Chinese Grilled Chicken Salad

This Chinese Grilled Chicken Salad is a good healthy version of chicken salad to eat for lunch or dinner.

I’ve tried so many Asian chicken salad recipes over the years. The fun thing is that they all seem to have a different twist to them. This is a really simple version with just three vegetables tossed with a simple Asian-style dressing. Grilled barbecue chicken is added in too.

What vegetables are used in this Chinese Grilled Chicken Salad?

For this salad, you’ll need shredded cabbage. You can either shred it (finely) yourself, or you can go ahead and use a bag of the already shredded cole slaw mix that you can find in your market.  Either one will be just fine. Carrots and purple cabbage are not called for in this recipe, but you’ll spot them in the photos since we used a bag of cole slaw mix and the mix contains purple cabbage and carrots. I love the added splash of color, so the bag is usually what I use.

You’ll also need a yellow bell pepper. Cut it, scrape the seeds out and thinly slice it. Radishes round out the vegetables needed for the recipe. I know that radishes aren’t typically something that people eat much, but the crunch of radishes is a good addition to this salad so don’t skip them!

How to make Chinese Grilled Chicken Salad dressing:

Just four ingredients are needed for the dressing. Seasoned rice wine vinegar is important. Don’t use just regular rice vinegar. The seasoned rice wine vinegar is what you need for this recipe. Look for it in your market’s Asian products aisle. You’ll also need dark sesame oil, reduced-sodium soy sauce and honey. That’s it. These ingredients are whisked together and tossed with the salad ingredients. Because dressing tends to sink to the bottom of the bowl, tossing it frequently while you’re preparing the chicken is helpful in terms of getting the salad completely coated with flavor.

To prepare the chicken, make sure you’re using thinly cut chicken breast. If you aren’t able to buy it already thin-cut, just use a sharp knife and cut it thinly yourself. Brush the chicken with some of the barbecue sauce, and grill. Use a stove-top grill pan or your outdoor grill. That’s completely up to you.

A note about the barbecue sauce: For the Asian flavor profile of this salad, it’s important that you use a Chinese-Style barbecue sauce or Korean barbecue sauce. Again, check the Asian products section of your market for the sauce.

Here are a few more chicken salad recipes:

• Fruity Curry Chicken Salad
• Asian Chicken Salad
• Strawberry Chicken Salad with Bacon and Avocado
• Grilled Chicken Cobb Caesar Salad
• Chinese Chicken and Walnut Salad
• Grilled Chicken Summer Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Cilantro Lime Chicken Taco Salad
• Chicken, Apple and Smoked Gouda Salad

If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you will find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.

5 from 5 votes

Chinese Grilled Chicken Salad

By RecipeGirl.com (Weight Watchers)

This salad is a nice, light dinner (or lunch). The simple, tangy dressing gives it all the flavor it needs.

Prep: 25 minutes mins

Total: 25 minutes mins

Servings: 4 servings

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Ingredients

• ▢ 16 ounces shredded cabbage (cole slaw mix)
• ▢ 1 medium yellow bell pepper (seeded and thinly sliced)
• ▢ 4 medium radishes, thinly sliced
• ▢ ½ cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
• ▢ 2 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• ▢ 2 teaspoons honey
• ▢ 16 ounces thinly sliced skinless, boneless chicken breast
• ▢ ¼ cup Chinese style or Korean barbecue sauce

Instructions 

• In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, bell pepper and radishes.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, soy sauce, and honey. Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture; toss to coat, and let stand for 10 minutes, tossing every couple of minutes to re-coat the salad with the dressing.
• Meanwhile, heat a nonstick grill pan over medium-high heat. Brush both sides of the chicken breasts lightly with the barbecue sauce. Cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Turn and brush with any remaining barbecue sauce. Cook until chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes longer. Alternately, you can cook the chicken directly on your outdoor grill (use a saute pan in a pinch).
• Transfer to a cutting board and let stand for 5 minutes before thinly slicing. Chop the chicken and toss with the coleslaw mix.

Notes

• WW points count for this recipe divided into 4 servings.
• Look in the Asian aisle of your market to find sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar and Chinese-style barbecue sauce. This salad derives its distinctive taste from the Chinese-style barbecue sauce, so don't skimp on that! Make sure that the rice vinegar you are using is seasoned rice vinegar.
• If you can't find thin-sliced chicken breasts, place regular chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound it thin with a meat mallet or a rolling pin.
• Use a pan with ridges to get the "grilled" look on your chicken, or use your outdoor grill!

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 240kcal, Carbohydrates: 17g, Protein: 27g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 73mg, Sodium: 518mg, Potassium: 685mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 11g, Vitamin A: 205IU, Vitamin C: 98mg, Calcium: 54mg, Iron: 1.1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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