Chipotle Lemongrass Tofu Noodle Salad Bowl

Are you ready to meet my newest food obsession? I've been fantasizing about eating this recipe daily, since I finished testing it for Pure Infused Maple Syrup last week. If I'd actually had the proper ingredients on hand, I would have made it every single day since then. I am 100% in love with this recipe and I can't wait to tell you all about it.

The obsession: Tofu Noodle Salad Bowls

You might remember my recipe for "Fresh Vegetable Crunchy Rolls with Sriracha & Soy Sauce Tofu". I love love love that recipe, and it's one of those blog recipes that I make over and over again. There is no better vessel for getting loads of fresh vegetables into a person than some crunchy fresh spring rolls. They make eating fresh vegetables downright EASY.

Here's the thing though, they make EATING veggies easy. Actually making the rolls to eat the veggies is another story. Making a batch of fresh spring rolls can be tedious and time consuming.

Tedious + time consuming does not mix well with "I love these so much I want to eat them every day for the rest of my life, they make eating healthy a downright joy!!!!!!!!", ya' know?

It was high time I deconstruct these bad boys and turn them into something a little easier - this tofu noodle salad bowl!

A few words about the recipe: I can not believe I didn't try this earlier. I feel like I've wasted a full 1 ½ years, all that time spent not eating tofu noodle salad bowls. 🙁

On the plus side, I've got like 75+ years to continue eating, so I'll just go extra hard for the next year or so to make up for all the time wasted. (Yes, I've got big goals to be a centenarian.)

Now, let's go over what's actually happening in this bowl of goodness, because I just realized I've been talking to you like you've tried and loved my other recipe. Silly me.

So, we've got the rice noodles to take place of the rice paper wraps. I went with a medium-thin noodle, vermicelli. I haven't tried thicker noodles in the recipe, so I can't say I'd recommend them. I've found that this salad tastes best when it is LOADED with veggies. Crunch is another integral factor to this salad, and without a proper veggie to rice noodle ratio, things just don't taste quite right. Remember, this is adapted from rice rolls, so we want to keep the ratios similar.

Next, we've got the tofu, this is a reboot of my baked sriracha and soy sauce tofu. Thin slices of extra firm tofu marinated in olive oil, sriracha, soy sauce, and PURE Infused's Chipotle & Lemongrass Maple Syrup. Baked, cooled, and sliced into strips. Ugh... So good. Watch out, this stuff is addictive. My experience: Act like a real adult, get organized and make a big batch of this tofu (2 blocks worth!) the night before I plan to make/photograph this salad. William is his usual night owlish self. Next morning, besides an empty food storage container on the counter, there's not a trace of tofu left. Boys, seriously?

Next up, vegetables! Lots and lots of vegetables. Thin sliced cucumber, carrot, red bell pepper, spinach, and green onion. It doesn't take long to slice a cucumber or red pepper, but if you want to save time on the carrot, use your vegetable peeler for thin carrot "peelings".

And now, the star of the show: A spicy-sweet peanut sauce is going to bring all of these healthy ingredients together and turn it into something absolutely amazing. Natural peanut butter, sriracha, soy sauce, sesame oil, more of that delicious PURE Infused's Chipotle & Lemongrass Maple Syrup, sesame seeds and if you like it chunkier, some roasted peanuts too. Swoon. This stuff will knock your socks off, I promise.

Lastly, the (non-optional) extra toppings: sesame seeds and finely chopped dry roasted (salted) peanuts, and maybe some optional extra toppings like cilantro, lime, and jalapeño.

You can serve this in individual bowls, with the sauced noodles topped with a variety of fresh ingredients, like in the pictures above ↑, or you can mix it all together and serve it that way (like this photo, from my insta.) Either way works a treat. If you mix it all together, it's perfect for taking for work lunches. Unfortunately, this salad has yet to last over 24 hours in my house, so I can't vouch for how well it refrigerates for longer periods of time. You can definitely prep it the night before and eat it the next day though!

If you try this recipe, please let me know! I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, and I hope you love love love it too! ♥

Grab the recipe from Pure Infused!

This post is sponsored by Pure Infused Maple Syrup. Find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or learn more about this awesome Canadian company on their website: pureinfusedmaple.ca