Asian Chicken Salad
Posted Apr 28, 2023, Updated Feb 12, 2024
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In this Asian chicken salad recipe, colorful veggies, marinated chicken and lettuce are tossed in a delicious homemade dressing. It’s bursting with flavor and so much more delicious than any restaurant salad!
This Asian chicken salad recipe is so much more delicious than even my favorite restaurant. Chicken is infused with a flavorful marinade, then grilled and put atop a bed of lettuce and vibrant vegetables.
Then, everything is tossed in the most delicious homemade peanut dressing, resulting in a salad you’ll want to make on repeat.
Asian Chicken Salad: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Chicken breasts. Chicken thighs are a good substitute for breasts. You can use rotisserie chicken and not marinated, grilled chicken if preferred.
- Mirin. Rice wine vinegar works well in place of Mirin if you don’t have it.
- Honey. Granulated sugar or brown sugar are good substitutes for honey.
- Minced garlic. Both freshly minced and jarred work well.
- Romaine lettuce. Spring mix, iceberg, baby spinach, etc. are all great choices. Pick your favorite.
- Green onions. I love green onions in this recipe, but you can use your favorite – yellow, red, etc.
- Vegetables. I included our favorite veggies to use in this Asian chicken salad. You can substitute your favorites and omit the ones you don’t like.
- Cashews. Peanuts can be used in place of cashews.
- Wonton strips. You can omit these if you prefer not to use them.
- Peanut dressing. Feel free to use your favorite store-bought dressing if you’d prefer not to make your own. You can substitute powdered garlic and ginger with freshly minced garlic and ginger, if desired.
How to Make Asian Chicken Salad
We’ll walk through this Asian chicken salad recipe step-by-step, and don’t forget to watch the video!
Make the dressing
Begin the recipe by making the dressing. Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl, then add water as needed to thin it out.
Set aside at room temperature or if you make it a day in advance, store it in a glass jar with a lid in the refrigerator.
Marinate the Chicken
The next step in this recipe is to marinated the chicken. Begin my whisking the marinade ingredients together in a small bowl.
Then, put the chicken breasts in a Ziplock bag and pour the marinade into the bag. Marinade in the refrigerator for up to 5 hours, or at room temperature for 1 hour.
Grill the Chicken
After the chicken is marinated, preheat a grill to around 450 degrees F.
Grill the chicken on the first side for 3-4 minutes, flip and grill on the second side until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F.
Note: The cook time will depend on the thickness of your chicken.
Then, let the grilled chicken cool slightly before slicing to use on the salad.
Assemble the Asian Chicken Salad
Once the dressing is made and the chicken is grilled, it’s time to assemble the salad. Begin by combining the lettuce, carrots, cilantro, green onion and edamame in a large bowl.
Then, top the salad with cashews, wonton strips and sliced chicken.
Dress the Salad
You can serve this Asian chicken salad in two ways:
- First, you can dress the entire salad and serve it fully dressed.
- Second, you can assemble the salad, serve individual portions and dress them individually. I prefer this method because undressed salad lasts longer in the refrigerator.
Serve
I serve this Asian chicken salad as an entire meal by itself. However, you can serve it with your favorite Asian recipes like fried rice, cashew chicken stir fry, asian chicken lettuce wraps, stir fry vegetables, etc.
Store
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Dressed salad will stay fresh for up to 2 days in the refrigerator (depending on the type of lettuce you use), and undressed salad will last for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
Store leftover dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Asian Chicken Salad Recipe FAQs
Yes, if you’d like to feed this asian chicken salad to a large crowd, you can double the recipe.
Many people love adding mandarin oranges to Asian chicken salad – however you absolutely can omit them if you prefer.
In the refrigerator, dressed salad lasts for 1-2 days and undressed salad stays fresh for up to 5 days.
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Asian Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Chicken & Marinade
- 2 lbs chicken breasts cut thin (½”) or into tenders
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- 1 Tablespoon mirin
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
Salad
- 4 cups Romaine lettuce about 2-3 heads depending on size
- 1 large carrot shredded
- ½ cup cilantro chopped
- ½ cup green onions
- 1 cup edamame
- ½ cup cashews chopped
- ½ cup wonton strips
Dressing:
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1-2 Tablespoons water if desired to thin out.
Optional additions:
- 8 oz Mandarin oranges drained
- ½ cup red cabbage shredded
- 1 red bell pepper sliced thin
Instructions
Make the Dressing
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Add water as needed to thin it out. Set aside at room temperature or if you make it a day in advance, store it in a glass jar with a lid in the refrigerator.
Marinate the Chicken
- In a small bowl, whisk together the marinade ingredients. Put the chicken in a Ziplock bag and pour the marinade into the bag. Marinade in the refrigerator for up to 5 hours, or at room temperature for 1 hour.
Grill the Chicken
- After the chicken is marinated, preheat a grill to around 450 degrees F. Grill the chicken on the first side for 3-4 minutes, flip and grill on the second side until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F. The cook time will depend on the thickness of your chicken. Let cool slightly before slicing to use on the salad.
Assemble the Salad
- Combine the lettuce, carrots, cilantro, green onion and edamame in a large bowl.
- Top with cashews, wonton strips and sliced chicken.
- You can dress the entire salad, or serve the dressing on the side and dress individual portions. I always prefer the latter because undressed salad can be refrigerated and enjoyed for a few days, whereas dressed salad gets soggy.
Video
Notes
- Chicken breasts. Chicken thighs are a good substitute for breasts. You can use rotisserie chicken and not marinated, grilled chicken if preferred.
- Mirin. Rice wine vinegar works well in place of Mirin if you don’t have it.
- Honey. Granulated sugar or brown sugar are good substitutes for honey.
- Minced garlic. Both freshly minced and jarred work well.
- Romaine lettuce. Spring mix, iceberg, baby spinach, etc. are all great choices. Pick your favorite.
- Green onions. I love green onions in this recipe, but you can use your favorite – yellow, red, etc.
- Vegetables. I included our favorite veggies to use in this Asian chicken salad. You can substitute your favorites and omit the ones you don’t like.
- Cashews. Peanuts can be used in place of cashews.
- Wonton strips. You can omit these if you prefer not to use them.
- Peanut dressing. Feel free to use your favorite store-bought dressing if you’d prefer not to make your own. You can substitute powdered garlic and ginger with freshly minced garlic and ginger, if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
