Chinese Chicken Salad
by Chungah
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Crunchy Chinese chicken salad! With leftover rotisserie chicken, romaine, napa, crispy wonton strips and a homemade sesame ginger dressing!
Featured Comment
Perfect in every way, so easy to make. I have been craving Chinese Chicken Salad but could never find a good one at any restaurant. This was exactly what I wanted and remember from my favorite restaurant back home. My daughter and her friends loved it too.
Why you’ll love this Chinese chicken salad
- Restaurant-quality salad. This homemade version allows you to control all of the ingredients, avoiding excess salt, sugar, and preservatives (particularly in the dressing!).
- Pairs well with everything. This is just one of those salads that pairs beautifully with so many main dishes. It’s light, crunchy, and packed with sweet and savory flavors all around.
- Budget-friendly. Ordering out can get so costly but a homemade batch uses affordable ingredients and staples, and even allows you to repurpose leftover rotisserie chicken!
- Can be made ahead of time. This keeps prep time to a minimum, making weeknight dinners feel so effortless during busy work and school days.
What is a Chinese chicken salad?
This is a type of American-Chinese fusion salad typically made with shredded chicken, cabbage, and carrots, topped with a crunchy ingredient (ex. fried noodles or almonds) and tossed in a sesame-ginger dressing.
Key ingredients
- Base: romaine lettuce and napa cabbage
- Protein: shredded chicken, such as leftover rotisserie chicken
- Vegetables: cilantro and green onions; carrots, bell peppers, and snow peas can also be added
- Citrus: mandarin oranges
- Crunch: cashews, wonton strips (homemade or store-bought); sliced almonds or crispy chow mein noodles can be substituted
- Dressing: homemade sesame-ginger dressing (recipe below)
How to make chinese chicken salad
- Make the dressing. Whisk the rice vinegar, orange marmalade, canola oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, and sesame seeds until well combined.
- Combine the salad ingredients. Add the romaine lettuce, cabbage, chicken, mandarin oranges, cilantro, cashews, and green onions in a large shallow bowl.
- Dress and toss. Add the sesame-ginger dressing in stages, tossing until evenly coated.
- Add crunch. Top with wonton strips and sesame seeds just before serving.
what to serve with chinese chicken salad
- Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
- Quick Ramen Noodle Stir Fry
- Vegetable Potstickers
- Easy Hot and Sour Soup
- Sesame Chicken Kabobs
Tools For This Recipe
Salad spinner
Chinese Chicken Salad: Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have a recipe for rotisserie chicken?
Yes, I love this Instant Pot rotisserie chicken recipe! It’s so easy and so flavorful, and makes for great salads.
Can I substitute a different protein?
Yes! You can substitute pan-fried or baked tofu, shrimp, or salmon.
Can I add additional vegetables?
Carrots, bell peppers, and snow peas are all excellent additions.
How can I make homemade wonton strips?
These crispy wonton strips are very easy to make with only 2 ingredients!
Can you make this salad ahead of time?
Absolutely! The dressing can be stored in the fridge, and everything else can be prepped and chopped, stored in separate containers (especially the mandarin oranges to avoid sogginess). When ready to serve, gently toss all of your ingredients together with the dressing until evenly coated.
Chinese Chicken Salad
Crunchy Chinese chicken salad! With leftover rotisserie chicken, romaine, napa, crispy wonton strips and a homemade sesame ginger dressing!
Video
Ingredients
- 1 head romaine, shredded
- 4 cups shredded napa cabbage
- 3 cups leftover shredded rotisserie chicken
- 1 (15-ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- ½ cup roasted salted cashews
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- 2 cups crispy wonton strips, homemade or store-bought
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
for the sesame ginger dressing
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons orange marmalade
- 2 ½ tablespoons canola oil
- 2 ½ tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- To assemble the salad, place romaine lettuce in a large bowl; top with cabbage, chicken, mandarin oranges, cilantro, cashews and green onions. Pour the sesame ginger dressing on top of the salad and gently toss to combine.
- Serve immediately, topped with wonton strips and sesame seeds.
for the sesame ginger dressing
- In a small bowl, whisk together rice vinegar, orange marmalade, canola oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger and sesame seeds; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Equipment
Notes
- Prep ahead of time. Save time by making the dressing up to 1 week in advance, and prepping and dicing the vegetables 1-2 days prior and storing them in airtight containers in the fridge.
- Dry the greens thoroughly. Wash and dry the greens thoroughly using a salad spinner to avoid the dressing from sliding off or causing the greens to go limp and soggy very quickly.
- Homemade wonton strips goes a long way. Store-bought will save some time in the kitchen but the homemade version requires only 2 ingredients and tastes so much more fresh, crisp and light-textured.
- Add some heat. Need a spicy kick? Add a little bit of Sriracha or sambal oelek to the dressing.
- Make it more filling. Add rotini pasta or soba noodles for a more filling, hearty salad.
- Mix it up. Use a different kind of protein, swap the cashews for sliced almonds, or use scallions in place of cilantro.
- Toss the dressing just before serving. This will avoid a soggy salad and allow for maximum, crisp freshness.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I cannot believe that such a simple to make salad could be so tasty. Really enjoyed it as it was something totally different. It was a lovely filling salad too. Will be making again!
Made this tonight sans wonton wrappers (I was too lazy) and this was very good and filling. The dressing with fresh ginger was amazing. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Made this for dinner tonight and we loved it! Perfect salad for summer and the dressing is fantastic. Thanks for another great recipe!
Delicious restaurant quality salad! We all loved it, and it will be on repeat all summer long!!!
Seriously this dressing is the BEST EVER. The salad is really delicious and crunchy – totally satisfying but the dressing just takes it over the top. I will use this dressing as a marinade for grilling chicken, pork, turkey….it’s totally the BEST. Thank you Chungah for yet another awesome recipe!!!
Looks delicious. How many does the recipe serve?
i am definately trying this
This was so good! The only downside is that I can’t eat it faster lol
The best tasting, with the easiest ingredients recipe for Chinese chicken salad! Damn delicious/home run every time! A household staple/well-loved bookmark tab for YEARS! Thank you Chungah!
Changah’s dressing makes the whole dish. Just the right ratios. Mmmmmm. I use Napa cabbage and Costco rotisserie chicken and can now make this in about 10 minutes.
I’ve now made this recipe several times I double the dressing and add Mung bean sprouts when I can find them. Soo good
Years ago, I lived with a Chinese nun whose Chinese chicken salad had the whole parish knocking at our door. It took her all day and I’ve spent a lifetime trying—and failing—to recreate it. This looks close. I’m trying to figure out how to get all the flavors of the marinade if I cheat with rotisserie chicken. I also know she used Chinese cabbage —maybe instead of romaine? I’m going in…stay tuned!
Awesome, healthy recipe-Thank you!!!!
I’ve found most of the recipes I’ve tried on this site to be quite good. This recipe was a bit bland.
I added lime juice, Korean chili flakes, and toasted sesame seeds to spruce it up.
I used rotisserie chicken and had to add some additional oil (grapeseed) to emulsify the dressing, but this was delightful!
Amazing! Love love love it! My biggest challenge? Portion control! The vinaigrette dressing is off the charts delicious!
Really delicious! I used sugar snap peas instead of edamame (just personal preference). I also used a blend of radicchio, arugula, and spinach (I like a heartier green). Can’t wait to make again! Such a great meal-prep for lunches!
I just used the salad dressing on a bag of store bought, pre sliced Cole slaw, yum! Fabulous cole slaw in 2 minutes!
I haven’t finished my salad yet, but you use the marinade from what you cooked your chicken in, for your dressing?
I’m going to try this tonight but it looks like the sesame vinaigrette is your dressing. The first few ingredients listed are to cook the chicken in.
I want to make this for a luncheon tomorrow. If I were to buy a cooked chicken (in an effort to same time) and chopped it up, would I use the marinade to coat the cooked chicken, less the sesame oil. thank you. And I really love your recipes, even the ones I haven’t made yet. This pandemic has a definite plus side for those playing around in the kitchen with recipes.
I LOVE Chinese chicken salad and have been searching, relentlessly, for many, many years for the perfect recipe. This is it!! I’m obsessed!! I made it last week for dinner and wanted to make it again for lunch today but couldn’t remember which recipe I used so I tried another one. Bad idea! I’m so glad I found your recipe again! I just added some cilantro and mandarin orange chunks and instead of using ramen noodles, I used crispy rice noodles (aka vermicelli/rice sticks).