Asian Chicken Salad Recipe
It is true that a nice pan sauce will work wonders for boring chicken breast. Incorporating chicken breast into a salad is also nice. An ordinary chicken salad is fine, but sometimes it is nice to move beyond mayonnaise and celery and bring your chicken salad to the next level. When that time comes, I have a good Asian chicken salad recipe that I rely on.
The first thing that makes an Asian chicken salad nice is the vinaigrette. A vinaigrette is a nice way to flavor just about anything and it should certainly be used beyond salads for things like meat and fish. The classic base for an Asian vinaigrette is soy and/or fish sauce. Putting them together is even better. Fish sauce is a real winner and should be in everyone’s cupboard! With some fresh lime juice, garlic and fresh ginger plus a dash of sesame seed oil you have a bunch of flavors that go great together. I like to add brown sugar to the vinaigrette because the molasses adds a subtle liquorice flavor. All of these things play nicely together doing wonders for the chicken and really do an nice job of complimenting the citrus (more on this below). It is a really nice balance between salty, sweet, and sour.
There is a lot going on in a good Asian chicken salad beyond the vinaigrette, though. The crunch of other vegetables like cabbage is a nice change of pace from the regular lettuce. By mixing 2 different kinds of cabbage you can really boost the texture, too. Every great Asian chicken salad can be carrot heavy and this is nice. Carrots brings sweetness and crunch – both very good for a salad!
What sets the recipe below apart is the use of citrus supremes. The addition of orange, grapefruit and lime segments does very well with both the chicken and other Asian flavors, including the cilantro. The orange and grapefruit bring both a sweetness and freshness to the salad. What? Lime? We usually don’t eat lime straight, but it is so delicious and the WOW that you get from biting into a lime supreme is really fantastic. It perks up your taste buds.
- 1 lb of skinless, boneless chicken breasts or leftover chicken meat
- salt and pepper
- vegetable oil
- 1/4 lb of green cabbage (purchased shredded cabbage is fine)
- 1/4 lb of napa cabbage (purchased shredded cabbage is fine)
- 3 medium carrots
- 3 green onions
- 2 avocado
- 2 grapefruit
- 2 orange
- 2 lime
- 1 small bunch of cilantro
- 3 tbsp of sesame seeds
- pomegranate seeds
- 1 lime
- 2 tbsp brown or demerera sugar
- 2 tbsp of fish sauce
- 1 tsp of soy sauce
- 1 tsp of sesame oil
- 1 - 1 inch piece of fresh ginger
- 1 clove of garlic
- Pre-heat the oven to 400F.
- Drizzle the chicken with vegetable oil.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Bake on a baking tray sprayed with non-stick spray for 20-25 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 165F when inserted into the thickest part of the breast.
- Remove the chicken from the oven. Let cool.
- Cut the chicken breast into small cubes. Set aside.
- In a small, dry sauté pan, gently heat the sesame seeds until they are golden brown.
- Clean the green and napa cabbage. Shred the green cabbage finely. Chop the napa cabbage into small pieces.
- Wash and peel the carrots. Using a box grater, shred the carrots into fine shreds.
- Clean the green onions. Slice the green onion thinly.
- Peel the avocado and remove the seed. Cube the avocado.
- Segment the citrus. Trim the ends of the citrus fruit just deep enough so the fruit starts to show and the pith is exposed.
- Using a sharp knife, a slicing or paring knife will work fine, carefully make one cut from end to end, following the shape of the fruit, cutting only deep enough to remove the skin and pith.
- Continue peeling and removing the pith by running the knife blade from end to end using the exposed pith as a guide. By doing this, less fruit will be wasted.
- Continue peeling until the whole fruit is skin and pith free. The sections of the fruit will be clearly visible.
- Holding the peeled fruit in hand by the fruits ends, carefully cut between the exposed membranes removing the sections. It is best to slice the sections out over a bowl as there will be a lot of juice.
- After the sections are removed, squeeze the membrane and collect the remaining juice.
- Clean the cilantro. Remove the leaves of cilantro from the stems.
- In a large bowl, mix the chicken, cabbages, carrot avocado, citrus segments and cilantro leaves. Toss gently.
- Juice the lime into a small bowl.
- Using a fine rasp, grate the ginger until you have about 1 tbsp.
- Chop the garlic clove finely.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the fresh lime juice, brown or demerera sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, fresh ginger and garlic.
- Drizzle the salad with enough of the dressing to coat, but not enough to drown it. Sprinkle on some sesame seeds and pomegranate seeds.
- Serve cold or at room temperature.
- For a spicy note, add slices of red chilli.
- Another great topping is cashew nuts.
Of course, the other beauty about this salad is that if you don’t like something, don’t use it! You can personalise this salad in thousands of ways. A nice add is some pomegranate seeds for an extra pop of flavor. If you dont like the Asian vinaigrette, no worries! Use a simple balsamic (1 part acid:2 parts oil) vinaigrette. It will be just as good. To make this a dish that is easier to make during the week, cook the chicken a day or 2 ahead and store it in the fridge (the use of leftover chicken meat is perfect, too!). The citrus fruits can also be cut into segments ahead of time.
I hope you enjoy!
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