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This delicious Asian Chicken Salad is packed full of wonderful flavors and texture and finished with an easy peanut sauce dressing. It comes together quickly and easily and is great for make ahead meals and meal prep. The chicken is rubbed with Chinese Five Spice and it’s perfect to serve as a healthy dinner.
I swear it was February two days ago?! It will be spring in 3 weeks and it will be summer bikini body time before we know it! Eating salads at dinner is great for getting that bikini body. Eating Asian Chicken Salad is great for your taste buds too!
Not all salads are created equally. I can’t commit to eating salads if they’re boring, so I add some protein to it and I add some healthy fats to it. That all just makes that salad commitment easier! That’s what I did with this Asian chicken salad, or it’s technically a Chinese chicken salad.
INGREDIENTS
- Cabbage: I used Napa cabbage, which is also called Chinese cabbage, and it’s the one you find in the grocery store that has an oblong shape to it. I also added some red (err purple?) cabbage for some color.
- Vegetables: Red pepper, green pepper, carrot and green onions.
- Chicken breast: I prefer to make this salad with boneless skinless chicken breast, but you can also use thighs if you prefer.
- Chinese five-spice: The chicken is marinated with Asian five-spice, which if you don’t have in your pantry, you need to check it out (or make your own blend)! You’ll be obsessed with it! Can you just taste that chicken flavor through the screen?!
- Asian salad dressing: Rice vinegar, peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame seed oil, garlic and ginger.
RECIPE VIDEO TUTORIAL
How To Make Asian Chicken Salad
I thought the spice blend was the hero of this Asian chicken salad recipe, but it’s really the dressing! Why? Peanut butter! Smooth and creamy peanut butter that is absolutely just perfect for this salad recipe.
To make the sauce, simply blend all of the ingredients together in a blender until smooth.
In a large bowl, combine the veggies and our over the dressing and keep to one side.
Marinate the chicken and cook thoroughly on both sides in a pan on the stovetop. Remove from the pan, slice diagonally and divide between the two bowls. Garnish with the green onions and enjoy!
Tips to make this RECIPE
- Ensure that the ingredients for the sauce are really well combined and smooth. If you don’t have a food processor you can whisk it together by hand in a bowl.
- Mix up your protein. This salad would also work really well with shrimp, simply rub over the spice mix and pan fry them. You can also make this salad vegan by swapping the chicken for tofu.
- Cook the chicken breast in a skillet over a medium high heat for 5 to 7 minutes on each side. You can also cook the chicken in the oven at 350F for 25 minutes.
- Make it your own. The slaw salad ingredients can easily be changed and you can add in your favorite veggies. You can swap the chicken for another protein like tofu, chickpeas or shrimp.
Frequently asked questions
This Asian chicken salad is great for meal prep. Make up the salads in airtight containers and they will keep well in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Perfect for easy to grab lunches.
It’s a blend of five spices that are common in Chinese cooking.It’s a mix of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise, and Szechwan peppercorns. It’s readily available in the spice and herb section in stores.
The chicken really doesn’t need to be marinaded for long. The chicken breast is a tender cut of meat so doesn’t require more than you rubbing on the spice with the oil and cooking it. Of course, you can marinate it for up to 4 hours if you aren’t ready to cook it straight away.
You’ve got two ginormous Asian chicken salad bowls for dinner, or possibly four smaller bowls for lunch meal prep! I’m putting this on menu rotation until I create another epic dinner salad.
For more salad recipes, check out:
- Asian Noodle Salad
- Shrimp Avocado Salad
- Vegan Macaroni Salad
- Mediterranean Pasta Salad
- Asian Lettuce Wraps
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Asian Chicken Salad recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagramso I can repost on my stories!
Asian Chicken Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 1/2 head Napa cabbage thinly sliced
- 1 cup red cabbage thinly sliced
- 1/2 red pepper thinly sliced
- 1/2 green pepper thinly sliced
- 1 large carrot thinly sliced
- 3 green onions diagonally cut
- 2 6 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
For the Dressing
- 3 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 3 Tbsp smooth peanut butter
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp sesame seed oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 thumb ginger
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the Napa cabbage, red cabbage, red peppers, green peppers and carrots.
- In a small blender or food processor, blend together the ingredients for the dressing: rice vinegar, peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame seed oil, garlic and ginger.
- Pour the dressing over the bowl of cabbage and vegetables, and toss to combine. Divide the salad into two large bowls.
- Marinate the chicken with the olive oil and Asian five-spice powder and cook thoroughly on both sides. Remove from the pan, slice diagonally and divide between the two bowls. Garnish with the green onions and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This looks absolutely divine!!
What’s chinese five spices?
Seriously this is the best recipe!!! My family loves it! Super easy and full of flavor! Definitely a go-to to for us. Thank you!!
Yay! Thank you Megan…I’m so happy to hear that!! Thank you for leaving a rating!! 🙂
Packed with flavor, presented with color, made with passion. That is the definition of yummy.