If you’re looking for a refreshing, hearty, flavorful chicken salad, this salad is for you.
Fresh, crunchy lettuce and cabbage, sweet carrots, juicy oranges, chicken, herbs, and crunchy almonds are all tossed with a zingy, umami ginger-garlic sesame vinaigrette. No sad salads here! And the best part is that this is a salad that you can make ahead or meal prep, giving you salad days in a flash.
Now that it’s summer, I’m living on salads all day, every day. I have my very own Mandy’s/Sweetgreen going on at home with different containers (glass, of course) of various prepped leaves, vegetables, and toppings. At least once a week I ask Mike if he wants to “order” a salad from me, but every single time the answer has been no, which is very sad for me because how am I going to live out my salad bar dreams?!
I love salad
At least I have a very healthy love for salad, so I can make daily salads for myself. I’m not sure why, but I like having everything separate and then making salads a la minute instead of having them ready to eat in a container. But then again, sometimes on the rare occasion that I don’t finish my salad and I pop it in a container in the fridge for the next day, it somehow tastes better?
In my opinion, both are good: fresh-made salads and meal prep. Someone should start a salad company where they sell both types. This salad happens to be one that tastes amazing both ways. Even when you meal prep it and the wonton strips get a little soggy, it adds a little bit of extra flavorful texture. Of course, if you’re an expert salad meal prep person, you have those little containers on the side for your dressing and crunchy toppings so you don’t have to have soggy wonton strips.
What is Chinese chicken salad?
Anyway, back to this salad, which we’re calling Chinese chicken salad even though I’m Chinese and I have no idea why everyone on the internet calls it that. I’m rolling with it, though. Chinese chicken salad is essentially a leafy green salad with chicken and a ginger-sesame dressing. Typically there are crunchy things too, like deep-fried noodles, deep-fried wonton strips, sliced almonds, and toasted sesame seeds. There are usually lots of herbs and sometimes mandarin oranges. It’s a refreshing, hearty salad, and it’s really, really good! It kind of is slightly reminiscent of a Chinese dish of shredded chicken, but also, not really. Really, I’m pretty sure it’s called Chinese chicken salad because it’s been popularized that way by chain restaurants like Cheesecake Factory and P.F. Chang’s. Questionable origins aside, this salad is a keeper and in my regular salad rotation.
How to make Chinese chicken salad
Like all salads, this one takes some prep. If you’re not a person who finds washing and cutting vegetables a zen activity, by all means, buy those bagged prepped cabbage mixes or shredded carrots. If you think cutting vegetables is fun (I do because I’m a monster), then for this salad you need to:
- Prep the vegetables: wash, dry, and shred the lettuce; wash, dry, and shred the cabbage; peel, wash, dry, and julienne the carrots; wash, dry, and slice the green onions; wash, dry, and chop the cilantro; and drain (or peel) the mandarin oranges.
- Shred the chicken: This salad is begging for leftover chicken. Shred up any extra chicken you might have, or if you need to meal prep some chicken breasts, use your go-to recipe or give air frying a try.
- Make the crunchy bits: You can opt to buy crunchy noodles at the store, or you can make them at home. If you’re making them at home, you can either use wonton wrappers that you slice up or egg noodles. For both, heat up about an inch of neutral oil in a small pot over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot and shimmery, add a small amount of the wonton wrappers or egg noodles and fry until golden and crispy. They’ll crisp up quite quickly. Move and flip them as needed, and after a minute or two, remove them from the oil, drain and cool.
- Make the dressing: In a bowl, whisk together soy sauce, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, a bit of neutral oil, a touch of sugar, minced ginger, and garlic. Taste and adjust if needed.
- Assemble: Add the shredded greens, carrot, herbs, and chicken (and oranges if using) to a bowl. Add the dressing and toss well.
- Enjoy: Finish the salad by topping it with the crunchy bits and enjoy!
Chinese chicken salad ingredients
Greens – shredded lettuce, cabbage, and carrots are the bulk of this salad. Personally, I love a mix of green and red cabbage and shredded romaine. I’ve also fallen in love with raw savoy cabbage recently—it’s a bit more tender and sweet and so, so good. So many cabbages, so little time.
Herbs – a mix of thinly sliced green onions and chopped cilantro add a bit of fresh herbaceousness.
oranges – this is something I’ll put in if we have it at home, but not something I’d go out and buy. But, when you have them, it does add some sweet juiciness that makes this salad elite.
chicken – any kind of shredded chicken works for this salad. Leftovers or freshly cooked, it’s all good. For me, I like salads that have protein in them, so when I can, I almost always double the amount of protein called for in a salad. Luckily we eat a lot of chicken, so we almost always have some on hand.
crunchy bits – arguably the best part of any salad, the crunchy bits are what keep it interesting. I definitely think thinly sliced almonds are a must. I like the thinly sliced ones with skin on, for some reason, they’re much more delicate and crunchy. For the other crunchy parts, I like to go with either homemade deep-fried wonton strips or homemade deep-fried egg noodles. They’re both super quick and easy to make at home. Or, you can buy them – they’re either with the salad toppers or in the Asian aisle in a bag – they’re packaged to look like chips.
dressing – the dressing for this salad is pretty straightforward; the only thing that is a little bit annoying is finely mincing the garlic and ginger. Normally I’m a huge fan of using granulated garlic and ginger, but for this dressing, fresh is what you need. To your freshly minced garlic and ginger, we’re going to add soy sauce, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, a touch of sugar, and a bit of neutral oil.
Chinese chicken salad dressing
This dressing is zingy and full of flavor. It’s super simple to make and takes all the ingredients in this salad and makes them sing. Typically, Chinese chicken salad dressing is an oil vinaigrette with sesame, ginger, and ginger overtones. It’s incredibly addictive and will cause you to eat so much salad, in a good way.
The best kind of chicken for salad
Leftover chicken is the best! I know a lot of people who actually buy a rotisserie chicken and shred that up, but usually we just get bone-in, skin-on thighs. I’ll skin and debone them (and save all that to make Hainanese chicken) and simply boil and then shred them. Chicken thighs are truly the most flavorful part of a chicken, but any kind of cooked, shredded chicken will do. For this particular salad, I did chicken breast poached in a gingery, garlicky stock, and they turned out super juicy.
What are the crunchy things in Chinese chicken salad?
The crunchy bits vary, but they’re typically deep-fried wonton strips, slivered almonds, or crunchy chow mein noodles. For us, we prefer a combination of crunchy wonton strips and almonds. It’s super easy to make them at home yourself, and you don’t even need a lot of oil. If you don’t want to add an extra step, you can grab a bag of fried noodles at the grocery store in the Asian aisle. They look like short little golden fried noodles in a bag, kind of like chips, but noodles.
How to meal prep Chinese chicken salad for the week
This salad is great for meal prep because you can do all the prep on Sunday, pack everything up, and have salad throughout the week. The key is to pack it up like they pack up salad kits in the grocery store. All the green things go together, the dressing goes in a little cup, and the crunchy bits are in a container, ready to go on at the end. It helps if you have the right containers. I love these guys for dressing and the crunchy bits and as for the vegetables, you can use any container you have on hand. It’s best if you put the chicken in a separate container too so it doesn’t wilt the vegetables too much, but it’s not absolutely necessary.
What to serve with Chinese chicken salad
I think this salad is a meal in itself, but if you’re looking to have a salad party, try some of these as well:
- super refreshing, crunchy cucumber salad
- a hearty, also chicken salad, but Caesar style with romaine and kale
- the most refreshing combination of watermelon, feta, and cucumber
- broccoli salad is a sleeper hit, it’s hearty, crunchy, and filling
- a super savory cabbage and chicken salad dressed with the most umami dressing you’ll ever have
That’s it, happy salad-ing. And please, let me know if you like doing the salad bar thing at home too!
xoxo steph
Chinese Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Dressing
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger minced
Salad
- 4 cup lettuce of choice, shredded
- 1 1/2 cup cabbage shredded
- 1 medium carrot julienned
- 1/4 cup green onions sliced
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 cup mandarin oranges canned, optional
- 2 cup cooked shredded chicken
- 1/2 cup crunchy deep-fried wonton strips
- 2 tbsp sliced almonds
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients.
- Toss the lettuce, cabbage, carrots, green onions, cilantro, and oranges (if using) in a large bowl. Add the chicken and dress the salad to taste.
- Top with crunchy wonton strips and sliced almonds and enjoy!
