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Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe

Filed under Chicken, Salad, Wheat-free

Chinese Chicken Salad

This Chinese chicken salad is a colorful and tasty way to use up some leftover chicken and makes for a light lunch. I experimented with few different dressings and ultimately settled on this one which I think is quite good. That said, so much does rely on the dressing that I welcome suggestions for improvement.

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Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced into strips
Salt and pepper
Sesame oil
Grapeseed or canola oil

1/2 head of Napa cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
3-4 scallions, sliced
1 carrot, julienned
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, chopped
2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Dressing:
2 Tbsp tamari (a wheat-free concentrated soy sauce, can also use 3 Tbsp regular soy sauce)
2 Tbsp dark sesame oil
2 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar (or plain rice vinegar with a teaspoon of sugar)
1 Tbsp grapeseed or canola oil
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon chili pepper flakes

Method

1 Sprinkle chicken strips with a little salt and pepper and cook them in a small skillet with a little bit of water (just enough so the chicken doesn't stick). Cover and cook until cooked through (3-5 minutes), turning the pieces over half way through cooking. Drain and set aside.

2 In a large salad bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Adjust to taste. Add the chicken and salad ingredients and toss well. (If you don't have toasted sesame seeds for the salad, add a tablespoon of tahini or peanut butter to the dressing before tossing.)

Serves 4.

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Posted by Elise on Jan 3, 2006 and indexed Chicken, Chicken Salad, Chinese Chicken Salad, Chinese Food, Salad

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Comments

I like to put peanuts in my c.c.s. or those crunchy chow mein noodles

Posted by: Leslie on January 4, 2006 8:11 AM

You know, I'll bet that around 1/4 cup of coconut milk and 2 cloves of grated garlic and the juice of 1 lime would add a lot of body and flavor to the dressing

Posted by: Anonymous on January 4, 2006 1:04 PM

For the dressing I saw you were looking for comments, Asian dishes often works around GGS (ginger, garlic, scallion). Always delicious, it adds spacific flavor indigenous to Asian cuisine, similar to mire poix in french cuisine. I highly recommend this addition to the dressing. You should mince the garlic and ginger and let it steep for about five to ten minutes in the vinegar before adding other ingredients.

Posted by: Aaron B. on January 4, 2006 2:15 PM

Hi Leslie - great idea, thanks!

Hi anonymous poster - more good ideas, thank you.

Hi Aaron - I completely forgot to include minced garlic on the ingredient list, even though I use it. Great tip to let the garlic and ginger steep in the vinegar first. Thank you!

Posted by: elise [TypeKey Profile Page] on January 4, 2006 2:24 PM

I've found that honey works well with dressings like this (as opposed to sugar).

Posted by: Anonymous on January 4, 2006 2:52 PM

It's another dressing all together, but to what you have I'd add:
2T. crunchy peanut butter
1t. hot pepper oil
1T. sesame oil
1T. white wine
1t. hot mustard

PS: Canola oil, to me, always seems to have a slightly industrial quality. I tend to use peanut oil for a clean taste in dishes like these.

Posted by: Ole Aioli on January 5, 2006 6:06 PM

My favorite dressing for this has some mustard powder to give it a kick:

3 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs rice vinegar
2 Tbs sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
1.5 Tbs mustard powder

Posted by: Ellen on January 9, 2006 9:25 AM

Here's another dressing recipe from The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking:

1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 teas dried chili flakes
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
3 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup dark sesame oil

Combine all ingredients except sesame oil in a food processor and pulse until ginger and garlic are finely minced. With motor running, slowly drizzle in the sesame oil.

Posted by: elise [TypeKey Profile Page] on January 11, 2006 11:03 AM

This may be sacrilege, but my daughter makes a wonderful chicken salad with spinach leaves, red pepper, chunks of gouda cheese and Kraft poppy seed dressing. This is getting away from the "Chinese" idea, but it is very good.

Posted by: Jacqui on May 25, 2006 3:06 PM

My husband loves this salad. I have thrown it together a few times now. Just this last time, I realized that the previous times I had not used Napa Cabbage. All the ingredients in this salad and in the dressing really give it a great flavor. This last time I made it, the dressing seemed a bit heavy, but now that I had the right cabbage it also seemed like it could use more cabbage (a bit more than the recipe was calling for). So adding more took care of the dressing. And anyway, my husband was NOT complaining. This is an excellent chinese chicken salad.

Posted by: Betsy on April 3, 2007 12:35 PM

I tried this salad by myself a couple of weeks ago and absolutely loved it. Tonight I served it to my boyfriend not expecting him to love it as much as I did but I was wrong, he could not get enough of it! This salad is so fantastic, thanks!

Posted by: Madeline on October 30, 2007 10:24 PM

Thank you for the idea! I am making this tonight for my parents and friend, and I have a feeling they will enjoy! I look forward to it as well, and THANKS AGAIN :)


-Atarah

Posted by: Atarah on December 31, 2007 2:17 PM

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