Asian Chicken Salad

Spice up your salad game with this classic Asian chicken salad recipe; it’s easy, delicious, and guaranteed to make dinnertime more exciting!

Skip the boring salads and whip up this delicious, ultra-flavourful Asian chicken salad recipe instead!

This dish is a refreshing departure from your every-day greens, offering a blend of textures and flavours guaranteed to tantalize your taste buds.

Tender, savory chunks of chicken meet crisp vegetables and a tangy Asian salad dressing for a combination that is nothing short of superb.

Whether you’re looking for a quick lunch, a delightful dinner, or a light bite in between, this Asian Chicken Salad is the way to go.

We promise you, one bite of this, and you’ll never look at salad the same way again!

Why You Will LOVE This Asian Chicken Salad

• Extremely flavourful salad with a perfect balance of sweet, tangy, bitter, savoury, and umami flavours.
• Satisfying range of textures from tender to crisp.
• Easy to prepare using rotisserie chicken.
• Made with lots of fresh greens and vegetables.
• Homemade sesame ginger dressing.
• Perfect for potlucks, summer BBQs, and any other occasion.

Asian Chicken Salad Variations

• Make it vegetarian – omit the chicken or replace with roasted tofu.
• Change up the protein – Grilled shrimp works really well in this salad.
• Add more veggies – sugar snap peas, red bell pepper, shaved brussels sprouts, sprouts, daikon, or peanuts all make great additions to this salad.
• Give it a peanuty twist – Swap the extra virgin olive oil in the dressing for peanut butter to make a peanut dressing. In this case you may want to add a few dashes of Sriracha.
• Swap the wonton strips – Use roasted almond slivers, toasted sesame seeds, or fried chow mein noodles instead!
• Add fresh herbs – A little chopped cilantro works really well with the flavours of this salad.

Tips for Making the Best Chinese Chicken Salad

• Use only good quality, fresh ingredients aside for the best results with the salad and dressing.
• Slice the cabbage very thinly, as this will allow it to absorb more of the dressing and flavor.
• Use provided recipe for homemade dressing for fresher flavour and more control over ingredients OR use store bought Asian sesame vinaigrette if you are in need of a shortcut.
• Don’t be afraid to play around with other ingredients such as snow peas, sesame seeds, and bean sprouts if you like.
• To make this a full meal serve, over a bed of stir-fried rice noodles.

How to Store Leftover Asian Chicken Salad

Once you’ve finished making your Asian Chicken Salad, you may find yourself with leftovers. To ensure that your homemade salad stays fresh and tasty for later, there are a few important steps to follow when storing it in the fridge.

First, I would remove any romaine lettuce and wonton strips left in the salad as they will not store well.

Then transfer the leftover salad into an airtight container. It’s best to use a glass or plastic container that is suitable for storing food in the fridge.

Next, store the salad in the refrigerator for up to four days.

Do not freeze the salad, as this will affect the texture of the greens and vegetables.

If making ahead of time, store each component separately and assemble when ready to serve. You can store all the prepared produce together, keeping the dressing and wonton strips in separate containers.

About the Ingredients for Asian Chicken Salad

Chicken – You will need a whole rotisserie chicken to get 3 cups of chopped chicken. Using a rotisserie chicken is nice because it cuts down on prep work and also gives you a nice mix of dark and white meat. You could also use shredded chicken in this salad instead.

Cabbage – I used a mix of napa cabbage and red cabbage. The red cabbage provides a pop of colour, but you could use 4 cups of napa cabbage if you prefer. Napa cabbage has a more mild, and slightly sweeter flavour than green cabbage so only substitute if you really can’t get your hands on napa cabbage.

Romaine lettuce – The romaine adds a bit of crisp but tender texture and a hint of bitter flavour to balance out the sweet flavours. Omit the lettuce if you think you may end up with lots of left overs as it will not hold up well when stored after being dressed.

Micro greens – Micro broccoli greens are also tender, with a hint of bitterness. These are OK to keep if you will be storing it after dressing the salad.

Cucumber – English cucumber is best for a salad like this as you don’t need to scoop out seeds or peel it. Just chop into large but still bite sized pieces. If you do use a different variety of cucumber be sure to remove the seeds and peel the skin.

Edamame – You can use fresh or frozen edamame beans for this salad. If you use frozen thaw them out and dry them well.

Carrots – I bought matchstick carrots to cut down on the prep work but you can do your own with a mandolin.

Oranges – I used a can of mandarin oranges. You can also use fresh orange if you like, but I think the flavour of the canned ones are more consistent. If you aren’t using canned mandarins, you will need to supreme your oranges.

Onion – Make sure you thinly slice the red onion so the flavour doesn’t overpower the rest. You can also soak the onion in cold water for ten minutes to tone down the flavour.

Wonton strips – You can find these in the salad dressing section at the grocery store along with croutons. These can get soggy so you may want to consider serving them on the side instead of mixing in with the main salad.

Green onions – Green onions are a great garnish for this salad.

Olive oil – Make sure you start off with a high quality extra virgin olive oil for the best results.

Rice vinegar – If you can’t get a hold of rice vinegar (also known as rice wine vinegar), then substitute with apple cider vinegar.

Sesame oil – For the dressing sesame oil is the real star but be sure to measure accurately as you can definitely have too much of a good thing here!

Soya sauce – (or soy sauce for the Americans) use a high quality soya sauce for best results. Kikkoman is easy to find and far superior to many brands found in your typical grocery store, and you can easily find even better soya sauce at a local asian grocery store. Check the ingredients list to help determine if it is a good sauce or not, if you find caramel, corn syrup or hydrolyzed soy protein it isn’t “real” soya sauce. A good sauce will include only water, soybeans, wheat, salt, and a yeast starter.

Ginger – Use fresh ginger for the best flavour and results. You won’t get the same zing from ground ginger.

Honey – I tried this dressing without honey and it was awful. Absolutely don’t skip the honey, but you can adjust to your own tastes. When I tested I felt like 3 tablespoons gave the best balance of flavour.

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Asian Chicken Salad

Yields: 6-8 servings | Prep time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rotisserie chicken, chopped
• 2 cups napa cabbage, shredded
• 2 cups red cabbage, shredded
• 1 large head of romaine lettuce, chopped
• ½ cup micro broccoli greens
• ½ English cucumber, chopped
• 1 large carrot, julienned
• 1 cup shelled edamame
• 11 oz can mandarin oranges, drained
• ½ cup red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup wonton strips
• ¼ cup green onions, sliced

For the Sesame Ginger Dressing:

• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
• 3 tablespoons honey

Directions:

Combine the chicken, cabbages, lettuce, greens, cucumber, carrots, edamame, mandarin oranges, and red onion in a large serving bowl.

Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.

Dress the salad with all the dressing then serve with wonton strips and green onions.