This asian chicken salad recipe is an easy weeknight dinner that the whole family will love. It's healthy and filling, perfect for summer. Filled with carrots, cabbage, pineapple, cucumber, green onion, romaine, edamame, peanuts and tender chicken.
Totally satisfying.
This recipe was originally published July 18, 2017.
I created this asian chicken salad recipe last year and every time I make it I always forget how much it makes! Like a family of 100, just kidding, but easily 6-8 adults.
It's booming with gorgeous color, it's such a vibrant salad!
I used to make homemade dressing for this but to save time I buy Panera's asian salad dressing now. Good heavens, I'm already drooling at the thought of this salad.
This asian chicken salad recipe is a healthy salad and a great option for a hot summer day or a cold summer day, really any day it's a good idea to make this!
I love all the different textures and how much crunch it has! Who wants a soggy salad? Not me!
An easy trick to speed up the recipe is to use some leftover chicken from a whole chicken or even grab a rotisserie chicken from the store.
To kick it up a notch try adding pineapple, it's tangy bite makes this salad a real game changer.
For the asian chicken salad dressing, my favorite is the Panera asian sesame dressing. It's easy to grab a bottle and pour on top. The flavor is perfect with this salad.
As a kid, I lived in a really small town in Alaska -- there really wasn't much as far as restaurants go. But in Phoenix, everyone is spoiled with more than a lifetime of restaurant choices.
My parents used to take my brother and I to a place in town called The Peking Garden. The sweetest family owned it and I went to school with their kids.
I can still remember the smell of the restaurant, like won ton soup and fortune cookies, the memory is still so fresh even though it's been almost 20 years since I've been there. And I always got the chicken chow mein. It was my favorite place to eat and I've never found another restaurant that came close.
Sadly, The Peking Garden closed a few years ago, but I'm forever thankful to the Tzou family for creating delicious food and making a fan out of me.
Want to try a few more asian inspired recipes?
- The Best Skinny Orange Chicken - super yummy, healthier version of the classic orange chicken (no deep frying!)
- Thai Peanut Chicken Noodle Salad - If you love peanuts this one is for you
- Grilled Honey Garlic Chicken - pair this with some rice for an easy weeknight meal
- Better Thank Takeout Mongolian Beef - way better than takeout if you ask me
- Crispy Baked Cream Cheese Wontons - who doesn't love those yummy little cream cheese wontons? These are baked and perfect!
- Skinny Beef and Broccoli - a healthier version of the classic
- Sticky Asian Zing Wings - oh yeah baby, these are just like the restaurant but dare I say better? I dare.
Easy and Healthy Asian Chicken Salad
This asian chicken salad recipe is an easy weeknight dinner that the whole family will love. It's healthy and filling, perfect for summer.
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken thighs, seasoned with salt and pepper
- 1 romaine bunch
- 1 cucumber
- 2 carrots
- purple cabbage, small
- 2 green onions
- Frozen edamame, half a bag
- ½ C. peanuts
- 1 C. pineapple chunks
- Asian sesame dressing (Panera brand)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400
- Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper
- Bake for 20 minutes
- Chop up the romaine lettuce
- Slice the cucumber using a knife or mandoline
- Cut the cabbage in half, and then in half again, cut out the core, lay the cabbage on its side on your cutting board and cut with the grain in thin strips.
- Shred the carrots
- Slice the green onions thinly, the whole thing
- Cut up your pineapple into small chunks
- Add the peanuts
- By now your chicken thighs should be cooled off a bit
- Chop up the chicken and add to the bowl
- Season with a pinch of salt and some ground pepper, tossing everything together
- Add the dressing once everyone has served themselves, this way you can use the extras for lunch without it getting soggy
Notes
Fancy Cucumber TIP:
1. Cut the ends of the cucumber, now cut it into 3 equal parts and stand them up so the flat seedy part meets the cutting board
2. Take your knife and cut vertically toward the cutting board, making thin cuts (see pic below)
3. You should be left with some thin but wide strips, lay them down on the cutting board and cut from dark green end to dark green end, you want these to be pretty uniform
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 226Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 73mgSodium: 202mgCarbohydrates: 11gFiber: 2gSugar: 7gProtein: 17g
This information comes from online calculators. Although moderncrumb.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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