Recipe: Super Healthy Chinese Chicken Salad

I put this salad together on the heels of a mini-detox Joe and I did last weekend. We’d both had a bit of a blowout week food and drink wise, so to rein it in, we went to the grocery early Saturday morning and stocked up on tons of fruits and veggies.

Monday night, I was looking around the contents of the fridge and realized I had half a large head of cabbage left. Right after I thought, “What will I ever do with that,” I arrived at the perfect solution: Chinese chicken salad. And, I already had a bunch of other veggies to throw in, and some chicken thighs too!

This is extremely easy to make and can last a few days if you don’t dress it. While the chicken cooked, I chopped up all the veggies and prepped the dressing. Once it’s all mixed, portion out how much salad you want to eat, then dress just that serving. The rest of the dry salad can be stored and eaten for lunch or dinner the next day (or even the day after).

Below is a basic recipe of what I did. But mix it up! There’s no exact science to this. Throw in whatever veggies you love or have on hand!

Chinese Chicken Salad
Easily serves 4

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 cup chicken stock or water
— kosher salt and pepper
1/2 large head Savoy cabbage, cored and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into very thin strips
1-2 big handfusl of sugar snap peas, chopped
1-2 big handfuls of broccoli florets, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and sliced into very thin strips
2 carrots, grated
1 handful of cleaned cilantro leaves, chopped

For the dressing:
–store bought Thai peanut dipping sauce (I found a good quality, organic one with no extra preservatives in the Asian foods aisle. Make sure it’s a sauce without a lot of added salt!)
–extra virgin olive oil
–citrus or vinegar of some kind (could use lime juice, orange juice, or even red wine vinegar — whatever you have)

What to do:

In a medium sized skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Season the chicken, then brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Pour in the chicken stock and let cook while you chop all the veggies.

Mix all the veggies in a large bowl. Remove the chicken from the pan and let cool for a minute or two. Dice and add to the veggies.

In a small bowl, pour in as much of the dipping sauce as you think you need to dress the salad. Thin it out with a little of the citrus juice and olive oil — I’d say about equal amounts of each. We’re more looking to loosen up the dressing here so that you’re not pouring a thick, gloppy dipping sauce over the salad.

Portion out however much salad you want to eat, then dress. Store the remaining dressing and salad separately — it’ll keep for a day or two!

OPTIONAL: If you don’t want to use chicken, try pan frying some firm tofu cubes instead! Also, if I’d had them, a sprinkling of peanuts would’ve been great in this salad too for additional crunch. Enjoy!