Chinese Chicken Salad
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Salad for dinner? Yes, please! Packed with crunchy veggies and tender chicken, this Chinese chicken salad is the light, feel-good meal you’ll crave all summer long.
Chinese chicken salad is a California-style dish that blends Chinese and American flavors in the best way. It may have peaked on restaurant menus in the ’90s, but to me, it’s just as crave-worthy today. Honestly, I could eat a salad like this every night of the summer—if I didn’t have other people to feed.
With crisp Napa cabbage, crunchy carrots and bell peppers, tender chicken, and a sesame-ginger dressing, it’s light, refreshing, and always hits the spot. I swap the usual fried wonton strips for toasted nuts to keep it a bit healthier, but if you love the crispy crunch of wontons, go ahead and add them in. And it’s super easy to throw together, especially if you’ve got leftover or rotisserie chicken on hand.
“Great salad—crunchy and flavorful, and very easy. I used some of the dressing to marinate pounded chicken breasts for a couple of hours then grilled them. Will definitely make again!”
What You’ll Need To Make Chinese Chicken Salad
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Make the dressing. In a food processor or blender, combine the rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, vegetable oil, garlic, and ginger. Blend until completely smooth.
Step 2: Assemble the salad: Combine the Napa cabbage, chopped romaine, bell pepper, scallions, grated carrots, fresh cilantro, salted cashews or peanuts, and shredded chicken. Add the dressing, little by little, and toss to combine, until the salad is dressed to your liking. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, serve, and enjoy!
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Chinese-Style Chicken Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing
With crisp veggies, tender chicken, and a punchy dressing, this Chinese chicken salad is the ultimate meal for those too-hot-to-cook days.
Ingredients
For the Dressing
- ⅓ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 3½ tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup sesame oil
- ⅓ cup peanut or vegetable oil
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1½-inch square piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped (see note)
For the Salad
- 4 cups chopped Napa cabbage
- 4 cups chopped romaine (or substitute more Napa cabbage)
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 2 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
- ½ cup grated carrots, from 2 carrots
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ⅓ cup salted cashews or peanuts
- 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
Instructions
- Make the dressing: In a food processor or blender, combine all of the ingredients and blend until smooth.
- Assemble the salad: Combine all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Add dressing, little by little, and toss to combine, until the salad is dressed to your liking. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve immediately.
- Note: For easy guidance on how to peel, grate, and chop fresh ginger, click here.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 608
- Fat: 48 g
- Saturated fat: 9 g
- Carbohydrates: 28 g
- Sugar: 19 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 19 g
- Sodium: 989 mg
- Cholesterol: 53 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Comments
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Oh my gosh, this is the BEST salad I have ever made! I did do an ingredient swap. I used olive oil (not extra virgin) rather than vegetable oil. It was fantastic!
Excellent recipe – Guests were raving! I have forwarded the recipe 3 times now. I am adding to my favorite meal rotation. Delicious!
This didn’t turn out for me. I made first time for company and just had a weird taste. I only had seasoned rice vinegar so I used low sodium soy. Other than that, followed exactly.
It just didn’t have a good taste. Where did I go wrong, Jen?
Hi Susan, I’m sorry you had a problem with this! Is there a chance that either your sesame or peanut oil or expired? If so, that definitely could have impacted the flavor.
I made this absolutely delicious salad and added shrimp and I had nothing but raves it’s going in my do not destroy recipe book. Thank you so much for such a great recipe.
I would love to make this salad for a family gathering this weekend. Could you possibly convert it to metric for me please. Don’t want to make any mistakes especially with the sesame oil. Best wishes from the UK.
Done – hope everyone enjoys!
Thank you so much Jenn. Looking forward to trying it. x
Outstanding!! It’s been very hot here and this was a perfect meal for a hot day. Made as written (though we may have added more peppers) and used rotisserie chicken so it was super easy. As others have remarked, the dressing is wonderful and pulls the whole salad together. Just 2 of us so we did not dress the whole salad as we wanted leftovers that would remain crisp. Dressed each plate at the table. Tried both crispy wonton strips and peanuts – didn’t think the peanuts brought much to the party. This will definitely be a summer staple.
100% agree with you comment! Delicious!
Except the peanuts, did love them and chow mein noodles.
Can I use non seed oil like Avocado oil in place of peanut or vegetable
Sure!
This salad is crazy delicious! The dressing is so good I wanted to drink it! No need to worry about leftovers because there were none. Perfect for these sticky steamy hot summer evenings! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I agree with you, Julia – and I would add that I feel that way about every one of Jenn’s salad dressings! I have eaten a spoonful of more than one of her dressings, and NEVER made as many salads as since I discovered this site. Yum!
I have seasoned rice wine vinegar. Can I use this?
Yep that’s fine 🙂
I did a bunch of short cut subs such as garlic powder instead of garlic, slicing the carrots thinly instead of getting out the food processor and it still was superlative. Oh, and threw some gluten free crunchy noodles on top because I love crunch. So, so, so good. I have your cookbook somewhere (moved twice since I bought it) and love all your recipes!
Except the peanuts, did love them and chow mein noodles.