🥗🥕 This Asian chicken salad recipe is one of my favorite salads ever! Made with crisp bell peppers, red cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, carrots, edamame, chicken, and a creamy peanut dressing, it’s filling and infused with layers of Asian-inspired flavor! While it’s not authentically Asian, it’s SO delicious, FAST, EASY, and great for work lunches or as a light dinner packed with protein!
Asian Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing
There’s no shortage of crispness and crunch in this Asian-inspired chicken salad! The creamy peanut dressing comes directly from my gold star Thai peanut salad. It’s been a reader favorite for years, and I’m not exaggerating when I say I could eat this peanut dressing by the spoonful.
Between the chicken and the edamame, this is a protein-packed salad that will actually keep you full! If you meal prep on weekends, cook the chicken, slice up the veggies, and whisk together the peanut sauce dressing in advance. This recipe makes four generous servings when eating as a main dish (and more if you’re serving it as a side salad) and can be enjoyed all week long!
Ingredients and Notes
- Peanut dressing: Creamy peanut butter (I use a traditional no-stir variety like Jif or Skippy because I find that natural peanut butter creates an overly runny dressing), honey, toasted sesame oil, apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar), ground ginger, salt, pepper, garlic, and optional cayenne create a creamy, savory, nutty sauce with a kick of heat
- Cooked chicken: I use any leftover cooked chicken I have on hand, be it roasted chicken, baked chicken breasts, grilled chicken, or poached chicken. You can also buy a rotisserie chicken at the store and shred or dice it to use in the salad
- Veggies: Romaine lettuce, red cabbage, bell pepper, cucumber, carrots, and green onion. Use any vegetables you have on hand and like best. Mandarin oranges add a nice pop of sweetness, too, if you want to include some fruit
- Edamame: Cook your edamame according to the package instructions before you begin
- Slivered almonds: I’ve also used chopped peanuts and cashews
- Fresh herbs: Fresh cilantro and fresh basil add a pop of brightness and a slightly peppery taste
Leftover dressing?
Use it up with my crunchy peanut chicken salad or any of my recipes with peanut sauce.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Asian Chicken Salad
Since the Asian peanut salad calls for pre-cooked chicken, you don’t have to turn on the oven or stove to prepare the recipe. The steps are very simple:
- Prepare the Asian peanut salad dressing by whisking together all of the ingredients in a bowl.
- In a large bowl, toss the salad ingredients.
- Pour half of the dressing into the salad and mix to coat.
- Add additional dressing as desired, or refrigerate the leftover dressing for future salads. Enjoy!
What to Serve with Asian Chicken Salad
Recipe FAQs
Once the peanut dressing is tossed with the chicken and vegetables, you need to eat the salad immediately.
However, you can prepare elements of this peanut chicken salad recipe in advance.
– Chicken: Can be cooked, then shredded or sliced and refrigerated until ready to use. Extra chicken will keep for 3-5 days, approximately.
– Dressing: Can be whisked together and refrigerated for up to 1 week. Extra dressing will keep for up to 1 week.
– Salad: One dressed and tossed, I suggest consuming the salad right away. You could do this a few hours ahead, such as for an event or for a work lunch that you mix everything up in the morning before you leave the house, but of course, salads get soggier as time passes, so use your judgment here. Extra veggies or lettuce will keep refrigerated for up to 3-5 days, depending on how fresh they were going in.
If you’re out of peanut butter or have a peanut allergy in your family, you can use a no-stir almond butter, cashew butter, or seed butter to make the dressing. I’ve only tested the dressing as written, so I can’t speak to whether or not you’ll have to make other adjustments to recipe to balance out the flavors.
If you have fresh ginger on hand, go ahead and use it in the dressing. I typically use ground ginger because it’s faster, cheaper, and I keep it stocked in my spice cabinet.
No, the sesame oil adds lots of flavor to the peanut dressing, so I don’t recommend substituting it. It’s typically sold as ‘toasted sesame oil,’ which is what I recommend. If you have one in your area, the Trader Joe’s toasted sesame oil is what I buy. It’s got a nice flavor and is pretty inexpensive (when bought in a TJs store).
Asian Chicken Salad Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Medium Bowl
Ingredients
Peanut Dressing
- ⅓ cup cup creamy peanut butter (heaping or domed)
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, or rice vinegar
- 1 to 2 teaspoons ground ginger, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced or pressed, optional
- pinch cayenne pepper or dash of sriracha, optional and to taste
Salad
- 2 cups cooked chicken*, diced or shredded (see Notes below for chicken options)
- 1 head of romaine lettuce, shredded (or a 10 ounce bag hearty salad greens)
- 2 cups frozen edamame, cooked according to package directions and cooled
- 1 cup red cabbage, shredded
- 1 red bell pepper, diced small
- 1 medium cucumber, diced or sliced(peeled if desired, I remove seeds OR use an English cucumber)
- 1 large carrot, shredded or peeled into ribbons
- ¼ cup sliced or slivered almonds or peanuts, I prefer salted, but unsalted are fine
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 3 to 4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely minced
- 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Peanut Dressing – To a medium bowl, add all the ingredients for the dressing, whisk until smooth and combined, taste, and make any necessary seasoning or flavor adjustments. (i.e. more honey, more peanut butter, more salt, more sesame oil, etc.). I like my sauce on the thicker side but you can add more vinegar/honey to thin it if desired; set aside.
- Salad – To a large bowl, add all the ingredients, and toss to combine.
- Assembly – Pour half the dressing over the salad, and mix to coat evenly. Then, before serving, top with the remaining dressing, if desired and to taste. I love lots of dressing but some people prefer things a bit drier.
- Storage – Extra peanut sauce dressing will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 1 week. Extra salad ingredients will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 3-5 days if the salad has NOT been tossed. After you toss the salad with the dressing, like with any salad, it's best consumed promptly because it gets soggier as it sits.
- Make Ahead – If you're making this for an event or for a work lunch and want to mix up everything that moring to have it ready, that's fine. But I wouldn't mix it up and dress it more than about 4 hours prior to consuming.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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