Keto Chinese Noodle Salad with Low Carb Palmini Pasta

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Keto Chinese Noodle Salad is made with hearts of palm noodles and a delicious Asian dressing. (Have you tried Palmini noodles yet?) Affordable, low carb and tempting, this salad comes together so fast. You’ll love the creamy Asian dressing and having an easy, no-cook, satisfying dinner or lunch during the hot weather months! 

Because this recipe is no-cook, you’ll really get to see how good and how easy Palmini are to enjoy. In addition to Low Carb, Keto Chinese Noodle Salad is Gluten-free, Primal and Ancestral.

How to make Keto Chinese Noodle Salad

One of the best parts of this salad is the prep! There is very little work involved.

• To prepare Palmini noodles, you simply pour two cans into a fine mesh colander, rinse them well (they’re packed in water and citric acid to keep them fresh), and drain. Palmini are already cooked, so super easy! I recommend draining them well so they don’t make your dressing watery.
• Next, you prep the veggies: simply a bit of slicing and chopping.
• And, the protein. You simply cook or use leftover chicken. Or use prawns/large shrimp. I give tips for the quick cooking of both of these below, depending on your preference.
• The dressing is next and last. Whisk together a simple creamy dressing. Pour over all, toss, and serve with protein.

Easy and simple for any night of the week or a special lunch meal.

Ingredients in creamy Chinese Noodle Salad

This recipe uses:

• 2 cans of Palmini noodles
• red bell pepper, cucumber and green onions
• bamboo shoots
• fresh cilantro
• protein of choice: either chicken or shrimp

The creamy Asian dressing contains:

• sour cream
• real fermented soy sauce, or for Gluten-free, Tamari (like this), for Primal, coconut aminos
• toasted sesame oil
• apple cider vinegar
• fresh cilantro
• fresh ginger
• black or white pepper and sea salt
• optional — You may also add a tiny bit of xanthan if you’d like to thicken the dressing a little, so it best coats the salad. See the Notes section for these instructions. I do recommend this ingredient.

Substitutions

Below, I talk a lot more about Palmini, but if you don’t have them, you can certainly use daikon noodles, cabbage noodles or briefly cooked zoodles in this recipe.

What is the texture of Palmini noodles?

Palmini noodles are a little firm but tender. They don’t get soggy, and they’re not so hard as to be crunchy.

Flexible and versatile, I would say the only drawback of Palmini noodles is that they aren’t very absorbent. As a result, I like to use the small amount of xanthan gum, which completely solves any issues — you have a thick creamy dressing that coats the salad perfectly.

If you can’t have xanthan: Toss this salad with half of the thick creamy dressing, and then pass a pitcher at the table for those who want more. This prevents the dressing from pooling and allows eaters to put a fresh topping of dressing on their protein or noodles if desired. The dressing does coat the noodles nicely (but better with the xanthan added).

I really like what Palmini’s website says about the noodles: “The first thing that you need to know is that Palmini is not pasta and will never taste exactly like pasta. Palmini is made 100% out of Hearts of Palm. Therefore, if you eat it straight out of the can, it will taste like Hearts of Palm with a softer texture. That being said, when properly rinsed and prepared with a regular pasta sauce, the resemblance to genuine pasta is undeniable. So much so, that some people actually believe they are eating pasta.” Honest and true. 🙂 

Are Palmini noodles healthy?

Palmini noodles are made from hearts of palm, the inner core of a bud from a certain kind of palm tree. The heart of palm is trimmed and cooked, so it resembles lasagna or linguini, but with only 3 to 4 net grams of carbs for a large serving.

More specifically, an 8 ounce can of Palmini contains 3 servings – but each serving only has a net carb count of 2 grams. You can actually eat a whole can of noodles, and still have a low carb meal. Palmini are high in fiber and low in calories.

Happily, Palmini harvesting practices are sustainable. Similar to cutting a stem from an herb plant, their method allows the same domesticated palm to be used continuously for over a decade. Palmini are non-GMO.

Where to buy Palmini

Palmini are available at Whole Foods, Sprouts, Publix, Walmart, Safeway, Kroger, Price Chopper, Market of Choice, Amazon.com and a host of other stores.

What to serve with Keto Chinese Noodle Salad

This noodle dish doesn’t need anything else but protein, to make it a complete meal. Here are the best options:

• Grilled chicken or shrimp
• Pan fried chicken or shrimp
• Baked chicken thighs, skin on, or boneless, skinless
• Leftover chicken, chopped or shredded
• Pre-cooked (blanched) shrimp

To fry up chicken breasts: Simply heat a pan till hot over medium heat. Add butter, toasted sesame oil or avocado oil. Add chicken breast and season top side with sea salt. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Flip, salt second side, and cook again for five minutes, covered. Turn off heat. Allow to sit in covered pan for 10 additional minutes. This simple method creates plump, juicy chicken breast, and it’s so little work. 

When you’re ready to serve, transfer chicken to a cutting board, and slice at an angle. Serve chicken on top of, to one side or toss into noodle salad.

To sauté shrimp: With raw shrimp, you can make a quick Asian scampi by sautéing the shrimp over medium high heat in toasted sesame oil, olive oil or butter. Sprinkle with sea salt while cooking. Add fresh garlic if you like. Lovely. They’re done when fully pink.

Tips for making Keto Chinese Noodle Salad

You’ll have extra dressing. Toss your noodle salad with half of the dressing, then put the rest in a small pitcher. Eaters can add more to their protein or noodles as needed.

As mentioned above, I do recommend using the tiny bit of optional xanthan gum. It thickens the dressing nicely, which allows the dressing to fully coat the veggies and noodles — so good.

How to store and serve leftovers of Chinese Noodle Salad

Because Keto Chinese Noodle Salad is made with hearts of palm noodles, leftovers don’t get soggy.

Simply cover well, and store in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Print Recipe

5 from 16 votes

Keto Chinese Noodle Salad (Low Carb, Primal, Gluten-free)

Creamy Keto Chinese Noodle Salad makes a great no-cook dinner or lunch, with delicious low carb and grain-free noodles and Asian dressing. Super fast and easy!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Total Time15 minutes mins

Course: DInner, lunch

Cuisine: American, Asian, Chinese

Keyword: chinese, gluten-free, keto, low carb, noodle, palmini, salad

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 287kcal

Author: Megan

Cost: $10

Equipment

• mixing bowl
• small mixing bowl

Ingredients

• 2 cans Palmini "noodles" (Linguine style)
• 2 large chicken breasts optional, you can also use large cooked shrimp (or sliced omelette etc.)
• 1 small red bell pepper sliced
• ½ large cucumber , peeled, sliced in half, and sliced diagonally
• 1 cup bamboo shoots , drained and rinsed
• 3 greens of green onions , sliced at an angle
• ½ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup real fermented soy sauce OR for Gluten-free, use Organic Tamari, like this; for Primal: coconut aminos (you may need a bit more salt with this option, to taste)
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro , divided: chop 3 T. for the salad, and mince 1 T. for the dressing
• 2 Tablespoons sesame oil , toasted
• 2 Tablespoons fresh ginger , grated or minced
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon black or white pepper
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• Optional garnishes: peanuts and/or sesame seeds
• Optional: 1/16th teaspoon xanthan gum This may be blended into the dressing, so it best coats the salad ingredients. See Notes for Instructions. (I do personally like to thicken my dressing, and recommend it.)

Instructions

• Place Palmini noodles in fine mesh colander. Rinse and drain well. Add them to a large mixing bowl.
  
• Add to bowl: red bell peppers, cucumber, bamboo shoots, green onions and chopped fresh cilantro.
  
• Use a whisk and small mixing bowl to assemble the dressing. Add to bowl: sour cream, soy sauce (or coconut aminos), toasted sesame oil, apple cider vinegar, fresh ginger, minced fresh cilantro, pepper and sea salt. Whisk to combine.
  
• Pour half the dressing over the noodles. Toss well to coat. Serve individual salads or spoon into a large serving bowl. Pour remaining dressing into small pitcher, to pass with the salad, for those who want more dressing.
  
• Top salads with protein of choice. (You can also toss the protein in with the salad, if preferred.) Garnish with optional peanuts and/or sesame seeds.

Notes

How to thicken the dressing

This delicious creamy dressing can be thickened so it best coats the salad. To do this, you can whisk xanthan gum in really thoroughly (which works great), or use a blender (or small food processor. Small blenders work best, because the dressing recipe is small).

By hand

1. Follow the Instructions from Step 3 above. Before whisking together, sprinkle xanthan over the surface, then quickly and vigorously whisk it in, until you see the dressing thicken. About 30 seconds of vigorous whisking. If you see any tiny bits of xanthan, whisk a bit more.
2. Pour over salad, and toss to coat.

Blender

1. Place all salad dressing ingredients (except the fresh cilantro and xanthan) into the blender. Right before blending, sprinkle xanthan over the surface. Put on lid, and purée until smooth, about 20 seconds.
2. Pour over salad, adding the fresh cilantro, and toss to coat.

Nutrition

Calories: 287kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 87mg | Sodium: 791mg | Potassium: 588mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1212IU | Vitamin C: 41mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 1mg

If you love Keto and Primal Asian meals, enjoy these too:

• 15-minute Asian Beef Bowl
• Ginger-Lime Salmon
• Spaghetti Squash Fried Rice
• Thai Beef Drunken Noodles
• Coconut Ground Beef Curry with Turmeric