Light Thai Glass Noodle Salad (Yum Woon Sen)

Yum Woon Sen is a light Thai glass noodle salad made with bean thread noodles, ground pork, shrimp, peanuts, and fresh herbs tossed in a spicy and sour Thai dressing. This gluten-free salad recipe makes a refreshing meal and only takes 30 minutes to put together.

Thai cuisine is famous for its light and refreshing salads. This dish, Yum Woon Sen, is perhaps the most well known Thai noodle salad recipe.

It is a staple dish in Thai home cooking and is popular not only in Thailand but outside of Thailand as well. 

I have enjoyed many different varieties of Yum Woon Sen salad as I have lived and travelled in various Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand. I remember ordering this salad often in local restaurants.

My favorite version of this Thai glass noodle salad is the one with seafood called Yum Woon Sen Talay (seafood), which contains shrimp, calamari (or squid), muscle, and scallops, plus black wood ear mushroom.

At home, however, when I make a quick Thai salad, I usually use shrimp only unless I have to feed a crowd.

This Thai bean thread noodle salad recipe is versatile.

You can adapt it any way you like with your favorite protein and salad vegetables while using the Thai glass noodles as a base for the salad. I like to dress it up by adding large poached shrimp and ground pork with some tomatoes.

Thai glass noodles (bean thread)

Some people confuse the noodles in this salad with rice vermicelli (which is well known for its use in Vietnamese dishes) because they look similar in the package.

The difference is that rice vermicelli is made from rice flour while Yum Woon Sen noodles are actually bean thread noodles made from mung bean starch. Make sure to check the noodle package label–it should say “bean thread” or “mung bean thread.”

Although both of them are naturally gluten-free, bean thread noodles turn transparent when cooked, so they are often referred to as “glass noodles.” The noodles increase their volume significantly when cooked, and they stretch, so cut them with kitchen scissors into pieces of manageable length (but not too short).

Recipe Note

• In Thai cuisine, getting the right flavor balance in the dish is important – sweet, sour, salty, and spicy. The Thai dressing in the salad is made with garlic, chili, fish sauce, freshly squeezed lime juice, and palm sugar. Together, the ingredients produce a wonderful spicy, tangy and sweet flavor balance.
• Try making Thai dressing with a mortar and pestle. Pounding the garlic and chili allows their flavors to infuse with the rest of ingredients.
• Don’t skip the peanuts. They add a nutty crunchiness to the salad.
• Yum Woon Sen is a perfect warm weather salad for the summer, and it makes a healthy lunch. And best of all, this dish is so easy to make! You don’t need years of experience cooking Thai food.

What goes in Yum Woon Sen

• Glass noodles — These very thin clear noodles are also sometimes labeled mung bean thread, cellophane noodles or Thai vermicelli.
• Shrimp — use any size shrimp. I like medium-sized the best. You can also add more seafood like squid, muscles, crab meat, or scallop.
• Ground Pork —  you can substitute with ground chicken, or omit it.
• shallot and green onion – substitute with red or white onion if shallot is not available
• Fresh chili — traditionally, the tiny red bull’s eye chili is used, which is a very spicy chili. If you prefer a milder taste, remove the seeds first or use red finger chili instead.
• Thai salad dressing — red chili, garlic, fish sauce, lime, and palm sugar are needed. Palm sugar brings a caramel-like sweetness to the dressing. You can use brown sugar if palm sugar is not available. Adjust the flavor balance to suit your preference – more sweet or less spicy, etc.

How to make Thai glass noodle salad

Step 1. Soak glass noodles in water for 5-6 minutes and drain.

Step 2. Meanwhile, make the salad dressing. Pound garlic and chili with a mortar and pestle. Add fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar, and mix well. Set aside.

Step 3. Boil a pot of water and cook the noodles for 2 minutes. Take the noodles out of boiling water leaving the hot water in the pot. Drain and cut the noodles to a manageable length with kitchen scissors.

Step 4. In the hot water over medium heat, add the shrimp and poach until fully cooked, about 2 minutes. Take the shrimp out of the pot. Add the ground pork in the hot water and fully cook. Strain the water from the pork using a skimmer.

Step 5. Combine noodles, shrimp, pork, shallot, green onion, tomatoes, and cilantro in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle the salad dressing over everything and toss well. Garnish with roasted peanuts on top.

Serve warm or chilled.

More Thai Recipes

If you love Thai cuisine as much as I do, try these recipes below. You will find them so enjoyable and delicious.

• Classic Thai Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam)
• Fragrant Thai Basil Fried Rice
• Classic Thai Beef Salad (Yum Nua)
• Easy Thai Red Curry with Chicken & Vegetables
• Quick Thai Beef and Basil Stir-Fry