Easy Chinese Chicken Salad with Chow Mein Noodles

This easy Chinese chicken salad gets tossed with a bright, gingery dressing and topped with crunchy noodles. Makes a great make-ahead salad for a backyard party or a weekday lunch.

This Chinese chicken salad is a colorful and tasty way to use up some leftover chicken and makes for a quick and easy light lunch.

HOW TO MAKE THE SALAD DRESSING

I experimented with few different dressings and ultimately settled on this one, which I think is just the right balance of soy sauce, rice vinegar (or rice wine vinegar; they’re the same), ginger, garlic, and sesame oil.

Whisk everything together, taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking, then toss with the salad. The dressing stored on its own will also keep for at least a week or longer.

MAKE-AHEAD TIPS

If you’d like to make this salad ahead for a party or to take for lunch, cook the chicken and assemble all the salad ingredients in a storage container, except for the chow mein noodles. Combine the ingredients for the salad dressing in a separate jam jar. Store everything in the fridge until ready to serve.

Just before serving, shake the jam jar to combine the dressing, then toss with the salad. Top with chow mein noodles and serve.

Do you have a favorite Chinese chicken salad dressing? Please let us know about it in the comments.

MORE EASY SALAD RECIPES FOR PARTIES AND LUNCHES!

Updated June 9, 2019 : We spiffed up this post to make it sparkle! No changes to the original recipe.

Easy Chinese Chicken Salad with Chow Mein Noodles Recipe

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 4-6

Ingredients

  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced into short strips
  • Salt
  • 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon canola or peanut oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 head iceberg lettuce or Napa cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 sweet bell pepper, thinly sliced
  • 3-4 scallions, sliced
  • 1 carrot, julienned
  • 1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, chopped
  • 1/2 cup roasted peanuts
  • Chow mein noodles, to taste

For the dressing:

  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce for gluten-free option)
  • 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon mustard powder
  • 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
  • 1/4 cup peanut or canola oil

Method

1 Sauté the chicken: Heat both oils over high heat in a large sauté pan for 1 minute, then add the red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds.

Pat dry the chicken strips, sprinkle them with a little salt, and add them to the pan. Stir-fry the chicken over high heat until cooked through, 3-6 minutes depending on how hot your burner gets. Remove and set aside to cool.

2 Make dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Adjust seasonings to taste.

3 Toss salad to serve: In a large bowl, toss the chicken and salad ingredients together. Just before serving, toss with dressing and top with the chow mein noodles.