Asian chicken salad is one of my favorite salad meals. This recipe was based on one I saw on Ambitious Kitchen. My favorite recipe uses peanut dressing, but I loved the sound of the sesame ginger dressing for this one and had to try it. As usual, I made a few modifications to my own tastes.
As usual, it is great to marinate the chicken here a day ahead. This marinade gave a ton of flavor and I plan to use it again in the future, not just for this recipe. I used coleslaw mix as the base salad here and then added some sliced bell pepper, onion and jalapeno, as well as a lot of cilantro, scallions and sesame seeds. You could also use a crunchy lettuce like romaine either in addition too or instead of the cabbage mix.
The marinade and dressing for this salad are very similar and so you can just make double the marinade and use half as your dressing. Both are a mixture of sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, chopped fresh garlic and ginger (this gives sooo much flavor), and tahini. If you like salad for dinner, try this one. We used this delicious Asian chili crisp I got for Christmas on it and it was a perfect compliment. I have mentioned chili crisp before and they are all good, but this Fly by Jing one is extra good!
Crunchy Sesame Chicken Salad
Ingredients
For the dressing/marinade/chicken:
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger minced
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 2 tbsp sesame oil make sure its toasted sesame oil
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 package boneless skinless chicken breasts
For the salad:
- 1 bag coleslaw mix or 6 cups shredded cabbage. lettuce
- 1/2 cup diced green onions
- 3/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1 jalapeno seeded and thinly sliced
- 1 cup shredded carrots if you aren't using coleslaw mix that has them
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds more or less, to your taste
- 1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds
Instructions
For the marinade/chicken:
- Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and whisk well. Set aside half in another small bowl to use for the dressing. Trim chicken and place in a sealed ziploc with the 1/2 marinade and let sit overnight.
- When you are ready to cook, heat grill to medium or heat your broiler and cook chicken breasts until they are lightly charred and at least 165 in the thickest part with an instant read thermometer. Set aside to rest for 10 minutes and then slice.
For the dressing:
- Take the 1/2 of marinade you reserved for the dressing and whisk in 1/4 cup of olive oil (more or less to your taste).
For the salad:
- Toss the coleslaw mix, peppers, onions, cilantro, bell pepper and jalapeno with some of the dressing. Add the sesame seeds and toasted almonds. Taste and add more dressing if it is needed. Place some salad in a bowl and top with your sliced chicken and drizzle a bit of dressing over the top. Serve with chili crisp if you like.
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