Laab Noodle Salad
Updated November 4, 2025
Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
- Ready In
- 30 min
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
3 ounces rice vermicelli noodles
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 bird’s-eye chile, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced, divided
7 tablespoons safflower or sunflower oil, divided
Salt and pepper
6 ounces green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces (1 ½ cups)
1 pound ground beef
12 ounces romaine lettuce, chopped (8 cups)
6 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved (1 cup)
1 small yellow bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped (about 1 cup)
½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems
Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium bowl, combine noodles with enough boiling water to cover by 1 inch. Let stand until softened, about 3 minutes. Rinse under cold water until cool, then drain. Snip with scissors a few times so the long noodles are more manageable.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine lime juice, fish sauce, chile, ¼ teaspoon of the garlic, 5 tablespoons of the oil and 1 tablespoon of water. Season with salt and pepper and whisk well.
- Step 3
In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high. Add green beans, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring just a few times to allow the beans to char, until crisp-tender, 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Step 4
Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and beef to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up the meat, until beef is caramelized in spots, 5 minutes. Add the remaining garlic and stir until fragrant, 30 seconds. Stir in the charred green beans, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.
- Step 5
Spread rice noodles on a large serving platter and drizzle over 3 tablespoons of the dressing. Arrange lettuce, tomatoes and bell pepper in an even layer over the noodles and drizzle over 3 tablespoons of the dressing.
- Step 6
Top with the beef mixture in an even layer and sprinkle with the cilantro. Serve with the remaining dressing on the side for drizzling.
Private Notes
Comments
Larb is really Lao by origin. It’s their national dish. A lot of great Lao food gets credited as Thai
I’m a vegetarian and I used coconut aminos for fish sauce and gardein fake beef bits for the meat. I think this recipe needs that beefy flavor compared to tofu to be more authentic to the Laotian dish. I had no troubles with a 1:1 sub and will be making this again!
Used ground chicken instead of beef, and added chopped scallions and mint to the cilantro. Turned out great!
Not bad but needs some tweaks. Omit the oil & salt from the dressing and add more fish sauce + a little sugar to taste. Toasted rice powder + green onions would have been a nice addition to the ground meat. Mint also needed with the cilantro.
I tried this as written because of all the raves but very much missed the usual slivered makrut lime leaves (rib removed), finely minced lemongrass, and further variety of herbs (mint, thai basil, etc) that I always use for laab. It was perfectly edible but missing oomph. Personally would also prefer chicken or pork over the beef, found the beef overwhelmed the other flavors, and cucumber/bean sprouts over bell pepper.
Added the whites of green onions and a diced Jalapeno with the green beans. Doubled the garlic and did an extra Thai chili. Reduced the oil in the sauce by a tablespoon and used EVOO. Another commenter was right, I probably used half the romaine… pretty good and would make again!