salad is prepared with coarsely chopped shallots and onions, which give the salad a lot of spiciness. Personally, I prefer to prepare the salad with scallion, which is much milder.
Cilantro – The stems are full of flavor and therefore used for the dressing. Use the cilantro leaves to decorate the salad.
Garlic, Thai Chili, Ginger, Lime Juice, Soy Sauce, Sugar, and Salt – Ingredients for the glass noodle salad dressing. Originally, it is prepared with fish sauce. However, soy sauce is a great alternative to make glass noodle salad vegan or vegetarian! Thais use palm sugar, but brown sugar will do too.

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.

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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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Aline Cueni

I’m a girl who loves to cook and bake delicious homemade food. Let me help you to incorporate more plant-based foods into everyday life! Vegetarian & vegan recipes can be anything but boring.