This Thai-inspired glass noodle salad is fresh, light, and, packed full of delicious flavors. It has an array of vegetables, ground chicken, and vermicelli noodles tossed in tangy sweet dressing.
This glass noodle salad or yum woon sen is loaded with refreshing ingredients, making it a great option for a hot summer day. It has the perfect balance of carb, protein, and vegetables served all in one plate.
The dressing is full of umami flavor, primarily made with fish sauce, garlic, and lime juice. It is slightly sweet, tangy, and has a little kick from red chili pepper. It is amazingly easy to make - all you need to do is to cook the noodles, combine with the vegetables and toss in the tasty dressing!
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What are glass noodles?
Glass noodles are made from mung beans. They are also known as mung bean vermicelli noodles or cellophane noodles. Appearance wise, they are almost identical to rice vermicelli noodles but the main ingredients are different.
Glass noodles have a bouncy chewy texture, and are used often in Asian stir fry, salad, or soup recipes. You can easily find them at an Asian grocery store or online such as on Amazon. I also see them often in the international section at regular grocery stores in the states.
Ingredients for this recipe
For dressing:
- Lime juice - Fresh or bottled
- Garlic - Grated
- Fish sauce
- Coconut sugar - Or sugar of your choice
- Crushed red chili pepper
For salad:
- Mung bean vermicelli (glass noodles) - Do not get sweet potato glass noodles which are much thicker than mung bean glass noodles!
- Ground chicken
- Red onion - Thinly sliced
- Cherry tomatoes - Halved
- Carrot - Julienned
- Cucumber - Thinly sliced
Toppings (optional):
- Cilantro leaves
- Roasted sesame
How to make Thai glass noodle salad
Step 1. Cook noodles. Fill a large bowl with boiled or very hot water. Let the glass noodles soak for about 10 minutes or until slightly undercooked. Drain well. Cut shorter with scissors if necessary, just to the point where it’ll be easier to eat.
Step 2. Cook chicken. While soaking the noodles, cook the chicken. Fill a small frying pan with water and bring to a boil. Add the chicken, and boil until fully cooked. Separate out the meat with a spoon as you cook. Use a strainer or a slotted spoon to drain.
Step 3. Make dressing. Combine the lime juice, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, and crushed red chili together in a bowl.
Step 4. Toss. In a large bowl, place the cooked vermicelli, red onion, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, and cooked chicken. Drizzle the dressing and toss well.
Step 5. Serve. Garnish with cilantro, sesame.
*See the recipe card below for detailed instructions.
Variations
- Garnish with crushed peanuts or cashews.
- Switch out the ground chicken to ground pork or turkey.
- Add any vegetables you have on hand! - Thinly sliced bell peppers, celery, scallions…
FAQs
Glass noodle salad can be refrigerated for up to 3 days, covered tightly. This dish cannot be kept in the freezer as the texture of noodles changes significantly.
You can cut up all the vegetables, make the dressing, cook the chicken, and keep them refrigerated for up to 2 days. I recommend cooking the noodles and assembling on the day of serving.
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Recipe
Thai Glass Noodle Salad with Chicken (Yum Woon Sen)
Ingredients
For dressing
- ¼ cup lime juice from 2-3 limes, or bottled juice
- 1 clove garlic grated
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce or more
- 1½ tablespoons coconut sugar or regular sugar
- 1 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper or more
For salad
- 3½ ounces mung bean vermicelli noodles dry
- ½ pound ground chicken
- ¼ red onion very thinly sliced
- 8 cherry tomatoes halved
- ½ carrot julienned
- ½ cucumber thinly sliced
Toppings (optional)
- Cilantro leaves
- Roasted white sesame
Instructions
- Fill a large bowl with boiled or very hot water. Let the glass noodles soak for about 10 minutes or until slightly undercooked. Drain well. Cut shorter with scissors if necessary, just to the point where it’ll be easier to eat.
- While soaking the noodles, cook the chicken. Fill a small frying pan with water and bring to a boil. Add the chicken, and boil until fully cooked. Separate out the meat with a spoon as you cook. Use a strainer or a slotted spoon to drain.
- To make the dressing, combine the lime juice, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, and crushed red chili together in a bowl.
- In a large bowl, place the cooked noodles, red onion, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, and cooked chicken. Drizzle the dressing and toss well.
- Garnish with cilantro, sesame (optional).
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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