Draft: not yet reviewed by a clinician
Use this page to prepare questions for your care team. It does not replace their advice. Your own targets and doses come from your nephrologist, diabetes team and renal dietitian.
Sesame-ginger noodle salad with chicken¶
Takeout noodles can carry more than a day's sodium. This version gets its flavor from toasted sesame oil, fresh ginger, garlic and vinegar, and uses only 2 teaspoons of reduced-sodium soy sauce for two people. Cabbage, red pepper and cucumber add crunch and stay on the lower-potassium list.
Serves 2 · 20 minutes · Lower potassium · Lower phosphorus · Dialysis-friendly · Make ahead
Carbohydrate per serving
51 g carbohydrate (about 3½ carb choices of 15 g). Most of it is in the pasta and the honey. Add ½ cup of strawberries (6 g) to reach about 55 g.
Per serving¶
| Energy | Carb | Protein | Potassium | Phosphorus | Sodium | Fluid | Fiber |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 442 kcal | 51 g | 22.0 g | 398 mg | 208 mg | 215 mg | none | 4.3 g |
Checked by scripts/build_handbook.py: sodium at most 600 mg per serving; "lower potassium" means at most 600 mg and "lower phosphorus" at most 300 mg per serving. See how recipes are checked.
Ingredients that are not in the app's food list (herbs, spices and a few others) add about 21 mg potassium per serving; they are counted above.
Ingredients¶
| Ingredient | Amount | Grams |
|---|---|---|
| Pasta, cooked | 2 cups cooked spaghetti or other pasta, cooled (about 4 oz dry) | 248 g |
| Chicken breast, roasted, skinless | 3 oz cooked chicken breast, shredded | 85 g |
| Cabbage, raw | 1 cup finely shredded cabbage | 70 g |
| Bell pepper, red, raw | ½ cup red bell pepper, in thin strips | 75 g |
| Cucumber, with peel, raw | ½ cup cucumber, in thin sticks | 52 g |
| Scallions (green onions), raw | 2 tbsp sliced scallions (green onions) | 12 g |
| Sesame oil | 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil | 14 g |
| Canola oil | 1 tbsp canola oil | 14 g |
| Vinegar, cider | 2 tbsp cider or rice vinegar | 30 g |
| Soy sauce, reduced sodium | 2 tsp reduced-sodium soy sauce | 9.5 g |
| Honey | 2 tsp honey | 14 g |
| Ginger root, fresh | 1 tsp grated fresh ginger | 2.0 g |
| Garlic, raw | 1 clove garlic, grated | 3.0 g |
Steps¶
- Whisk the sesame oil, canola oil, vinegar, soy sauce, honey, ginger and garlic in a large bowl.
- Add the cold pasta and toss to coat.
- Add the chicken, cabbage, pepper, cucumber and scallions and toss again.
- Eat straight away or chill for up to a day. Stir before serving.
Why it works for kidneys¶
- Two teaspoons of reduced-sodium soy sauce add about 340 mg sodium to the whole bowl; a tablespoon of regular soy sauce would add about 880 mg.
- Plain pasta has almost no sodium if you cook it without salt.
- Keep it cold if you pack it for work: put an ice pack in the bag.
Make it fit you¶
- Rice noodles instead of pasta: similar carbohydrate, less protein and phosphorus.
- Vegetarian: use 6 oz firm tofu, pressed and cubed, instead of the chicken: about the same potassium, but about 5 g less protein a serving.
- More heat: a pinch of red pepper flakes in the dressing.
Log it in the app¶
Log one serving as these foods from the app's food list (grams per serving), or save them once as a meal (Planning and menus):
- Pasta, cooked: 124 g
- Chicken breast, roasted, skinless: 43 g
- Cabbage, raw: 35 g
- Bell pepper, red, raw: 38 g
- Cucumber, with peel, raw: 26 g
- Canola oil: 7.0 g
- Vinegar, cider: 15 g
- Soy sauce, reduced sodium: 4.8 g
- Honey: 7.0 g
- Garlic, raw: 1.5 g
Sources¶
- USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy): every ingredient value, through the app's food list and the SR Legacy records listed in
handbook/data/recipes.yml. - Satellite Healthcare: food labels: under 600 mg of sodium per meal; AKF Kidney Kitchen: potassium per meal: 600–700 mg of potassium per meal on a low-potassium diet. The recipes use 600 mg for both as a review line.
- NKF: potassium and your CKD diet: 200 mg or more of potassium in a serving is high; AKF phosphorus food guide: 100 mg or less of phosphorus is low.
- FDA claim definitions: "low sodium" means 140 mg or less per serving.
Not yet reviewed by a clinician. Facts and sources last checked 2026-10-06.