Asian chicken salad is crisp, refreshing, satisfying, and delicious! It's very simple to make and is perfect as a side dish or a meal. Loaded with ingredients like napa cabbage, tender chicken, toasted almonds, snow peas, and coated with a tasty sesame soy dressing, it's a salad that is sure to become a favorite!
Course Lunch, Salads, Side Dish
Cuisine Asian, Chinese
Keyword Asian salads, dairy-free, gluten-free side dishes, low-carb, napa cabbage, sesame dressing
Add the sesame seeds to a small dry skillet set over medium-high heat.
Toast the sesame seeds, stirring every 1-2 minutes until they are golden brown. Be careful that they do not burn. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
In a measuring cup or bowl, combine the neutral-flavored oil, sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, and ¾ of the toasted sesame seeds. Whisk well to combine.
Season salt and pepper to taste.
Flash-cooking and Preparing the Snow Peas:
Remove the tips and strings from the snow peas.
Prepare a bowl with cold water and ice and set aside.
Place snow peas in a heat safe bowl and pour in hot just-boiled water, making sure snow peas are submerged.
Remove the snow peas with a slotted spoon after 30 seconds and transfer immediately to the ice water.
Cut cooled snow peas into strips.
Preparing the Salad:
In a large bowl, add the shredded napa cabbage, shredded chicken, snow pea strips, ¾ of the chopped green onions, ¾ of the toasted sliced almonds, and shredded carrot (if using).
Pour all the dressing into the bowl and toss with the salad ingredients.
Transfer the salad to a serving bowl and top with the remaining chopped green onions and almond slices. Top with more toasted sesame seeds, if desired.
Serve immediately.
Notes
You can buy toasted sesame seeds to use in the dressing if you do not want to toast your own.
Use GF soy sauce, coconut aminos, or liquid aminos as a gluten-free substitute for the soy sauce.
Regular western cabbage or romaine lettuce can be used instead of napa cabbage.
Use poached or grilled chicken breast, or leftover meat from roast chicken is also good.
For a vegetarian option, substitute the chicken with a variety of mushrooms.
Flash-cooking the snow peas is not necessary, but does make the peas look more green and softens them enough while also retaining some crispness.
Customize the salad with other ingredients like grated carrots, julienned bell peppers, cucumbers, Mandarin orange wedges, dried cranberries, nuts, etc.
Salad tastes best if eaten right away; leftovers will not taste as good.