I made a few changes that made this wonderful. First when making the dressing I used only 1/3 cup sugar. It is plenty. If you want to use Splenda to make it sugar free that would work as well. I will probably try that next time. I also used olive oil instead of vegetable oil. Instead of the Chicken Ramen Noodles I used Oriental. This flavor seems to compliment this recipe more so. One last change I made to the dressing was adding the packet of orienal seasoning mix to the actual dressing and not the nut mix. This makes it much more flavorful. When I sauteed the nut mix I only used 1/4 cup butter. Just trying to cut back on the fat and it works! My kids love this!
I just made this and it is wonderful. I would give it a ten if I could! I do have some tips that I hope will help-break the noodles up into small pieces so they toast evenly make sure the sugar is well blended into the dressing ingredients add the dressing a little at a time to the salad mixing well after each addition and make this in a very large bowl. I did toast the nuts separately and advise that you wait until the nuts and noodles are cool before adding them to the slaw.
Loved it but I made some changes that we delightful. Too lazy to prep broccoli so I used broccoli slaw. Cut sugar to 1/3 cup on advice of other reviewers. Substituted cashews and pistachios because I didn't have almonds and sunflower seeds. Added about 1 c. of sliced grapes (someone else did this and it sounded good...could have cut sugar even more). Took it to a church meal and got rave reviews and I'm ready to make up a batch for another event this weekend. Love it and so easy...
LOVE this salad!! I made this yesterday along with "The Best Baked Chicken" for a cookout. Both this salad and the chicken were the hits of the cookout and had no leftovers!! I switched it up a bit. I had to double the recipe for the amount of people at the cookout so instead of broccoli I used 2 bags of Broccoli Slaw and 1 bag of cole slaw. I also added a splash of balsamic vinegar to the dressing for a little kick. I will be making this for years!!!
Unique and yummy-like a crispy asian coleslaw! Made it for the 4th of July and it really stands out from blah traditional pasta salad/potato salad/coleslaw. After reading all the reviews this is what I did:I used the oriental flavored noodles and also only put 1/2 of 1 flavor packet on the noodles and almonds as they cooked; the rest I put into the dressing. I also used a little less than 1/3 cup of sugar and I thought it was just sweet enough. Couldn't find unsalted sunflower seeds so I used about 1/2 cup of seasame seeds instead. I substituted about 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar in the 1/4 cup of cider vinegar and I used less than half of a small head of red and green cabbage and maybe less than half a cup of shredded carrots instead of bagged coleslaw. Everyone loved it and have already requested that I make it for future get togethers.
I've been looking for this recipe forever!
you definitely do not need all that butter. I used 1/2 and probably could have cut down more (don't need any butter for the nuts but not sure about the noodles. next time I might do them separate to save on calories). I used evoo in dressing and also used 1/2 of that. I don't think you need that much sugar either. I would even add more broccoli next time - cut it up really small. it was yummy. used oriental raman noodles and it was good- chicken would be good too I think. thanks!
Did you know that there are 7 grams of fat and 190 calories in one serving of ramen noodles? And the ramen noodle people try to tell us that there are 2 servings in each package. Now I don't know about anyone else but I can put away one whole package with no trouble at all. So even though this salad appears to be healthy is isn't not really. But this salad is so darned delicious that it's worth it! I did try to cut calories and fat a little by toasting the nut/noodle mixture in 2 tablespoons of butter instead half a cup. I used 1/4 cup of splenda instead of the 1/2 cup of sugar and I only put about a third of a cup of oil in the dressing I made up the difference with water. I don't know how these changes affected the outcome of the salad but they made me feel better. The salad was still delicious and we enjoyed it immensely. Thanks for the post Busy Mom of 3. Excellent recipe!
I brought this to our block party and the bowl was licked clean! I usually add sesame seeds to the crunchy mixture instead of sunflower seeds but either would be good. It's really important to assemble this salad right before serving it to avoid getting soggy-YUM!
I did not like this however others did. It has a strong nut flavor and I used maybe 1/2 of the amt called for. I dont think I'll make again. I did use broccoli slaw instead of coleslaw and broccoli chopped. I dont think I like ramen noodles raw.
