11 Daikon Recipes That Are More Than Just Salads

February 03, 2020
Cool and crunchy, daikon radishes add a brazen brightness to salad and slaw—but they can do so much more!  We put together a list of our favorite recipes using daikon.
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Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps

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Stuff crisp lettuce leaves with a savory filling inspired by PF Chang's famous lettuce wraps. These low-carb wraps made with tofu, mushrooms and daikon radish are an easy vegetarian dinner that beats takeout! Garnish the wraps with julienned carrots for added crunch.

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Quick Cucumber Kimchi

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While slowly fermented cabbage and pungent garlic are the ingredients most people associate with kimchi, there are dozens and dozens of other versions of Korea's national dish, featuring all manner of vegetables, such as these quickly pickled cucumbers with just a trace of garlic.

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Hawaiian Pickled Beet Salad

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Quick-pickled beets are topped here with a namasu (a lightly pickled vegetable salad) made with carrot, cucumber and daikon radish. Recipes like this reflect the influence of Japanese immigrants who came to Hawaii to work on the sugar plantations in the 1800s. This recipe adapted from Chef Greg Harrison, Pacific'O Restaurant.

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Banh Mi Black Rice Bowls

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For this easy dinner recipe, we've taken inspiration from the popular Vietnamese banh mi sandwich, but lost the bun to make room for one of our favorite whole grains: black (aka forbidden) rice. To make these healthy grain bowls vegetarian, simply use additional tamari in place of the fish sauce.

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Pickled Carrots and Daikon

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Crunchy and tart, these pickled carrots and daikon are a great counterpoint to big savory flavors, especially in Chinese and Vietnamese meals. 

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Radish & Potato Gratin

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Adding daikon radish to this cheesy potato gratin boosts flavor and trims calories. To make this a quick recipe, we precook the vegetables before topping them with Gruyère cheese sauce and panko, then run the gratin under the broiler to create a delicious golden-brown crust.

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Carrot & Radish Slaw with Pickled Onions

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Cutting vegetables into long thin strips—a technique called julienning—rather than shredding them gives this healthy slaw recipe a marvelous, crisp texture. You can cut the vegetables by hand, but a mandoline will save you a lot of time. If your radishes still have the greens attached, reserve them and use as a garnish.

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Beef Tataki

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Tataki is a typical Japanese preparation in which beef or fish is seared on the outside, left very rare inside, thinly sliced and served with a citrusy soy sauce. In this version, a springy salad of crisp radishes and carrot matchsticks combined with sliced onion provides textural contrast to the flavorful steak. Serve this dish over a bed of buckwheat soba noodles to make it a meal. 

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Vietnamese Shrimp & Mango Lettuce Wraps

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Large, untorn butter lettuce leaves are best for rolling up the filling in these Asian lettuce wraps without breaking. If you use larger shrimp, chop them before cooking to make the wraps easier to eat. Serve as a first course or light dinner with a side of rice or noodles.

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Meatball Banh Mi

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This banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) is filled with a zingy slaw and chicken-and-pork meatballs spiked with fresh herbs. Look for chile-garlic sauce and fish sauce near other Asian ingredients in most supermarkets.

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Vietnamese Steak Sandwich

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Crisp vegetables and a sweet-salty sauce top thinly sliced grilled steak. Marinating the steak after it's grilled ensures a flavorful result.

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