Asian Chicken Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing
Our daughter is less than a week away from finishing her freshman year at TCU, it has gone by in the blink of an eye! She and her friends wanted to come to our house the other day as a pre-finals day to relax by the pool. So, of course I wanted to put together a fun salad for them that was light but filling and had a ton of flavor. I started writing a list of my ideal Asian Chicken Salad and just started adding ingredients until it was complete. The flavors are amazing!
These ingredients are everything I want in a satisfying salad on a hot summer day. The addition of crunchy dry ramen and cashew pieces along with the fresh cilantro, green onions and sesame seeds are the perfect finishing touches to take this Asian Chicken Salad over the top. For me, if I’m having a salad for lunch, it has to have chicken, it’s what takes a side salad to a main dish. The Spicy Peanut dressing is out of this world delicious. It’s creamy and sweet with a tangy, spicy punch…it’s borderline bottom of the bowl lick-able....don’t worry, I won’t tell!
You can make all of the components to this salad ahead of time and assemble it when you’re ready, the perfect make ahead salad for entertaining a crowd.
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Total Time
30 minutes
Course
Salad
Cuisine
Asian
Servings
8-10 servings
Ingredients
For the salad:
1 lb. mixed greens (spinach, romaine, butter, spring greens, etc.)
1/3 head purple cabbage, thinly sliced
1/3 head green or napa cabbage, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 carrot, julienned
3 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
3 green onions, whites/light greens (dark greens separated for garnish)
3 chicken breasts
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2-3 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Garnish: reserved dark green onions, optional: one package dry ramen noodles crumbled, 1 Tbsp. fresh mint julienned, 1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped, 2 Tbsp. cashews crushed and 1/2 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
For the dressing:
3 Tbsp. smooth peanut butter
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
¼ tsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. sambal
2 Tbsp. sesame oil
2-3 Tbsp. water for consistency
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375F
Prepare the salad; to a large bowl, add mixed greens, thinly chopped purple and green cabbages, sliced red bell pepper, julienned carrots, sliced cucumbers, green onions (whites/light greens). Cover with a damp paper towel and store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Add chicken breasts to a baking sheet with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil on both sides. Cook on center rack for about 15 minutes (depending upon the size) until cooked through. Let cool and then thinly slice, add it back to the pan with the drippings until ready to serve.
Make the dressing; in a bowl, combine smooth peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, hoisin, freshly grated garlic and ginger, black pepper, sambal, sesame oil, whisk to combine. Add 2-3 Tbsp. of water and whisk to thin it out for consistency.
Assemble the salad with the dressing, toss to combine and top with crunchy ramen noodles, green onions, cashew pieces, cilantro and sesame seeds.