This Vietnamese noodle salad topped with curry salmon has all the fresh flavor of a salad with the satisfaction factor of pasta. Served with a sour, sweet, spicy nuoc cham dressing, it’s perfect for a summery lunch!

Ever since our trip to Vietnam in 2015, I’ve been slightly obsessed with their cuisine. Fresh herbs, umami packed proteins, plenty of noodles, plus that perfect balance of sweet, spicy, salty, sour and bitter. Since then, I’ve been making Vietnamese noodle salads regularly, like this one with curry salmon and mango. Noodle salads have all the fresh flavor of a salad with the satisfaction factor of pasta!

The star of this noodle salad recipe is definitely the curry salmon. Vietnamese noodle dishes are more commonly topped with grilled meats or shrimp, but this curry salmon is delish! It’s perfectly cooked thanks to a slow baking that yields (trigger warning) moist salmon and is richly flavored with Vietnamese curry powder.

The noodle salad also has a unique spin on it - mango noodles! By julienne cutting the mango using a mandolin slicer, the thin noodles of mango mix perfectly into the salad and add a bit of sweet-tart flavor. But don’t worry, there’s also actual noodles in there - this isn’t some paleo spin!

To top it all off, nuoc cham dressing - the sweet, spicy, and sour condiment that’s ubiquitous in Vietnamese cuisine. Made with fish sauce (a condiment made from fermented fish that I swear is way tastier than that sounds), lime juice, sugar, and chiles, it melds perfectly with the curry salmon and fresh noodle salad.

How to Make Curry Salmon for This Noodle Salad

The curry salmon for this noodle salad recipe couldn’t be easier, and it’s made using a slow cooking technique I learned from my friend Kara, which is now my go-to salmon cooking method. It yields perfectly moist salmon that’s practically impossible to overcook, and it doesn’t stick up the kitchen the way pan-frying does - really important when you have a kitchen with zero ventilation! To slow cook the salmon, bake it in a 300 degree oven until it’s just opaque and cooked through.

The curry salmon is seasoned with Vietnamese curry powder. Compared to Indian curry powder, which is probably the kind you have at home, Vietnamese curry powder has anise and fennel as prominent flavors, and cumin is pretty low on the ingredient list. I picked up a jar at one of our local Vietnamese markets, but feel free to order online, make your own (this recipe looks pretty similar), or swap Thai curry powder. Thai curry powder is much different than Vietnamese, with lemongrass, ginger, galangal and makrut lime, but I think the flavors would work really nicely in here. I also love Omsom’s Vietnamese lemongrass BBQ starter, and while it would no longer be curry salmon, it would be delicious in this noodle salad.

Curry Salmon Noodle Salad Ingredient Notes & Tips

To slice the mango into “noodles,” use a mandolin slicer. Make sure you pick a mango that’s still quite firm so the noodles hold up better. You can also use a knife, it’ll just take a bit more time. Or take the lazy route and just cut the mango into chunks!
For the noodle salad, I used Vietnamese egg noodles, which are thin wheat noodles mixed with a bit of egg. You could also use thin rice vermicelli noodles, which are usually easier to find.
If you don’t have a mortar and pestle to make the chili sugar paste for the nuoc cham, grind it up using the back of a spoon or just finely mince everything together.
Fish sauce is sold in most major grocery stores, but I usually go to our Vietnamese market (support local Asian markets!) and pick up whichever one has the cutest bottle. Currently working on a bottle that has a baby wearing bright red lipstick as a logo, but for more widely distributed brands, Red Boat and Three Crabs are my favorites.
Feel free to explore different proteins. Instead of the curry salmon, you could also make this salad with chicken, tofu or shrimp.

Vietnamese Curry Salmon over a Noodle Mango Salad

How to Meal Prep This Curry Salmon Noodle Salad

If you like to meal prep, this curry salmon noodle salad is perfect for it. Place a bed of lettuce leaves in the bottom on a lidded container and top with a serving of noodle salad. To keep the avocado from browning, I would cut it into quarter wedges and toss with lime juice, and serve it on the side to dice in when ready to eat. Keeping it in a chunk versus slices means there is less surface area for it to brown. Top with peices of salmon, sprinkle with peanuts, and pack a separate container of nuoc cham. Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.

This recipe for Vietnamese curry salmon noodle salad with mango has been updated to give you the best possible content.

If you like this curry salmon noodle salad recipe, follow my favorite noodle recipes pinterest board for more cooking inspiration.

Vietnamese Curry Salmon Noodle Bowl with Mango

Serves 4-ish

Ingredients

Nuoc Cham Dressing:

3 Thai birds eye chilis
1 garlic clove
3 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup warm water
5 tablespoons fish sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice

Salmon:

1 lb salmon filets
1 teaspoon neutral-flavored oil
1 tablespoon Vietnamese curry powder

Noodle salad:

8 ounces Vietnamese egg noodles or rice vermicelli
1 partially ripe (not too soft) mango, peeled and julienne cut using a mandolin slicer
3 small Persian cucumbers, sliced into rounds
1 small carrot, peeled and grated on the large holes of a cheese grater
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro
2 scallions, chopped
A couple handfuls of butter, bibb or green leaf lettuce leaves
1/4 cup toasted peanuts, chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
First make dressing. Using a mortar and pestle, grind the chiles, garlic clove and sugar together until it creates a paste. Whisk the sugar paste into the warm water until dissolved, then stir in the fish sauce and lime juice. Set aside while making the rest of the dish.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water, then set aside.
Rub the salmon filets with oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and curry powder. Bake for 25-30 minutes until just cooked through. The salmon should flake with a fork, but still retain moisture.
While salmon is baking, toss cooked, cooled noodles with the mango “noodles,” cucumber, carrot, cilantro, scallion and butter lettuce leaves.
When ready to eat, divide the noodle salad between bowls. Break the salmon apart into chunks and divide over the top of the salad. Garnish with peanuts and serve with nuoc cham dressing for drizzling over the top.