Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe

2021-10-05

Change up your usual boring salad with this crispy and flavorful Chinese Chicken Salad recipe! Made with crunchy napa cabbage, crispy ramen noodles and a delicious asian dressing this salad will become a weeknight staple and family favorite.

I’m not gonna lie, one of the things I was most excited for when we moved was how close we would be to a restaurant that serves one of our favorite Chinese Chicken Salad recipe. I’m not gonna say that was the reason we moved to this neighborhood, but I’m also not gonna say it wasn’t…This salad is so delicious and so coveted they literally have a separate section of their restaurant with a special fridge to store the salads. If you don’t get there early the chinese chicken salad will sell out!

Now, we’re continuing to support our local restaurants by ordering takeout but we also eat this chinese chicken salad so much that I wanted to experiment to see if I could master it at home. I have to say, I think I came pretty darn close. If you subscribe to my weekly meal plan, don’t be surprised to see this on the list next week – it’s quickly become a staple around here!

Ingredients in Chinese Chicken Salad:

There are 3 parts to this chinese chicken salad recipe: the chicken, the salad and the dressing. Full amounts of each ingredient below!

For the chicken:

chicken breasts
soy sauce or tamari
hoisin sauce
sesame oil
tsp pepper

For the Salad:

napa cabbage
carrot
shelled edamame
green onion
ramen noodles
almonds
sesame seeds
optional: cilantro

For the dressing:

olive oil or a neutral vegetable oil
honey
rice wine vinegar
freshly grated ginger
soy sauce
sesame oil
salt + pepper

Easy Swaps You Can Make:

-Not a fan of chicken? You can easily replace chicken with tofu.

–Gluten-free? Replace soy sauce and hoisin sauce with gluten-free versions made with tamari. For the ramen noodles use rice noodles instead.

-If you can’t find hoisin sauce feel free to use teriyaki sauce.

-Swap cabbage for equal parts iceberg or romaine lettuce.

-Feel free to skip the cilantro if that isn’t your thing.

-Out of fresh ginger for the dressing? Feel free to use dried ginger, just decrease the amount by half (3/4 tsp).

How To Make It:

STEP 1: Marinate chicken in combination of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil and pepper in a large bowl for 30 minutes.

STEP 2: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake chicken (with any remaining marinade juices) in a shallow dish for 15-20 minutes or until chicken runs clear. Let chicken rest for 5 minutes and then cut into thin strips.

STEP 3: Combine cabbage, carrots, edamame and onion in a large salad bowl.

STEP 4: Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add almonds. Cook for about 2 minutes and then add ramen noodles to toast for another 2 minutes or starting to brown. Add sesame seeds and cook for 1 more minute or until everything is lightly browned.

STEP 5: Combine all dressing ingredients in a bowl or jar.

STEP 6: Add almond mixture to salad and top with chicken, cilantro (if using) and desired amount of dressing. Mix well.

How to Store This Chinese Chicken Salad:

To make this salad last I recommend dressing it just before eating. Store the dressing in a jar in the fridge and the salad separately in a tupperware or glass container. Just before eating dress the salad to ensure it doesn’t get too soggy. If you want to make sure your ramen noodles stay crispy you can also keep those separate and stir them into the salad just before eating.

This salad will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days if you ensure that the dressing and salad are stored separately.

As always, if you make this recipe I would love if you left a 5-star review in the comments! It just helps other people discover this chinese chicken salad recipe and know that it’s delicious as it looks!