Almond and Sesame Asian Chicken Salad

Recipe for Almond and Sesame Asian Chicken Salad.
A great way to secretly pack your family’s diet with a ton of vegetables.
Asian flavors mixed in with almond butter topped off with a cup of cooked chicken makes this scrumptious dish a meal-worthy weeknight salad.

The first time I published this recipe was back in July of 2014. Since then it has been a favorite on the blog. So I thought I could update the recipe with a quick how-to video and some new photos.
As you will see in the video, it is a great way to pack a ton of vegetables to your diet. The Asian-style sauce is flavored with almond butter, which is then topped off with sliced almonds. If you are not a fan of almond butter, feel free to substitute it with peanut butter and chopped peanuts.

A quick note about the video:

For the sake of time, I didn’t record myself making the chicken in the video above. And to be honest, 99% of the time I make this dish when I have leftover chicken. However if you want, you can easily roast some chicken in the oven. I personally like to continue the Asian-flavors with the chicken so I drizzle it with some sesame oil and soy sauce before roasting it in the oven. The recipe below has the details as to how to roast the chicken.

Below is the original post that was published back in July 2014.

Lately I have been obsessed with almond butter. Even though it is very similar to peanut butter, I find that it has a much deeper and unusual flavor.

With all the popularity that almond butter gained over the last couple of years, more people are using it to replace some of the fatty ingredients (like butter, vegetable oil, etc.) that they use in their recipes. I think this is really exciting, because it is not only delicious and easily found, but also full of nutrients that we need for a healthy diet. Therefore, as of late I have been thinking about ways to incorporate almond butter into my daily cooking.

Though I must admit, I had never thought of using almond butter as a base for a salad dressing up until I had it in my friend Chrissann’s house. She used it to make an Asian dip, which was like a thicker salad dressing version of the Asian almond butter that I used in this recipe. Served with freshly cut vegetables, it was a perfect, and somewhat addictive appetizer to accompany our summer cocktails.

So when I decided to make this crunchy Asian chicken salad, using almond butter as a base for a flavorful salad dressing, was a no brainer. I flavored it with the usual Asian salad dressing ingredients like soy sauce, fresh ginger, sesame oil, garlic, honey, and rice wine vinegar.

I love this salad dressing because (1) you can make it a day in advance, and (2) like my friend did, you can also serve it as a dip to serve with freshly cut vegetables. It keeps fresh for 3-4 days as long as you keep it in an airtight jar in the fridge.

To make the salad, I started with roasting a couple chicken breasts in the oven. As they were roasting, I made the dressing. I whisked all the ingredients in a small bowl, and later set it aside for the flavors to come together and marinade.
While that was happening, I shredded the white and red cabbage, carrots, and lettuce. I placed them all into a large salad bowl.
Once the chicken breasts were ready, I cut them into small cubes and added them to the salad bowl. I poured the dressing over the salad, gave it a gentle stir, and allowed it to marinade for 15 minutes on the kitchen counter. Last but not least, I stirred in a cup of edamame. To finish it, I sprinkled  the salad with black sesame seeds, sliced almonds, and chopped fresh cilantro.

The final product was a delicious and healthy meal-like summer salad that we will be eating more often in the days to come.

Almond and Sesame Asian Chicken Salad

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

A great way to secretly pack your family’s diet with a ton of vegetables. Asian flavors mixed in with almond butter topped off with a cup of cooked chicken makes this scrumptious dish a meal-worthy weeknight salad.

• Author: Aysegul Sanford
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 50 minutes
• Yield: 4
• Category: Salad
• Method: Cooking
• Cuisine: Asian

Ingredients

For the chicken:

• 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts*
• 1tablespoon soy sauce
• 1tablespoon toasted sesame oil

For the salad dressing:

• 3 tablespoons natural almond butter, (unsweetened/unsalted)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon chili pepper sauce (I used Sriracha) – optional
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt

For the salad:

• 5 cups (1/2 head) green cabbage, shredded
• 2 cups (1/4 head) red cabbage, shredded
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 2 cups (1/2 head) romaine lettuce or curly salad greens, shredded
• 1 cup edamame beans, shelled
• 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
• 3 tablespoons sliced almonds
• 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F Degrees.
2. Pat-dry the chicken breasts with paper towels. Place them on a baking sheet.
3. Mix soy sauce and sesame oil in a small bowl. Brush both sides of each chicken breast with the mixture. Place it in the oven and roast for 20-25 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in one of the chicken breasts registers 160 F degrees. Take it out of the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes before cutting.
4. Cut chicken into small cubes, place it in a bowl, and set aside.
5. To make the dressing: Place almond butter and honey in a mixing bowl. Whisk in the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, Sriracha, and sea salt. Allow it to marinade on the kitchen counter for 10 minutes.
6. To make the salad: Place the green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrot in a large salad bowl. Add the chicken. Gently stir to ensure that they are all equally distributed in the salad bowl.
7. Pour the dressing over and toss to combine.
8. Allow the salad sit on the kitchen counter for 10-15 minutes for all the flavors to combine.
9. Stir in the edamame.Garnish with black sesame seeds, sliced almonds, and fresh cilantro.
10. Serve.

Notes

• Alternatively, you can use leftover chicken for this salad.
• Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container and served next day for lunch.

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