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Salad for dinner? Yes, please! Packed with crunchy veggies and tender chicken, this Chinese chicken salad is the kind of 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 I think it’s just as good today.
With crisp Napa cabbage, crunchy carrots and bell peppers, tender chicken, and a sesame-ginger dressing, it’s fresh, colorful, and satisfying enough to be dinner. I swap the usual fried wonton strips for toasted nuts to keep it a bit lighter, but if you love the crispy crunch of wontons, go ahead and add them. It’s easy to throw together, especially if you’ve got leftover or rotisserie chicken on hand.
“We loved the salad and especially the dressing! It makes a lot and the leftovers were just as good!”
What You’ll Need To Make Chinese Chicken Salad
- Napa cabbage and romaine: The combination gives the salad plenty of crunch. You can use all Napa cabbage if you prefer.
- Bell pepper, carrots, and scallions: Add color, sweetness, and a little bite.
- Cooked chicken: Rotisserie chicken is a great shortcut, but any leftover cooked chicken works well.
- Cashews or peanuts: Add a salty crunch in place of the usual fried wonton strips.
- Sesame-ginger dressing: A combination of rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, toasted sesame oil, garlic, and fresh ginger gives the salad its tangy, savory-sweet flavor. Be sure to use toasted sesame oil, which has a much richer, nuttier flavor than regular sesame oil.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How to Make Chinese Chicken Salad
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.
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.
Serve: Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, serve, and enjoy!
Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
This salad is great for making ahead, as long as you keep the dressing separate until you’re ready to serve.
Make ahead: Prepare the dressing up to 3 days in advance and refrigerate in an airtight container. You can also chop the vegetables a day ahead and refrigerate them separately from the chicken and nuts. When ready to serve, combine everything and toss with as much dressing as you like.
Storage: Leftover undressed salad will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, provided the cooked chicken is still fresh. Once dressed, the salad is best eaten right away, while the vegetables are still crisp and crunchy. Give the dressing a good shake or whisk before using, as it may separate in the refrigerator.
Chinese Chicken Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing
Ingredients
For the Dressing
- ⅓ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 3½ tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup sesame oil (see note)
- 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: In a large bowl, combine the Napa cabbage, romaine, bell pepper, scallions, carrots, cilantro, cashews or peanuts, and shredded chicken.
- Dress and serve: Add the dressing a little at a time, tossing until the salad is dressed to your liking. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Look for toasted (Asian) sesame oil, which is dark in color and nutty in flavor, not the light, untoasted variety.
- Check out easy guidance for how to peel, grate, and chop fresh ginger.
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.
See more recipes:
More Asian-Style Salads You’ll Love
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I made this for a party, and it was a huge hit. The dressing is delicious. My husband and I ended up eating it three days in a row because it was so delicious. I passed the recipe on to my sister and mom, and they love it as well.
Really wanted to love this salad but I didn’t. Not sure what flavor was turning me off but something was. Good crunch and color. Dressing was okay. Don’t think I will make again,
I have a giant head of green cabbage to use up. Any idea if that will work as a substitute for Napa cabbage?
Hi Samantha, you can use green cabbage here—just keep in mind that it’s crunchier and has a slightly different flavor than Napa cabbage.
Everyone is right that the dressing is spectacular! I have made this recipe before from scratch but have also found a couple of short cuts that make it much easier–and more practical since there are just two of us. (It would take us a REALLY long time to use a head of Napa cabbage!)
My local grocery makes an Asian salad kit that I use as a base. It contains cabbage, carrots, cilantro, wonton crisps, and sliced almonds so I just add lettuce, green onion, more cilantro, and red bell pepper. (I toss their excessively sweet dressing packet.) As Jenn suggests, I use either leftover chicken or store-bought rotisserie chicken. With the recipe dressing, it’s better than any that I’ve had in a restaurant and it’s ready in 15 minutes.
I think next time I’ll use some sliced snow peas as well.
Fabulous and so easy.
The dressing is so delicious. It will be my new go to
Extremely tasty recipe. Made as written, except added wonton strips at the end for crunch. Usually Jenn’s recipes have prep time listed, which this one doesn’t. It took me an hour to wash and chop all of the vegetables and make the dressing. It was absolutely worth it, but others should know that this isn’t a quick weeknight salad.
Hi Jenn, I usually have great success with your recipes however this one just doesn’t work for us. The salad was fine but we found the dressing(although it smelled amazing) to be a bit too oily. Really wanted to love it.
This was fantastic!!! It’s now a go-to crowd favorite! Another fun topping we added was sautéed crunchy ramen noodles (from the package), so easy and adds a some crisp!
This recipe for Chinese Chicken Salad is delicious! I’ve never used Nappa Cabbage before and the head was huge – enough to double the recipe if needed. I followed the recipe as written, using a store roasted chicken. It made a lot and there are just two of us. I refrigerated it overnight and it was just a delicious today as it was yesterday! This will be made again. Thanks!