Recently I came across a very old asian inspired chicken salad recipe I use to make. I thought it would be fun to make it again and see if it was as good as I remembered it to be. With a little tweaking of the dressing from the original recipe and a few additional ingredients, I have to say I really enjoyed this Asian Chicken Salad.
My original recipe called for poaching chicken breasts in water with ginger and letting it sit overnight. That called for too much advance planning so I just grilled some chicken breasts and diced them up. I think using a store bought rotisserie chicken would be perfect in this recipe as well, and would really make this a breeze to throw together.
The dressing uses the seasoning packet from ramen noodles, along with apple cider vinegar, sugar or honey, a little salt and pepper. After tasting the dressing I thought it needed more zip for my tastebuds so I jazzed it up by adding fresh ginger and Sriracha. It added just what I was looking for!
I recommend keeping the toppings for this Asian Chicken Salad seperate and only adding the amount you want after tossing the salad with the dressing. You want to keep the noodles, almonds, and sesame seeds crunchy and not soggy!
- 2 large chicken breasts, cooked, diced
- ½ head green cabbage, shredded (you could try napa cabbage if you want)
- 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 bunch green onions, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- ¼ C. chopped cilantro
- 1 can sliced water chestnuts
- ½ C. slivered almonds, toasted
- ¼ C. sesame seeds, toasted
- 1 pkg. chicken flavor ramen noodles
- 4 Tbls. apple cider vinegar
- 4 Tbls. sugar or honey
- 1 tsp. salt
- ⅛ tsp. pepper
- ½ C. vegetable oil
- 1-2 tsp. grated, fresh ginger root
- 1-2 tsp. Sriracha (to taste)
- In large bowl, combine chicken, cabbage, lettuce, green onions, red bell pepper, cilantro, water chestnuts and keep in refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Make the Dressing: In small saucepan, combine the seasoning packet from the ramen noodles, cider vinegar, sugar or honey, salt, pepper and bring to a boil to melt sugar or honey and combine ingredients. Set aside and cool, then add vegetable oil, ginger and Sriracha and shake well to combine.
- Crush ramen noodles and sauté them in 1 tablespoon of oil until golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Toast almonds in dry skillet or oven until toasted, remove and set aside.
- Toast sesame seeds in dry skillet or oven until toasted (watch them, they burn fast), remove and set aside.
- When ready to serve, toss salad with desired amount of salad dressing, add almonds, ramen noodles, sesame seeds and toss again.
