This Asian Chicken Salad is crunchy, fresh, and packed with BIG flavors! Shredded slaw, carrots, edamame, crunchy chow mein noodles, and soy-marinated chicken on top. YUM!
Asian Chicken Salad
Who doesn’t love a salad you can really feel with your teeth?! Okay, weird phrase but this one is a real fun chomper.
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This salad is AWESOME!! SO TASTY! I made it two days in a row it was so good.
I couldn’t find Panera dressing anywhere, so used an Asian Sesame dressing instead. I will definitely make this again and again.
Nina
Super satisfyingly crunchy cabbage/slaw/lettuce/shredded Brussels (if you fancy), bright crisp carrots and almonds, and the impeccable savory crunch of chow mein noodles. All the best chomping!
And then there’s the juicy marinated chicken infused with ginger, garlic, garam masala, and soy sauce. Drizzle your favorite Asain-inspired dressing of choice and you’re in business. (We love Panera’s, don’t be mad!). SO. MUCH. FLAVOR.
And while not a traditional salad of any actual Asian origin but rather most likely born somewhere in the 50s/60s in California (according to Wiki), it does use lots of flavors and ingredients inspired by pan-Asian cuisine. Basically, this is one of those menu favorites you see again and again that we just cannot get enough of. Let’s make iiiiiiiiit!
In This Post: Everything You Need For Asian Chicken Salad
- Ingredients for Asian Chicken Salad
- Let’s Make This Delicious Salad
- Asian Chicken Salad, Your Way
- Asian Chicken Salad: Frequently Asked Questions
Ingredients For This Asian Chicken Salad Recipe
Is everyone on board with giant salads? You know, where you just pile on ALL. THE. THINGS?! This chicken salad is definitely one of those and we are here for it.
For the chomp mix:
- shredded lettuce or slaw or Brussels
- chopped almonds
- shredded carrots
- chopped cilantro
- edamame
- green onions
- toasted sesame seeds (optional)
- chow mein noodles (the dry crunchy kind!)
For the marinated chicken:
- chicken breasts
- soy sauce
- minced garlic & ginger
- sugar
- 5 spice seasoning (could also sub part Garam Masala and part Cajun seasoning)
For dressing, use your bottled version of choice! We love Panera’s Asian Sesame, but any will do! If you want to really take the champion route, we’ve included a quick make-your-own version in the recipe notes.
Let’s Make Asian Chicken Salad
Truly so simple to put together and that is another reason we love it so! You’ll have lunch on your desk/table in no time.
- The chomps. Toss all salad ingredients – green onions, lettuce, almonds, carrots, cilantro, edamame, and sesame seeds.
- The marinade. Whisk together the soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar, and seasoning. Marinate the chicken in the sauce for at least 1 hour and then bake! Once cooled, shred it and add to the giant salad pile.
The toss. Grab your dressing of choice and toss away! Save those chow mein noodles for just before serving to maintain maximum crunch.
Asian Chicken Salad, Your Way
Because this salad is such a buffet of flavors and ingredients, you can totally customize to fit your tastes and/or grocery lists. Switch up the dressings or make your own, you could also swap out the protein if you’re not up for chicken or just leave it out altogether – it’s still a dream.
We love to play around with the base chomp whether that’s cabbage or slaw or please, for your sake, try shredded brussels sprouts. Use up any extra veg you might have laying around, especially if they add to the crunch factor. Extra nuts? Sure! More crispy chow mein noodles? Absolutely.
Make it your way and make it every day because this little lunch/dinner/bedtime salad option is just the best.
Asian Chicken Salad: Frequently Asked Questions
How can I make my own Asian-inspired dressing?
A recipe for a homemade dressing can be found in the recipe card notes below.
Can I meal prep this salad?
Crunchy veggies are a bit heartier that meal prepping this should work just fine. Add the dressing and the chow mein noodles right before serving, otherwise the moisture will make the noodles lose their crunch.
I can’t find Chinese 5 Spice Seasoning. Any subs?
Yes! Use part garam masala and part Cajun seasoning instead.
Asian Chicken Salad
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 8–10 servings 1x
Description
This Asian Chicken Salad is crunchy, fresh, and packed with BIG flavors! Shredded slaw, carrots, edamame, crunchy chow mein noodles, and soy-marinated chicken on top. YUM!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
- 2–3 cups shredded lettuce or slaw (I used raw grated Brussels sprouts)
- 1/2 cup whole almonds, chopped
- 2 cups shredded carrots
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 2 cups cooked, shelled edamame
- toasted sesame seeds (optional)
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons Chinese 5 spice seasoning
- 2 cups chow mein noodles (dry crunchy kind)
Instructions
- Toss all salad ingredients – green onions, lettuce, almonds, carrots, cilantro, edamame, and sesame seeds.
- Whisk together the soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar, and seasoning. Marinate the chicken in the sauce for at least 1 hour. Bake chicken in the sauce at 400 degrees, for about 20-30 minutes, turning occasionally, until cooked through. When chicken is cooled, shred and add to the salad.
- Toss with dressing of your choice and chow mein noodles just before serving.
Notes
Dressing: I used Panera’s Asian Sesame bottled dressing – yum! I also made my own quick and easy version of an Asian dressing by whirring all these together in the food processor: 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup oil, 3 tablespoons white vinegar, 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, 1 tablespoon hoisin, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and about 1/3 cup water.
Nutrition info: Nutrition info includes the homemade peanut dressing.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Toss
- Cuisine: Asian-Inspired
Keywords: asian chicken salad, asian salad, chicken salad, salad recipe
More Crunchy, Fresh Salads We Love
- Cashew Crunch Salad with Sesame Dressing (loaded with so much yum)
- Quinoa Crunch Salad with Peanut Dressing (this dressing though…WOW!!)
- Chopped Thai-Inspired Chicken Salad (healthy, fresh, and made with lots of big flavors)
June 1, 2021
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
Did you make a recipe? Tag @pinchofyum on Instagram so we can find you!
Now that is a tasty looking salad!
Thanks Kevin!
Woo! I win! Awesome looking salad.
We all win! Yay for salad! 🙂
This looks amazingggggggggggggg.
Thanks Liz!
Ahhh! I think that Password game is an old show I used to watch on Game Show Network (because I was prematurely old at age 12). What a blast from the past!
Anyway, this Asian chicken salad looks like a delicious lunch recipe to keep in mind. Definitely saving this one!
LOL! Love it. Thanks Meghan!
Haha, love this. Being in front of children makes me super duper nervous that I won’t come up with anything fun or interesting to do (and yet, I give presentations to CFOs and presidents of colleges all the time, go figure) with them. I’m stealing this game for the next time I’m in that situation!
Hahahahaha – I bet the CFOs would love this game. 🙂
I’ve been looking for a delicious asian chicken salad recipe – the last version I made wasn’t very good. 🙁 This sounds great, love the edamame in there!
I was inspired by the Miso Salad at California Pizza Kitchen… it’s loaded with edamame and I love it! 🙂
I love new ideas for summery salads, this looks and sounds perfect!
THanks Anna!
Wow, wow, WOW! Love this Lindsay. Great flavors!
Thanks Cassie! The flavors have been making my lunch hour nice and zippy! 🙂
Oh my word! This looks amazing…can’t wait to try it. Just pinned:-)
Thanks Becky! 🙂
It looks and sounds delicious. I’ve tried to cook Asian inspired food before, but it never really worked out. I should give this a try!
You should! This is kind of hodge-podge Asian, a little bit of Chineses, Japanese, and Thai influence… but a good place to start! 🙂 None of the ingredients are too overwhelming.
Bookmarking this!! I can’t wait to fill my summer with this salad!
It totally screams summer, doesn’t it?!
Oh, this sounds delicious! I think I have made an impromptu decision of what we will have for supper tonight!
Good call! 🙂 Impromptu is pretty much how I run my life.
Love the pics and the salad surely sounds delicious and healthy. I also have a special reason to thank you. Just today I had my first acceptance by tastespotting and I submitted to that site after reading the resources section from your blog. I had no luck at foodgawker but I’ll keep trying. Thanks guys for this amazing site 🙂
Thanks Ashish! And congrats on your first Tastespotting link being published! 🙂 Exciting!
This recipe looks amazing, I just love your blog! Do you think you could make this recipe using tofu or seitan in place of the chicken? Im a vegetarian 🙂
Absolutely! Actually, I made half with chicken for my husband and left the chicken out of the other half… since there’s edamame in there, I didn’t miss the meat at all! I mean, I like it both ways, but you can easily leave out the meat or sub something else if you need it to be vegetarian. It’s actually loosely vegan, too, if you leave out the meat, since there’s no other dairy in it! 🙂
You didn’t say delicious. You need to add delicious.
So excited to make this! Looks like a winner! I JUST LOVE BIG SALADS!
So what kind of dressing do u use Lindsay?
I used the Panera Asian Sesame (bought at Cub) and a homemade peanut dressing (in recipe notes).
Good catch. DELICIOUS.
YUM! That chicken looks divine! must try!
When I saw it I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was so pretty!
I love the sound of the flavour combinations. I’m happy to eat salad when it looks like this!
Thanks Claire! These are my favorite flavors too! 🙂
This looks great! I love asian salads.
I am eating a brownie right now and I would rather have your salad. Looks so so good.
I am eating a brownie right now and wishing it was this salad.
THAT is amazing.
Thank you for this–it came at just the right time! I made it for dinner last night, expecting it would be just me eating it, then my honey came home in the middle of putting it together and announced that his doctor told him that he’s borderline diabetic, his cholesterol’s too high, and he needs to eat healthier. So he was feeling a little lost and overwhelmed with all this new info and all the lifestyle changes he has to make, and I was able to say, “well, we’ve got dinner covered–you can have some of this salad with me!” We both loved it and I think he felt better knowing that there are lots of good things to eat that aren’t trying to kill you. 😉
Aw, sweet. That makes me really happy. 🙂
I write this comment as I am eating this salad. Its so fresh and flavorful, not to mention relatively guilt free! I promise it is as good as it looks. Thank you Lindsay for posting, its a new favorite.
Glad to hear it Kelsey! 🙂
Making this salad right now for some friends coming over later. I’m so excited to taste it. Thanks for the recipe! Love the site.
Thanks Dawn! Hope you guys like it!
This dish is sooooo good! I just made it for lunch tomorrow and I can’t wait to eat it all! I made the peanut dressing with almond peanut butter ( that’s what I had) and it still worked out. Thank you 🙂
Awesome! Glad you liked it Tatiana!