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A creamy and gluten free soba noodle salad with sunbutter sauce is basically done in the style of a peanut sauce made with sunbutter. Sunflower seed butter is combined with coconut aminos for a peanut, nut and soy-free sauce that’s flavorful and delicious. These Asian-inspired noodles are allergy friendly!
A Peanut Sauce Made with Sunbutter
This is for all my fellow Heal Your Headache dieters who miss their spicy peanut noodles…or in my case the spicy soba cashew chicken from that Noodle Wave in the strip mall. I’ve had a really difficult time giving up Asian food. Without being able to use migraine triggers like fish sauce, peanuts, cashews, soy, mirin, or most srirachas you’re kind of up a creek without a paddle.
Before we get started let me put a little disclaimer here that this is a more advanced HYH recipe. Technically you’re not allowed to have coconut on the HYH diet and some do have an issue with it. However many do not and it’s allowed on the much more strict, Charleston diet.
If you’ve been doing really well in your progress and you MUST have a soy sauce replacement, try coconut aminos. I’m linking to this one at Thrive because they’re half the price of Amazon. Coconut aminos are considered the best soy sauce substitute, but some people do find it sweet. To balance this, I usually use less sweetener in a recipe and add more salt. I encourage you to try your sauce before you add more of either.
If you can’t have peanuts, this faux peanut sauce made with sunbutter is really delightful. Use a salty sunbutter like Trader Joe’s Sunflower Seed Spread or Sunbutter Brand.
Srirachas without Sulfites
Let’s also take a quick study into sriracha. Your basic sriracha that you can find anywhere contains these ingredients: chili, sugar, salt, garlic, distilled vinegar, potassium sorbate, sodium bisulfite and xanthan gum. Not great. Let’s say you’re horrible with sulfites but can tolerate tiny amounts of xanthan gum and citric acid – Sky Valley is your pick.
Maybe you’re terrible with all of the above, but can tolerate minor amounts of citrus? Yellowbird is super clean but has tangerine and lime concentrate. **UPDATE** Yellowbird’s Blue Agave Sriracha (found at Whole Foods) is no longer safe!
Or you could go with Shark brand, the cleanest of the bunch of which I’ve only been able to locate on Amazon **UPDATE Shark now has xanthan gum…ugh**. It contains chili, sugar, garlic, salt, and vinegar.
My personal favorite is Lingham’s or Fix which I’ve been able to find at Whole Foods or on Amazon. Lingham’s has xanthan gum as the very last ingredient, but it doesn’t seem to bother me. Perhaps because you’re using such a small amount. I should probably look into a recipe where you can make your own for a future post!
Gluten Free Buckwheat Noodles
Buckwheat noodles are gluten free, but you have to get the 100% buckwheat kind. I used Eden which you can find here or less expensive here on Thrive.
Sunbutter Soba Noodle Salad
Ingredients
Sunbutter Sauce
- 1/3 cup sunflower seed butter, * see notes
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 1-1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tbsp distilled white vinegar
- 1/2 tsp dried ginger or 1 tsp fresh
- 2 small garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp sriracha of your choice
- 5-6 tbsp water
- 1 tsp kosher salt , *may need to adjust depending on sunbutter sweetness/saltiness
- 1 tbsp honey , *may need to adjust depending on sunbutter sweetness/saltiness
Noodles
- 11oz soba noodles
Other toppings
- 1 lb grilled or cooked chicken sliced or shredded, *leave out for vegetarian
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 3-4 chopped green onions
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 3/4 cup red cabbage shredded
- 1/2 cup matchstick carrots
- Optional: toasted sunflower seeds if you like a little crunch
Instructions
- Heat a large pot of water on medium high till it comes to a boil.
- Place all the ingredients for the sauce except water, salt, and honey in a food processor (or whisk yourself) and blend together. Add water 1 tbsp at a time till you reach desired consistency. It should be a little thick. Taste and see if it needs salt and honey depending on the flavor of your sunbutter. I find they range quite dramatically in flavor! Mine was unsalted and unsweeted so I used the above amounts.
- Add soba noodles to boiling water and cook according to package directions. Mine was 7-8 minutes. Err on the lower side...you do not want to overcook these.
- Place all the chopped veggies, soba noodles, and chicken in a large bowl and toss with about half of the sunbutter sauce. If you need more, add the rest. I had some leftover! It makes for a great dipping sauce or salad dressing.
Notes
- I find some sunbutters are sweeter than others. I like Trader Joe's (which is a bit salty) or Sunbutter Organic (no sugar or salt)
- For Gluten Free use 100% Buckwheat Noodles
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
So good! I loved the sauce. I used red pepper flakes instead of hot sauce and rice noodles instead of soba (couldn’t find them in my store) and it turned out great!
Thank you, Nora!!
Winner!! This was delicious. I used red pepper flakes instead of hot sauce and the sauce was perfect IMO.
Thanks, B! Glad you enjoyed!
Thanks for the update on the sriracha’s and what to get/where to get! Will you be doing your own homemade version soon?
Also, I’ve been craving a buffalo sauce for some air fried wings. I was wondering if you’d ever be making a buffalo sauce and if it’s even possible homemade?
I always look forward to your amazing recipes and we’re in this MAV journey together. Keep strong and thank you for continuing to submit your amazing recipes and helping other’s.
Hey! Did you know that Frank’s Red Hot Original is actually HYH safe? I should add it to the list so thanks for the observation! I never thought about doing a sriracha, but I guess I could try. I would have to see how difficult it is to get those peppers! Thanks for following along and supporting. 🙂
Sriracha is red jalapenos. Maybe you could use green? It would look a bit weird but who cares. I’ve been trying to think of other ideas for all the soba noodles I have in my pantry. If you come up with anything let us know!