Keep your cool with this easy Asian Cabbage Salad! It is full of crunch, thanks to the cabbage, cucumbers, cashews, and chow mein noodles. That makes it perfect for potlucks since it won’t get soggy too quickly. The sweet oranges add the perfect contrast of sweet and tender.
Serve it as a light main dish or as a hearty side to a backyard BBQ party. It’s delicious as part of a Lunchtime Meal Prep and a great way to use up leftover, grilled Asian Chicken.
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This Asian Cabbage Salad with Chicken and Mandarin Oranges is a favorite from my childhood, similar to one you’ve probably enjoyed with ramen noodles!
I’ve made a few adaptations to that soccer mom classic, swapping in napa cabbage for other greens and chow mein noodles instead of ramen. The other basics are the same, but feel free to mix and match whatever veggies you like to make it your own!
Why Make This
It’s a great recipe to plan alongside others with similar ingredients. Plan to serve this the same week you make Moo Shu Chicken, Chicken Fried Rice, or Summer Rolls as their ingredients lists overlap. You can do all the prep at once and enjoy several great meals throughout the week.
It’s super packable. This is a great salad for meal preps. The cabbage is hearty so it will stay fresh all week and it’s something so yummy to look forward to.
It’s absolutely delicious. This Asian cabbage salad is a veritable mix of tastes and textures, combining crunchy with soft, tart with sweet. It’s lip-smacking good.
Ingredients
napa cabbage – this variety of cabbage is more delicate than your standard green or purple cabbage. It makes for a great lettuce wrap (even though it’s not lettuce!), but also goes well in Asian Chicken Noodle Salad and the like. It is also a little pricier than standard cabbage. Feel free to swap in romaine lettuce or coleslaw mix if that’s what you have.
cooked chicken – You can use a rotisserie chicken or your favorite cooked chicken.
vegetables – I use cucumbers and green onion, but you can also add or substitute shredded carrot or chopped bell pepper if you like.
mandarin oranges – The classic canned mandarin orange adds just the right bit of sweetness and softer texture against the crunch of the salad veggies and nuts. Feel free to add chopped pineapple or mango if that’s what you have on hand.
chow mein noodles – Canned chow mein noodles are very 1950s, I know, but they are a fun, crunchy add-in. Other options might include fried maifun rice sticks, broken and uncooked ramen noodles, or even drained and sliced water chestnuts.
cashews – Again with the crunch, cashews also add some good nutrients and healthy fat. Feel free to swap in almonds or peanuts if you like.
fresh cilantro – I love fresh chopped cilantro in my Asian dishes. It takes the Asian Bowl to a new level of delicious. However, some people really don’t like cilantro. You can omit it or substitute Thai basil for a very different, but also delicious, flavor.
a homemade dressing – You can, of course, buy a bottled Asian dressing if you prefer, but making this homemade version is super easy and economical, especially if you will make other Asian-inspired dishes with the rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Another great topping for this salad is my Carrot Ginger Dressing. Just wow.
Variations
To make this gluten-free, omit the chow mein noodles or use crispy fried rice noodles instead. Be sure to use gluten-free soy sauce or coconut aminos.
To make this vegan, omit the chicken and substitute stir-fried tofu or a plant-based chick’n alternative.
Step by Step Instructions
- In a large serving bowl or platter, combine the cabbage, chicken, cucumber, oranges, onions, chow mein noodles, cashews, and cilantro.
- In a small bowl or jar, combine the rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes. Stir or shake well to combine. Dress the salad and serve.
Meal Prep Instructions
Preparing the salad as a meal prep calls for a slightly different assembly. You want the crisp things to stay crunchy without getting soggy from the other ingredients.
- Divide the vegetables and chicken into meal prep boxes. If you have divided meal prep boxes, you can put the wetter ingredients (the chicken and oranges) on one side with the veggies on the other.
- Pour the dressing into small sauce cups with lids.
- Place the cashews and chow mein noodles in small plastic snap bags so they don’t get soggy.
- Cover and chill until ready to serve. These should be good for up to 3 days in the refrigerator, especially if the veggies are dried well and stored separately from the other ingredients.
FAQs
Fresh ginger is very different than dried. You may see older recipes for Asian-inspired dishes call for dry ginger. This is likely because fresh was harder for our grandmothers to find! The fresh is best bought just a knob at a time and used within a week.
Don’t feel bad about breaking off a smaller piece if your store sells large coral-looking blobs. It’s sold by the pound. You can store ginger in the freezer, too, to extend its shelf life. You can also buy it in a tube or jar already to use.
Green cabbage resembles iceberg lettuce but with a very firm texture. It is a long-keeping cole crop which makes it great for keeping on hand so you can make Homemade Vegetable Chow Mein whenever you want.
Napa, on the other hand, is a more delicate type of Chinese cabbage that won’t last as long, usually 3 days in the fridge. It’s frilly and not as tough to chew. Since it’s not as long-keeping, it also costs a bit more.
Remember, you can use green cabbage instead of napa to cut the costs of this asian cabbage salad recipe.
Recipe Costs
Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.
- napa cabbage – $2.97
- cooked chicken – $1.50
- cucumber – $1.00
- mandarin oranges – $1.19
- green onion – $0.50
- chow mein noodles – $0.89
- cashews – $0.93
- cilantro – $0.50
- rice vinegar – $0.72
- soy sauce – $0.10
- fresh ginger – $0.20
- sesame oil – $0.36
- red pepper flakes – $0.04
Shopping at a mid-range grocer at non-sale prices, one can expect to pay $10.90 or $1.81 per serving. That’s a LOT less than you’d pay at a restaurant!
To keep the cost of this down, I buy mandarin oranges and chow mein noodles when they are on sale. Cashews, cucumbers, and chicken are usually staples at our house. I’ve found the cheapest source for sesame oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce to be Trader Joe’s. I generally have these ingredients on hand most of the time.
If push comes to shove, swap regular green cabbage for the napa. It’s generally cheaper and always in season.
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Asian Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
- 1 head napa cabbage
- 2 cup chicken (cooked and shredded) can use Moo Shu Chicken
- 1 cucumber or several small ones, sliced
- 1 11-ounce can mandarin oranges in juice drained
- 1 bunch green onion chopped
- 2 cups crisp chow mein noodles
- ½ cup roasted and unsalted cashews
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
- ½ cup rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger (grated)
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- In a large serving bowl or platter, combine the cabbage, chicken, cucumber, oranges, onions, chow mein noodles, cashews, and cilantro.
- In a small bowl or jar, combine the rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes. Stir or shake well to combine. Dress the salad and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on July 16, 2016. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Kathleen D
Made this for dinner tonight. Really good. I used a bagged coleslaw mix and forgot to buy cilantro but it was great on this hot day.
Emily
My favorite (easy) way to keep ginger on hand is with one of those tubes of ginger “paste.” My store has them in the produce section. It’s easier than grating the fresh stuff (and keeps for a long time!) but still offers a much, much better taste than dried ginger. I’ve also used the garlic, basil and cilantro varieties (although I really prefer fresh basil and cilantro but again, the paste is much better than dried).
Jessica Fisher
That is very nice to buy it that way. When I see it on sale, I grab it, but I’ve noticed that some brands add a lot of junk to the mix.