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Chinese Chicken Salad

15 Comments

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This Chinese Chicken Salad has already become my “salad of the summer” and I’m quite sure I’ll be making it well into other seasons of the year. Made using an easy homemade peanut sauce for ultimate freshness. Serve this to family and friends, it’s almost too easy.

Chicken salad in a black and white bowl. Scallians and peanut dressing on side.

Incredibly fresh and contrasting ingredients like crunchy, shredded cabbage, sweet, garden-fresh carrots, chunks of cucumber and sliced scallions. Then add sweet segments from fresh oranges and tender, shredded chicken. More color and flavor is added with a toss of fresh or frozen peas, and depending on what’s in season, I like to use sugar-snap peas or slivered snow peas. Then sprinkle a generous helping of sliced almonds and toasted sesame seeds.

 Chinese Chicken Salad in a black and white bowl with chicken, oranges, almonds, sesame seeds and peanut dressing.

And the dressing! This fresh-from-scratch Peanut Sauce Recipe doubles as the perfect Chinese chicken salad dressing or as a chicken satay sauce. It doesn’t take long to blend the dressing together, but why not make it ahead of time to speed up the prep even further?

peanut sauce in a black bowl with scallions and ginger on the side.

Speaking of the time it takes to prep this salad, if your chicken is pre-cooked and the dressing made ahead of time, you can have dinner on the table in about 15 minutes. I’ve found the best method for cooking chicken breasts for this salad is to gently boil them until an instant-read thermometer reads 160F degrees in the center of the thickest part, but you could add grilled chicken or even left-over rotisserie chicken.

 Chinese Chicken Salad on a black and white plate with peanut sauce on side.

Chinese Chicken Salad also easily converts to a raw vegan-friendly salad simply by omitting the chicken. Change it up a bit but adding some red bell pepper, jalapeno slices, avocado and even broccoli or shredded brussel sprouts. The green cabbage is refreshing and crunchy, but you could use any dark leafy lettuce and some slices of red cabbage instead. Switch out the almonds for cashews or Spanish peanuts.

This recipe is so versatile, so healthy, and so tasty, you’ll be craving it during the hot summer months especially when turning on the oven is a definite no-go.

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5 from 5 votes

Chinese Chicken Salad

This is the best Chinese chicken salad ever. So fresh, with delicious and healthy ingredients. The peanut sauce dressing can be made up to a week ahead of serving. I like to boil the chicken until it reaches 160F degrees internal temperature. This method of preparing the chicken ensures tender chicken. You could also use any leftover cooked chicken (rotisserie leftovers also work well). If your chicken is not already cooked before starting the recipe, this will be more like a 45 minute recipe rather than a 20 minute meal.
Course Main Dish Salad
Cuisine Chinese
Prep Time 20 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 5
Calories 533
Author Good Dinner Mom

Ingredients 

For the Dressing:

  • ½ cup soy sauce or tamari- tamari is the gluten-free option
  • ½ cup regular peanut butter, not peanut butter that needs stirring
  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar or unseasoned rice vinegar
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 Tablespoons sesame oil
  • 1 cup canola oil, expeller-pressed is health option

Salad Ingredients:

  • 1-10 ounce bag shredded coleslaw mix or 4 cups finely shredded green cabbage
  • ¼ pound snow peas, trimmed and sliced lengthwise or sugar-snap peas removed from pods
  • 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped into ½-inch pieces
  • 1 carrot peeled and then shredded into ribbons with the peeler (or grate with cheese grater)
  • 2 scallions sliced
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 3 cups shredded cooked chicken
  • 2 oranges, peeled, white pith removed, and cut between the membranes to remove segments
  • ½ cup slivered almonds
  • 2 Tablespoons sesame seeds

Instructions

For the Dressing:

  • In a blender, process ½ cup soy sauce (or tamari), ½ cup peanut butter, ½ cup vinegar, 2 chopped garlic, 2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper until combined. Add 2 Tablespoons sesame oil and 1 cup canola oil and blended until smooth.

For the Salad:

  • In a large bowl, toss together 10 ounces coleslaw mix, ¼ pound snow peas, 1 cucumber, 1 carrots, 2 scallions and 2 Tablespoons parsley.
  • Add about ½ cup of the dressing and toss to combine.
  • Transfer to a serving platter. Top with 3 cups chicken, 2 oranges, ½ cup almonds and 2 Tablespoons sesame seeds.
  • Drizzle with extra dressing and serve or serve with the dressing to pass around the table.
  • tip: Make the dressing ahead of time, up to several days, and keep in air-tight container in the fridge until ready to assemble.
  • Tip: My best chicken option is to boil 5 half breasts until internal temperature measures 160F degrees. Let cool and then shred. (Bring water to boil before adding the chicken)
  • Tip: If you desire and have time, toast the almond slices and the sesame seeds for even better flavor. This is nice but not critical.
  • Tip: Using sugar-snap peas when they're in season is fabulous for a nice flavor and pretty presentation, so I highly recommend this option. Other options besides the snow peas are using fresh from frozen petite peas, or edamame.
Nutrition Facts
Chinese Chicken Salad
Amount Per Serving
Calories 533 Calories from Fat 315
% Daily Value*
Fat 35g54%
Saturated Fat 5g31%
Cholesterol 65mg22%
Sodium 2140mg93%
Potassium 921mg26%
Carbohydrates 25g8%
Fiber 7g29%
Sugar 12g13%
Protein 33g66%
Vitamin A 2715IU54%
Vitamin C 70.4mg85%
Calcium 162mg16%
Iron 3.5mg19%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Chinese Chicken Salad pinterest pin

You might also like

  • Thai Peanut Chicken Salad
  • Chicken Salad Recipe
  • Here's a quick and easy Peanut Sauce Recipe that's perfect for any Asian Salad or Chicken Satay. Regular and gluten-free version.
    Peanut Sauce Recipe

Published on June 13, 2016

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    Recipe Rating




  1. alice says

    June 29, 2022 at 6:02 AM

    5 stars
    I love new ideas for summery salads, this looks and sounds perfect!

    Reply
    • Sally Humeniuk says

      June 29, 2022 at 8:24 AM

      Hi Alice, you’ll love this one for summer, I just know it! 🙂

      Reply
  2. betty anne says

    June 29, 2022 at 6:01 AM

    5 stars
    I’ve been looking for a delicious asian chicken salad recipe for a while now. This sounds great! Love the snow peas in there!

    Reply
    • Sally Humeniuk says

      June 29, 2022 at 8:25 AM

      Thanks, Betty Anne! This is a great one. I think you’ll love it!

      Reply
  3. hellen says

    May 27, 2022 at 9:51 AM

    5 stars
    This salad is SO GOOD! I made it two days in row its that good! I will definitely make it again and again.

    Reply
  4. martha says

    February 23, 2022 at 6:04 AM

    5 stars
    I made this for dinner and we loved it! Really tasted like restaurant-quality. My husband said he could eat it every night! Thank for sharing Sally, we really enjoyed it!

    Reply
    • Sally Humeniuk says

      February 23, 2022 at 9:18 AM

      Wow, Martha! What a great compliment. Thanks for taking the time to let me know. 🙂

      Reply
  5. tim h says

    February 23, 2022 at 6:02 AM

    5 stars
    This recipe looks amazing, I just love your blog! Do you think you could make this recipe using tofu in place of the chicken and it still be just as good? Im a vegetarian 🙂

    Reply
    • Sally Humeniuk says

      February 23, 2022 at 9:14 AM

      Hi Tim, Absolutely! One of my kids is also vegetarian and we usually just leave out the chicken when making it for him. But tofu, especially if it’s sautéed up, would be fabulous on this salad!

      Reply
  6. Donna Maahs says

    August 19, 2016 at 7:31 PM

    I just made this peanut dressing and I doubled the recipe because I’m having 6 guests. There is so much dressing–well over a quart and I can’t believe there is not a mistake in the ingredients’ amounts. My main concern is that it tastes way too salty so I’m thinking I’m going to have to start all over. My question is, are you certain these amounts are correct? I’ve looked at other recipes for a peanut dressing and the dressings make around 1 cup which seems that would be an adequate amount of dressing for serving 4 people. My guests are coming on Monday and I’m wondering if I should just start over and make about 1-2 cups of the dressing. (Haven’t put together the salad ingredients yet.

    Reply
    • Sally says

      August 20, 2016 at 6:44 PM

      Donna, I checked my notes and the recipe and this is correct. The regular recipe (not doubled) does make almost 3 cups of dressing. But when you toss or drizzle it over the salad, the chicken and other ingredients soak up a lot of dressing. Maybe the 2 full tablespoons of salt is too much when doubled, especially if you’re using regular table salt. If you want to start over, I would still double everything except I would only add 1 teaspoon of salt and then taste it and add more if you want then. When you assemble the salad, it will be nice if you can toss the dressing in with everything, at least with the chicken and then have extra for passing or leftovers for another use. I hope this helps you. I’ve made this recipe multiple times (never doubled though) and it’s always a huge hit. Let me know how it goes for you.

      Reply
      • Donna says

        August 21, 2016 at 12:38 PM

        Hi Sally—

        Your recipe actually calls for a teaspoon–NOT A TABLESPOON–of salt so in doubling that, I used 2 TEASPOONS the first time. But since this was definitely TOO MUCH! I’ll try it again and probably give it the taste test before adding any additional salt at all. (I used Kosher salt the first time–not table salt.) I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.

        Reply
        • Sally says

          August 21, 2016 at 6:19 PM

          Oh gosh, sorry about that. I meant to type teaspoon, not tablespoon :. Yes, good idea- don’t add any until you taste it.

          Reply
  7. Kevin | Keviniscooking says

    June 15, 2016 at 4:21 PM

    Boy are we two peas in a pod! This is so similar to mine and we eat it quite often. Who needs Summer to enjoy this one. The photos are beautiful Sally. Hope this finds you well. 🙂

    Reply
    • Sally says

      June 16, 2016 at 11:08 PM

      Thank you, my dear, I too feel like we are kindred spirits. This recipe is a regular around my house as well. Hope you’re staying nice and cool.

      Reply
About Sally - Good Dinner Mom.

About Good Dinner Mom

My name is Sally and I love to be in the kitchen. Making fresh, unique dishes is my way of showing love for family and friends and I hope that here you’ll find recipes of both healthy and indulgent dishes that will inspire you to cook more at home while sharing some love of your own. more about me

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