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I’ve made this salad three times in the last two weeks and it’s been amazing every single time. Love the flavor, textures and color. Yum!
esther
This post was originally published in 2018, but our love for this salad runs DEEP and it’s the perfect crunchy hot-weather treat. Here’s to fresh, colorful, texture-perfect summer food. ✌🏼
What’s it called when you want something that tastes really, really good… but is also basically a high pile of fresh, vibrant, feel-good-in-your-body vegetables? You call it Cashew Crunch Salad, that’s what you call it. Get ready for one of my favorite salads of all time.
This Salad Is Checking All The Boxes
Lunch rolls around and my internal conversation goes like this:
- I’m hungry.
- What would taste awesome right now?
- No, wait, what would be super healthy right now? Because…mocha peanut butter pie?
- No, but what would actually fill me up?
- WAIT WAIT WAIT what about that salad with the sesame dressing that is awesome-tasting AND healthy AND keeps me full because it’s full of so many friendly fats and good stuff?
- Yes! I love salad!
- I love vegetables!
- I love life!
That’s an actual transcript of my internal dialogue. These are the terms I think in: tastes amazing, mostly healthy, still fills me up.
Let’s Discuss Ingredients For This Salad
The dressing might be my favorite part of this mix-up.
It’s an oil-and-vinegar dressing that you can shake up in a jar, sweetened up with a little sugar, seasoned with a little sesame oil, and… if you are me… creamified with a dollop of Greek yogurt or mayo. I don’t know, for me, a vinaigrette-drenched salad just isn’t going to keep me full. I need a little more creaminess happening in my salads, so I just took my favorite retro dressing (shout out to Kim Harcey of my old First Baptist Church cookbook ♡) and creamied it up a teensy bit.
The rest of what’s happening here is just a LOT of crunch. Crunchy veggies, crunchy cashews, crunchy chow mein noodles. How absolutely retro at chow mein noodles? I love this for us so much.
Make This Salad Your Way
For the vegans – leave out the creamy stuff!
For the gluten-free-ers – leave out the crunchy chow mein noodles!
For the protein-lovers – add some grilled chicken! Or shrimp! Or… I don’t know, tofu?! This quickly becomes a dinner entree salad with juicy grilled chicken sliced across the top.
I would not be sad if this was my lunch for the rest of the summer.
Gooooo team vegetables!
How To Make Cashew Crunch Salad (Video)
Cashew Crunch Salad with Sesame Dressing
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
Description
This Cashew Crunch Salad is loaded up with crunchy veg, chow mein noodles, edamame, and roasted cashews and it’ll make you ACTUALLY WANT TO EAT A SALAD. And the sesame dressing – OMG!
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 1/2 head of green cabbage, finely shredded
- 1/2 head of purple cabbage, finely shredded
- 2 cups carrots, matchstick-cut or shredded
- 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 cup sliced green onion
- 2 cups cooked edamame (see FAQs)
- 1–2 cup roasted cashews (see notes)
- 2 cups crunchy chow mein noodles (optional)
- chicken, shrimp, or any other protein you like
Dressing:
- 1/4 cup olive oil (you can use any other oil as well)
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil – very important for flavor!
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- a few shakes of garlic powder
- optional: 1/4 cup Greek yogurt or mayo (more or less to taste – this changes it from a vinaigrette to more of a creamy dressing)
Instructions
- Shake the dressing ingredients up in a jar until smooth. Add the Greek yogurt or mayo (if using) and shake again until smooth. YUM.
- Toss all the salad ingredients together. Drizzle with dressing and serve!
Notes
Cashews: I like this salad with regular roasted cashews – I also love it with the thai chili cashews from Trader Joe’s or ALDI!
Dressing: You can easily omit the Greek yogurt or mayo to keep this a vegan / dairy free salad! The dressing will be a little less thick (more like a vinaigrette), but it’s still totally delicious. For a creamy dairy-free alternative, you could try miso! To make this gluten free, leave out the chow mein noodles.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Chop
- Cuisine: Asian-Inspired
Keywords: cashew crunch salad, asian salad, sesame dressing, cashew salad
Cashew Crunch Salad: FAQs
Yes! If you are making this ahead, you can definitely chop and prep all the veggies in advance and even mix them together. I would just hold off on mixing in the chow mein, cashews, and dressing until just before serving.
I buy edamame frozen, already shelled, and just boil them for a few minutes like you would boil peas.
If you want to grill some chicken or shrimp to go on top (yummy), I recommend marinating it in soy sauce, honey, and garlic for a bit to give even more flavor.
More Salads To Munch On
- Corn, Avocado, and Quinoa Salad with Marinated Tomatoes (the perfect punchy, summery salad)
- 5-Minute Spicy Chickpea Salad (all creamy and textured – still a salad!)
- Rainbow Chicken Salad with Almond Honey Mustard Dressing (this dressing though – SO AMAZING!)
- Quinoa Crunch Salad with Peanut Dressing (another salad packed with crisp, crunchy veg)
- BLT Panzanella (fried bread on a salad…that’s all we’re saying)
- Avocado Kale Caesar Salad with Sweet Potato Fries (salad & fries – hello balanced meal)
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our easy weeknight dinners page. Check it out!
Such a great salad! I turn to it often as it’s easy to make & has vegetables I don’t eat as often. Filling & so not boring! Thanks!
LOVED this one! I didn’t have cashews so subbed peanuts and added some powdered pb to the dressing. O M G.
Lunches done for the week! 🙂
This was fantastic. I honestly doubted the dressing would provide enough “oomph” to the salad – and it 100% did. Another pinch of yum win for my recipe rotation :).
How much peanut butter for dressing- I did not see it mentioned
You say crunchy peanut dressing where is the peanuts in the ingredients?! And how many ?
Thanks
Absolutely the finest, best tasting, overall fabulous salad I have ever made. Made it with fresh cooked shrimp and gave some to my neighbor and she said it was the best thing I ever made!
Great salad!!! I air fried some Bare chicken nuggets from Costco and chopped them up for our protein, it was very good! Next time I’ll make a little more dressing because it’s just sooo good!!
I didn’t use cashews in the salad but everything else was the same. I thought this salad was pretty and appetising to look at, but tasted like any other coleslaw. I wouldn’t make this again. There are better cabbage salads out there. What I will keep “on file” is the additions of dry the chow mein, and I added small spicy roasted chic peas (also dry).
Love this recipe and really everything I have tried from here! But this was a great crunchy salad option. I have a soy allergy and switched out the Edamame for English Peas… same great crunch. Thank you for this one, it will go in the rotation for sure!
Hey – have looked all over for the noodles – where do you get them from?? Thx!
This is amazing. Finally a salad I can eat as a meal, and it is perfect for meal prep. I also appreciate that it helps me use up cabbages I might have from another recipe. Cannot recommend enough!!
This is amazing! Seems like a simple, easy salad but the dressing brings it to a new level! I added avocado, baked tofu and chili lime cashews from Costco!
I have made your crunchy salad many times but I don’t think I am using the correct roasted cashews. Can you tell me if you buy them or roast them yourself.
X
OMG I have been eating this for lunch all week and I looked forward to it every day. Delicious perfection as always. Thank you!
Made exactly as directed except used toasted sesame oil instead of regular. Made had some both with some shredded rotisserie chicken and also without any added meat—lots of good protein with the edamame and cashews. Absolutely delicious! The dressing is outstanding. I did add the optional mayo.
this was delicious and comes together really fast/easily. I added rotisserie chicken and half an avocado. The dressing is fantastic!!
Love this salad
Looks delicious! I’ll be making this for a work potluck tomorrow. I love crunch in my salads, and all the ingredients in this one are right up my alley. I have to smile at all the comments asking about chow mein noodles. I’m older, 64. When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, canned chow mein noodles were very common in households. We snacked on them all the time. Nice to see them used in this salad.
This looks amazing. I’d love to meal prep this for lunch for the week. How well would this salad hold up for 3 or more days? should i NOT add the dressing until ready to serve?
For meal prep you could toss it all together EXCEPT for the chow mein noodles. Add those in when you want to eat it each time to keep them crunchy!
This is such a fantastic salad. I love this recipe – the salad is so fresh and flavorful and quick and easy. Made it for a summer party last year and it was a hit!
In the regular rotation, whether as a salad for a group gathering or as a main course for dinner with protein added (chicken or shrimp). So good!
I made this for dinner last night but with napa cabbage as I’ve been wanting to try using it and it was delicious! We really loved it and the dressing surprised me – it was great and just like they’d serve in a restaurant. Can’t wait to eat it again today. This would be a fun dish to assemble with kids….Thank you!
I made this recipe for a second time in 3 weeks. It is so good and my husband would eat the whole thing if I let him. This recipe led me to this site and I’ve made a few others. Highly recommend!
Do you use salted or unsalted roasted cashews?
Salted!
Quick and easy to prepare for a well balanced meal.