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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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-in 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.
Notes
Nutrition Information
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.
Comments
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Maybe I’m not seeing it, but how do you prepare the chicken for the salad? I’m wondering if it’s better to poach the chicken or if rotisserie is ok?
Thanks!
Hi Jennifer, I don’t include a chicken recipe here as I’ve assumed most people would use rotisserie chicken, but if you’d like to make your own, see the guidance in this recipe. Hope that you enjoy the salad!
This is a solid recipe. The dressing is fantastic all by itself! I didn’t use chicken since I had some salmon I had to use and it was very good. This will go into the rotation.
The salad is delish !! What sides pair well for a luncheon?
Glad you like it! The salad would be nice with these smoothies and some steamed veggie dumplings. Hope that helps!
I made this salad for the first time this week & ate it for 3 days straight & will be meal prepping more for the coming week. It’s a fantastic recipe that’s easy, tastes great & is filling.
This salad is on repeat in my home! I use grilled chicken instead of shredded. Very simple and the dressing is so good. I keep the dressing in the fridge and put it on everything. Thanks Jenn, another favorite!
Made this recipe yesterday and it was absolutely delicious. Definitely a recipe to pass along and to serve to guests. I tell my friends about your blog.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was very good. I made the dressing as written, but next time will add more acid to suit my taste. To punch it up, I drizzled a little sriracha on top. 👍
Tried it last night and it was really good. Did not add the peanuts and used a rotisserie chicken. Will certainly make it again.
Hi, I’m making this salad and I’m the type of home chef that needs specific directions and photos are also helpful. It’s the reason I keep coming back your site year after year…that being said I’m perplexed at what is in the photo of your food processing bowl? It says to combine the ingredients for the dressing, but what is in there that I may have missed? It looks like carrots?
Hi Jenna, so glad you find the recipes/photos easy to follow! That’s ginger in the food processing bowl; that’s a tiny food processor, and so the ginger looks much bigger in that picture than it actually is. Hope you enjoy the salad!
The salad was really good. I especially liked the dressing.