Succulent steak salad for only 86p? Yes please!

Tender strips of seared Asian beef accompanied by sesame noodles and a fresh, zingy salad with cripsy croutons & a sprinkling of toasted nuts to top it all off. Phew, what a mouthful… literally!

High in protein and brimful of raw veggies and healthy fats, this Asian beef noodle recipe is the ultimate show-off summer packed lunch. Not only does it look great but a whole week’s worth of lunches for two people only costs £8.60 — wildly good value for something this delicious!

I’ve kept the recipe for this dish pretty close to the Jamie Oliver original, with just a few small tweaks (as always!), because who has time to seek out a supermarket that sells pickled ginger and alfalfa sprouts?! I’ve also added some home-made croutons — mostly because The HHH requests them all the time, but also because they add a nice extra crunch.

This recipe is perfect for an easy summer dinner and would fit in nicely at any picnic, but I think it works best for a simple meal prep lunch. Fresh, tasty & filling (to fit in with our packed lunch criteria) but not heavy enough to make you fall asleep at your desk halfway through the afternoon! Head over to Lakeland or Sistema to buy yourself a sustainable packed lunch box like these ones and you, too, can feel appropriately smug when lunchtime comes around 😉

Click here for the full recipe.

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Asian Beef Noodle Salad

Steak salad recipe with Asian-style noodles for a summer packed lunch. High protein, easy meal prep recipe *From The Hungry Hungry Husband and Jamie Oliver*

Course Lunch

Cuisine Asian

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 10

Calories 260kcal

Cost 86p per serving

Ingredients

• 500 g beef steak
• ½ cucumber diced
• 200 g radishes cut into quarters
• 4 spring onions finely sliced
• 3 carrots grated
• 1 head little gem lettuce shredded
• 30 g fresh coriander roughly chopped
• 1 punnet cress stems snipped off
• 1 thumb-sized piece ginger skin removed & thinly sliced into strips
• 1 chilli (red or green is fine) finely chopped
• 3 limes juice of
• 3 nests egg noodles
• 50 g cashew nuts
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
• 1 ciabatta roll diced
• 3 teaspoons Chinese five-spice
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• salt & pepper for seasoning

Instructions

Prepare and cook the steak and croutons:

• Add ½ tbsp of coconut oil to a frying pan on high heat and rub both sides of the steaks with Chinese five-spice and s&p
• Add the seasoned steaks to the searing hot pan, flipping them every minute until cooked to your liking
• When done, remove from the pan and leave to rest before slicing into very thin strips
• Add ½ tbsp of coconut oil to the hot pan and fry the ciabatta cubes with s&p for 3–5 minutes until you have crispy croutons

Prepare the steak salad and dressing:

• Combine the cucumber, radishes, spring onions, carrots, lettuce, coriander & cress, then top with the beef strips
• To make the dressing, whisk together the strips of ginger, chilli, fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil & lime juice

Toast the nuts and cook the noodles:

• Add the cashews, sesame seeds & sunflower seeds to a hot frying pan, tossing regularly for a few minutes until golden
• Meanwhile, boil a kettle and cook the noodles according to the packet instructions, then drain and drizzle with a little sesame oil

Create the steak salad:

• Plate up the noodles and the vegetable & steak salad before drizzling over the dressing
• Finish by scattering over the toasted nuts & croutons

Notes

*tip* for rare steak cook for 1 minute per centimeter per side, i.e. if your steak is 2 cm thick, cook for 2 mins on each side

*tip* when you're cooking the nuts, you don’t need to add oil as they will give off some oil of their own

*hot option* keep the beef separate from the salad and pop the steak & noddles into the microwave for a few minutes, before mixing with the vegetables, croutons, nuts and dressing