Chinese Chicken Salad

Make Chinese chicken salad with a light dressing as an easy and healthy midweek dinner or lunch.

Try some Panda Express recipes too, including black pepper chicken, paired with Asian zoodle salad. Or this unusual roasted butternut squash salad.

Why You’ll Love It

A quick midweek meal: Using shredded leftover chicken and broccoli slaw package reduces prep time.
Customizable: You can easily customize the flavors. If you don’t like certain ingredients, simply leave them out.
Great for meal prep: If you plan to make this recipe for meal prepping, prepare and store the salad and dressing separately in the fridge. This way, you can eat the salad throughout the week without it getting soggy.
Light and healthy: This salad is bulked up with fiber-loaded veggies and will leave you feeling satisfied but not stuffed.

Ingredients for Chinese Chicken Salad

A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

Salad Ingredients

Broccoli slaw (broccoli, carrots, red cabbage coleslaw mix): The broccoli slaw adds a crunchy texture and a mix of flavors to the salad. It’s rich in vitamins and adds a colorful element to the dish.
Shredded carrots: Broccoli slaw usually has carrots in it, but I like adding extra shredded carrots to this salad for volume and crunch.
Shredded chicken: To make it easy, you can use ready-made grilled, poached, or rotisserie chicken.
Sliced almonds: Switch these with nuts if you like, but do include nuts for crunch.
Cilantro: Cilantro adds a bright, citrusy flavor and a hint of freshness to the salad. I like to use the leaves and stalks for extra flavor and texture.

Salad Dressing Ingredients

Soy sauce: Soy sauce is the base of the dressing, adding a savory, umami flavor and a salty kick. Choose a low-sodium soy sauce if you’re watching your salt intake.
Rice vinegar: Rice vinegar provides a tangy acidity to balance the richness of the other ingredients.
Olive oil: It helps emulsify the ingredients and provides a healthy source of monounsaturated fats. You can also use another vegetable oil, like avocado oil, in this Chinese chicken salad.
Sesame oil: Sesame oil contributes a rich, nutty aroma and a distinctive flavor to the dressing. It’s best used in moderation due to its potent taste and adds an authentic Asian flair to the dish.
Smooth peanut butter: This helps thicken the dressing and yummy, rich flavor. You can substitute with almond butter or tahini for a similar creamy texture.

How To Make Chinese Chicken Salad

For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.

Build the salad base: Mix together the broccoli slaw with shredded green cabbage, cooked chicken, carrots, red bell pepper, cucumbers, and almonds in a large bowl. Set it aside.
Make the salad dressing: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients together until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning if you need to.
Dress the salad: Pour the dressing over it and garnish it with green onions and cilantro. Toss everything together lightly to combine. Serve immediately.

Substitutions and Variations

Nuts: Play around and try switching almonds for walnuts, cashews, pine nuts, or peanuts. Sesame seeds are great too. Crunchy chow mein noodles add a nice crunch if you aren’t using nuts.
Fruits & vegetables: Fold in canned mandarin oranges, sliced radishes, napa or purple cabbage, red onion as well as green onions, iceberg or iceberg lettuce, edamame, or bean sprouts.
Protein: Use shredded turkey instead, chicken thighs, or pork.
Vegetarian: Leave out the chicken and just enjoy the veggies. You can also try switching it with tofu, tempeh, or your favorite plant-based protein.
Bulked version: Stir in chow mein noodles, ramen noodles, or crispy wonton strips (which you find in the Wolfgang Puck salad).
Honey: Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of honey as a substitute for the brown sugar.

Serving Suggestions

Appetizer: Start out with cute heart-shaped pork pot stickers. These make a fun-filled start to the meal. My easy pink beetroot hummus with a side of crackers is another colorful dish if you want to stick with the rainbow theme.
Main: If you serve Chinese chicken salad as a main, try butter shrimp and juicy pan-seared pork chops as the hero main. This easy General Tso shrimp stir fry is a perfect follow-on, too.
Dessert: Finish the meal off with a no-bake pineapple lush dessert.

How To Store Chicken Salad

Store: If you plan to store the salad and dressing separately, this salad will stay fresh for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge. If you dress the salad, I recommend you store it for 2 days max. The sesame ginger dressing will make the salad soggy if sitting in it too long. If you have any leftover dressing, that will keep fresh for up to 1 week in the fridge.
Freeze: This salad is not a good recipe for freezing.