Almond-Sesame Soba Zoodles with Quick-Pickled Veggies
Light soba noodles with zoodles, tossed in peanut sauce. This refreshing dinner recipe is perfect for spring and summer evenings. Easily vegan/gluten free.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
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I love this time of year! The days are long and filled with sunshine. After a rough winter, this month has been entirely rejuvenating. Today, I’m bringing you a refreshing dinner recipe from Phoebe Lapine’s new book, The Wellness Project. It’s an ideal option for warm summer evenings.
This dish starts with soba noodles, which are tossed with zucchini noodles (“zoodles,” if you will) and a delicious, savory almond butter sauce. I wouldn’t have thought to top this concoction with quick-pickled cucumber and radish, but they’re perfect—crisp, colorful and tart.
You may know Phoebe from her blog, Feed Me Phoebe. In her new book, she walks us through her year-long experiment to regain her health, from drinking more water and less alcohol, to gut health and physical therapy. Each chapter concludes with actionable tips based on her experiences.
Phoebe has Hashimoto’s, a thyroid disorder, but the book is entirely relatable to anyone who has struggled with chronic health issues or is craving a voice of reason in the wellness sphere. The book is an easy and informative read, and I love Phoebe’s frank, conversational writing style. She shares her encounters with crazy naturopaths and her switch to natural skincare products, but my favorite part was when she writes about the benefits of dog ownership.
Dogs are, no surprise, excellent “rewilding” agents. Meaning that all the dirt and “environmental detritus” they bring inside actually “increase the immunity of their families by maximizing their exposure to all matters of microbial diversity. In fact, children who grow up with furry friends have far fewer instances of allergies and asthma than their dog-less peers.” That, my friends, is reason no. 45 for why everyone needs a dog.
Almond-Sesame Soba Zoodles with Quick-Pickled Veggies
These soba noodles are lightened up with zoodles (zucchini noodles). Toss with peanut sauce and top with colorful quick-pickled cucumbers and radishes for a refreshing spring/summer dinner. If you plan on having leftovers, store the zucchini noodles separately and toss together just before serving. Recipe yields 4 moderate servings or 2 large.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces soba noodles
- 1 bunch of radishes (about 6 medium), cut into ½-inch cubes
- 1 large cucumber (about 1 pound), cut into ½-inch cubes
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt, divided
- ½ cup unsalted almond butter
- 1 small garlic clove, pressed or minced
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes)
- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons raw honey
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- ¼ cup water, more as necessary
- 2 large zucchini (about 1 pound), spiralized into thin noodles
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, preferably black, for garnish
- Sriracha or chili-garlic sauce, for serving
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the soba noodles until al dente, according to package directions. Drain and rinse the noodles with cool water until they are room temperature, shaking out all the excess water. Transfer the noodles to a large serving bowl and set aside.
- While the noodles are cooking, in a medium mixing bowl, combine the radishes, cucumber, vinegar and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Let the veggies marinate for 10 minutes, tossing occasionally.
- (Phoebe did this step in a food processor but I opted to whisk together by hand.) In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, combine the almond butter, garlic, lime juice, tamari, honey, sesame oil and remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Whisk until blended, then add ¼ cup water and blend again. If necessary, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you reach the consistency of peanut sauce.
- Pour the sauce into the mixing bowl with the soba noodles. Add the zucchini noodles and toss until everything is well coated. Divide among serving bowls, top with quick-pickled veggies, and garnish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
- Serve room temperature or cold, with your favorite Asian hot sauce on the side.
Notes
Recipe minimally adapted from The Wellness Project by Phoebe Lapine.
Make it vegan: Substitute maple syrup for the honey.
Make it gluten free: Use gluten-free 100% buckwheat soba noodles (Phoebe recommends King Soba) and gluten-free tamari instead of regular soy sauce.
Make it paleo: Phoebe suggests omitting the soba noodles and doubling the amount of zucchini noodles.
If you don’t have a spiralizer: You can also turn zucchini into “noodles” with a julienne peeler (they just won’t be as curly and voluminous) or with a regular peeler, to make zucchini “ribbons.” Or, double the amount of soba noodles and skip the zucchini altogether. Here’s my favorite spiralizer, designed by Ali of Inspiralized.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Looks amazing and oh so easy! The almond sauce reminds me of your peanut dressing that goes with your Thai Mango Salad, which I’m making tomorrow night. All soooo yummy!
Thanks, Melanie! If you like the Thai mango salad dressing, I think you’d love this one.
This salad sounds AMAZING- always looking for new ways to douse errrthang in almond butter.
Right? This dish is the perfect excuse to do so.
I need this book. I, too, struggle with a thyroid disorder and…of course, love dogs. Recipe looks delicious! Perfect for a summer day!
Yes, I hope you get the book! I think it’d be super helpful.
Kate! I tried this for dinner tonight. It was great. I had to make two small changes. Didn’t have almond butter so made peanut sauce. It was good. And since I have dozens of apples right now, I threw an apple in with the cucumber and radish. It was good! Dhyan in Boulder
Oh, I’ll have to try the apple! Thanks, Dhyan.
I never met a noodle I didn’t love…but I especially love soba noodles!! This looks incredible!! BTW – big tall wide Anthropologie ads with your book front and center keep displaying on my site!! Pretty cool!!! I hope it’s a bestseller!! Start planning #2 :)
Thanks, Deborah! I’m still thrilled that Anthro is carrying it.
Love the mix of zucchini noodles and soba noodles, I’ve been wanting to try mixing zucchini noodles with traditional noodles recently!
Now’s the time!
Great recipe. I love how you include both soba noodles and zoodles. So balanced!
Thanks! Yes, it definitely lightens things up without losing that nice noodle bite.
KATE! These noodles have never looked so gorgeous. That napkin would have me so ready for summer, if the zoodles didn’t already. Thank you so much for making, and more importantly, for giving the book such a thorough read! I’m glad that you made it to the doggie section, and hope you enjoyed all the illo’s of Baron the Beagle as much as I enjoyed all the Cookie glamour shots in Love Real Food. xoxoxo
I adored the book, Phoebe– it is such a great read and filled with such amazing recipes. I loved the Baron cameos! Too cute.
I don’t think I would have thought to add pickled veggies either, but it sounds amazing, as does the book!
They’re really the perfect garnish for the dish. I hope you try it!
This was such a quick and easy meal to make! The pickles really balance the sauce and the noodles – and the sauce is so delicious. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I’m so glad you loved it, Maya!
This was delicious, quick & easy! It was so good I made it for company a few days later & it was a hit. I didn’t have any almond butter so used peanut instead; turned out great. Also substituted apple cider vinegar for the rice vinegar. Love the pickled veggies! First time I’ve enjoyed eating radishes! My husband says its a keeper!
Sounds like this was a crowd-pleaser, Donna! I love those veggies, too.
I’ve tried it and it’s excellent!
Great! Thank you, Rita!
How long does this last in the fridge for? Trying to make ahead…
I love your book and your recipes! Your crispy baked tofu changed my life. That is how I do it all the time now. The same goes for your roasted veggie recipes. We love your peanut sauce! My boys have turned me into a (mostly) vegetarian. My one dilemma is that the son who lives with me cannot tolerate cilantro or parsley!! Help!
Thanks for your up-lifting posts against racism.
I am a big fan! Irene in CA
Great recipe! I made a couple edits – used peanut butter instead of almond butter and added edamame for protein. My husband and I loved it, and we have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
Thank you for sharing, Alex!
This sounds and looks delicious! Any idea how long this dish will keep? I work 12 hour shifts so always looking for healthy options that’ll stay fresh and are easily packable for multiple shifts in a row.
Hi Megan! If you plan on having leftovers, store the zucchini noodles separately and toss together just before serving. It should keep well for a few days.
Noodles turned out clumpy and sticky despite me following cooking directions and rinsing. Any tips to avoid this? Otherwise tasted great!
Hi Noemi! I’m sorry to hear that. Did they seem done or still a little hard? Sometimes if they aren’t quite done they can stick together more.
They seemed done. Maybe I’ll try a different brand of soba noodles. Which did you use? Thanks for the quick response!
I don’t have a go-to brand, sorry. Let me know if you try it again!
We made this for a second time last night, because we enjoyed it so much last week. Delicious, nutritious and easy! And it fills you up nicely. This time we added one of those half-blocks of firm tofu cut into 1/2″ squares to the pickled veggies, for a little extra protein. Also we just mixed everything together in the big serving bowl. Our 18yo vegetarian daughter had seconds! Didn’t find black sesame seeds at the nearby stores, but found a yummy “Sprinkling Yuzu Furikake” that includes black sesame seeds, and it’s delicious sprinkled on top. Great warm-weather meal, and the leftovers are just as good!
This sauce is really delicious. The only soba noodles I could find at the store were really dark and didn’t taste as good on its own, but the other flavors overpowered it in the end. Also as a vegan I left out the honey and didn’t substitute with anything else. Maple syrup has such a strong taste I didn’t think it would work as well here
Great to hear, Rachel! Thank you for your review.
How come I didn’t try this one before?! Loved it! So fresh and full of flavour!
A few substitutions (that worked, obviously): carrots instead of radishes, rice noodles instead of soba, peanut butter. And I didn’t add any water in the sauce since I didn’t want to bother with keeping the zoodles apart (I know they release some liquid).
Well done, as always, Kate!