I always get a little pit in my stomach whenever one of those dramatic restaurant exposes comes up online or on the news. You know what I’m talking about. A picture of a beautiful green salad or light sandwich is shown, but then the announcer comes on with his dark and scary “mwahaha” voice and challenges, “Do you KNOW what you’re eating?” Dum..dum..DUM!!!!
Ok, by this point in life, I know that most of the healthier-seeming options in restaurants are often less than such. But every now and then I’m still blown away by the nutrition facts. And more often than not, big beautiful salads tend to win the awards for most fat and calories. I remember when I recently looked up the nutrition facts for one of my favorite Asian chicken salads from a large well-known restaurant chain, it scored in at a whopping 98 grams of fat. Nope, no typo there. 98, people!!!!
Gah. This is why I like salads made at home!
So for anyone else out there who might like Chinese chicken salads, today I’m happy to be sharing with you a Lighter Chinese Chicken Salad recipe. No fried chicken, crispy fried wontons or heavy peanut-y dressing here. Just lots of greens and veggies tossed with marinated chicken and almonds, topped with a yummy sesame ginger vinaigrette. Quick, easy, and full of flavor you can feel good about. Just the way I like it.
I vote we leave the number 98 for boy bands. ;)
Lighter Chinese Chicken Salad
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
Description
A lighter version of the ever-popular Chinese Chicken Salad!
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients:
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
- salt and pepper
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 head Romaine lettuce, shredded
- 4 cups shredded red cabbage
- 1 cup edamame
- 2/3 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup chow mein noodles
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
- sesame ginger vinaigrette (see ingrediente below)
Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
- 3 Tbsp. honey
- 2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
- 1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
- 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tsp. sriracha chile sauce (optional)
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- pinch of salt and pepper
Instructions
To Make The Salad:
- Combine chicken breasts, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar in a large bowl or ziplock bag and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. Remove the chicken from the marinade, and season both sides of each chicken breast with salt and pepper.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken for 4 minutes per side or until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink inside. Remove and let rest for at least 5 minutes. Then cut into thin strips.
- In a large bowl, toss together Romaine, red cabbage, edamame, carrots, chicken, chow mein noodles and almonds until combined. Toss with your desired amount of vinaigrette. Serve immediately.
To Make The Vinaigrette:
- Whisk together all ingredients until combined. You can add more sriracha for an extra kick.
Love this recipe and so easy to make at home. Your recipe makes it a pleasure to cook and eat at home.
Lose the chow mein noodles and add a gluten free dressing for celiacs
Hi! Are the chow mein noodles dried/fried or cooked?
I really enjoyed this and made it a second time replacing the chicken with tempeh. Both times the leftovers didn’t last the day.
We’re so glad to hear that, Jenny! :)
Thanks for this recipe it was lovely. I made it tonight with a few changes as I couldn’t find some of the ingredients. I used apple cider vinegar for the rice wine vinegar and I didn’t use the noodles or the edamame. I had it with sweet potato mash which worked really well.
In the photograph, I see that there are bean sprouts. Should i add it? And how much?
Hey Ivan! The bean sprouts are totally optional and you’re welcome to add as much as you’d like! We hope you enjoy! :)
Yum! This was so good! I used chicken thighs instead of breasts, and they were delish! The dressing was yummy too…I will definitely make it again!
Thanks Tricia, we’re happy you enjoyed this! :D
Found Gimme Some Oven on Pinterest and this was one of the first recipes of yours I tried. It’s so tasty. Hits all the right notes I wanted from a sesame dressing. I added a little creamy peanut butter to the dressing and actually keep a bottle of it in the fridge. The edamame, almonds and crunchy noodles make the salad. If there are ever leftovers from the night before, I throw them in a spinach wrap for lunch. Thanks for sharing!
Katie, we’re so glad you liked this, thanks for giving the recipe a try! :)
Hi, I love the look and will undoubtedly also love the taste of this salad. And I noticed that you posted about how much fat is in other salads. However there have been several comments as to the nutritional value of your version of the salad and you haven’t responded. Can you please advise as to the fat content of your salad along with the other information?
Hi Rae, unfortunately we aren’t publishing nutrition facts on the site at this time. The nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. But many of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. While we don’t know the exact fat content or nutrition facts of this particular recipe, we feel confident in saying this is low in fat. We hope this helps, and that you enjoy the salad!