Salad doesn’t always have to be a boring bag of lettuce from the grocery store. In fact, it doesn’t have to be lettuce at all. Cabbage makes a fabulous main ingredient in salads. Why? It always stays crispy, it’s super affordable, and it’s amazing for you.
(Plus it lasts forever and a day in the fridge, so now you know what you can do with the one rolling around in your veggie drawer!)
This Chinese Chicken salad recipe is completely homemade, right down to the dressing, which is so good you'll be tempted to drink it. And, no real cooking is required.
Making a big bowl of Chinese Chicken Salad for a party? Click and slide the number next to “servings” on the recipe card below to adjust the ingredients to match how many you’re feeding—the recipe does the math for you, it’s that easy.
Chinese Chicken Salad ingredients:
While you can add anything under the sun to Chinese Chicken Salad, this recipe pares it down to the delicious essentials. Also, feel free to add or subtract ingredients as you see fit, making Chinese Chicken Salad healthy as you like. There’s no wrong way to make it, unless you don’t make it at all.
- Chicken. Leftover rotisserie chicken or last weekend’s grilled chicken breasts work great! However, if you're making the chicken just for this salad, you can even use some of the dressing as a marinade before cooking, to boost the flavor up even more. (Safety first: make extra dressing for the marinade, then discard whatever comes into contact with raw meat.)
- Napa cabbage. Lighter in texture (almost fluffy) than regular cabbage. If you can't find it, use Savoy cabbage, bok choy, or plain old green cabbage.
- Red cabbage. The finer it's shredded, the better.
- Carrots. Shredded or spiralized carrots add color and vitamins. Make thin ribbons with a veggie peeler if you've lost your shredder.
- Cilantro. Hate cilantro? As always, leave it out! Maybe add some scallions instead.
- Chow mein noodles. Sold by the cardboard can in most grocery stores.
- Sesame seeds.
Other, purely optional ingredients:
- Slivered almonds.
- Ramen noodles. Uncooked, still crispy top ramen noodles, straight out of the package. Weird, but really good.
- Scallions.
- Edamame. The frozen “steam in a bag” edamame work great. Pop them out of their shells and toss.
- Bean sprouts.
- Bell peppers.
- Wonton crisps. Some folks go the extra mile and fry up wonton wrappers.
- Bok choy.
- Celery.
- Rice noodles.
- Mandarin oranges.
- Pea Pods. Snow peas, peas, any sweet green pea.
- Mushrooms.
Asian Salad Dressing ingredients:
This fantastic dressing will probably up your salad game, and you don't need any fancy ingredients, either. Everything is pretty easy to find in most grocery stores.
- Canola oil. Or any neutral oil, like grapeseed.
- Rice vinegar. Rice vinegar and rice wine vinegar are the same thing. (A rice wine vinegar substitute is champagne vinegar or apple cider vinegar.)
- Soy sauce.
- Hoisin sauce. Usually used as a sweet glaze for meat, hoisin sauce is made from soy beans, fennel, garlic, and chili peppers. Easy to find in the Asian foods section of any grocery.
- Ginger. Above all, fresh ginger please! Store extra ginger in the freezer for future uses--it freezes fabulously. No need to thaw before chopping up; just mince it up frozen.
- Toasted sesame oil.
How to make Chinese Chicken Salad:
Certainly better than Costco or any restaurant, this recipe is so easy and the end result is bright, colorful, and tasty.
- First, toss the cabbages, vegetables, cilantro, and chicken together in a bowl. Drizzle with the desired amount of dressing.
- Then toss everything up until well-coated. Top with sesame seeds and chow mein noodles. That, salad-loving friends, is all there is to it!
Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe
For the Asian salad dressing:
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1/3 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
- 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
For the salad:
- 4 cups cooked chicken shredded or diced
- 1 pound Napa cabbage cored and finely shredded (about 4 cups)
- 2 cups red cabbage cored and finely shredded
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 bunch scallions thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro minced
- 1 cup chow mein noodles
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds for garnish, optional
To make the Asian salad dressing:
- In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ginger, and sesame oil. Allow flavors to blend at room temperature while preparing the rest of the salad. Or, store covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
To make the salad:
- In a large bowl, add chicken, green and red cabbage, carrots, scallions, and cilantro. Drizzle with salad dressing and toss to combine. Sprinkle with chow mein noodles and sesame seeds, if using.
Love this salad however I did cut down on ginger by half since I’m not a big fan of it, added a small clove of minced garlic and a tablespoon of honey. Dressing was unbelievable
Meggan,
I am excited to maje this salad for tomorrow’s VT vs ND tailgate! Can I cut the cabbage today for tomorrow? I don’t want it to turn brown, etc. The dressing is already made and in the fridge. Thanks for helping!
Hi Carol!!! Sorry I didn’t get back to you in time. YES you can cut the cabbage today for tomorrow (or yesterday for today….). It’s super hardy and won’t turn brown. You could store it in water even, if you were worried about it. Sorry for not getting back to you in time. BUT HOORAY FOR TAILGATING!!!!!!
My friend made it for her 70th Birthday Party and everyone loved it.
Meggan, Joe added to perfection I can tell by his comment. This salad has become a regular that we eat several times a month. So good for us too. I’m going to check out some of your other salads now that I’m here again:)
Thank you Meggan for this awesome recipe! Like Heather said, it’s a nut-n-bolts base – you can add 1,000 things! I add chopped water chestnuts, toasted slivered almonds, mandarin oranges and crushed ramen noodles. To the dressing I add a clove of shredded garlic and some of the mandarin orange syrup. Nom Nom!
This was great! Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you!!! Seriously, makes my day. I love that salad too, but I’m always delighted when someone else likes it too. :) Take care and thanks again!
I love produce that sticks around for a while! Cabbage is so nice that way. cilantro, on the other hand…little bugger. This salad is a classic! I love the dressing!!
You’re so right about the humble cabbage – it will sit there for weeks and come to no harm!
Chinese recipes are a perfect way to use it up. I’ve never made a Chinese salad like this, Meggan, but agree that it looks delicious.
I love your way of thinking too that less is more when it comes to the ingredients.
I used this as a base and it was AMAZING! I subbed scallions for the white onion and sesame-oat sticks for chow mein noodles. I also used marinated shaved pork, seared then chopped in place of chicken. I found a bag of “Cruciferous Crunch” at Trader Joe’s that I used for the cabbage. The dressing was so good as written that I made a double batch to keep for other salads. I prepped it all on Sunday then assembled big bento boxes each morning before work. I ate this for 3 straight days and was sad when I had to find something else on the 4th day!
Heather, this is really quite spectacular. I do love that cruciferous crunch from TJ’s and all your subs. I might remake this recipe to include some of them! I’ll credit you if I do. :) So glad you enjoyed it! I’m craving this salad now!
I also love Chinese chicken salads and yours looks so scrumptious! Can hardly wait to try it at home. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much, Susan! I hope you enjoy it.
Hey Meggan,
I loved your recipe. Made it twice already. I am planning to add this recipe in my Best of October recipe roundup to be published on the 31st of October, this year. I know it’s an old post but I have found this recipe useful, and the fresh flavours don’t really go out of style. I would love to add a picture of the salad in my blog post. I hope it is alright by you.
Would love to hear back.
Thank you.
Hi Shreyashi, thank you so much for your kid words! I’m glad you liked the salad. Recipes never really get “old”, so even though it’s an old post, like you said, a fresh flavors never go out of style! Especially salads! You can certainly use an image as long as you link back. I look forward to seeing your post at the end of the month! :)