Chinese Chicken Salad

Yet another entry in the not quite real Chinese dishes, but something still popular and much loved. Chinese chicken salad is in the ‘American-Chinese’ category of dishes. Similar to everyone’s favorite orange chicken or crab rangoons, this tasty Chinese chicken salad was developed to appeal to the American palate while still being ethnic enough to be ‘adventurous’ to people from Nebraska.

This salad is really easy to make and if you buy certain store-bought ingredients you can throw it together in about 10 minutes. That is probably what made this salad a popular mid-century party food; People back then were obsessed with throwing packaged things together to make a new recipe.

I love actually using homemade things for this specific Chinese chicken salad recipe because it is a great way to use up wonton dough scraps and leftover chicken. Whenever I make proper Chinese dim sum like siu mai I always have a lot of leftover scraps so frying them into crispy pieces is a great way to practice no-waste cooking. Of course you can always buy packaged fried wonton strips and avoid the frying mess.

How To Make The Famous Chinese Chicken Salad

Everything in this recipe could be purchased at a store if need be, but I prefer frying my own wonton strips (since I often have scraps). If you can buy a whole rotisserie chicken at the grocery store you can shred that for this recipe, otherwise you can use leftover roast chicken or just boil some breasts beforehand and shred them up.

Ingredients

• 1 Napa Cabbage – Thinly sliced. Also called Peking Cabbage, this is often used in Asian recipe, but perhaps most known as the main ingredient in Korea’s national dish – Kimchi!
• 1/2 Red Cabbage – Thinly sliced.
• 1-2 bunches Romaine – Optional, thinly sliced.
• 1 large Carrot – Peeled and julienned. I use my julienne peeler which makes quick work of this step. It’s probably one of the only ‘uni-taskers‘ I recommend, even though you can easily accomplish the same thing with a knife.
• 2 Shallots – Thinly sliced.
• 1 tsp Ginger – Optional, shaved
• 1 can Mandarin Oranges – Drained
• 2 Chicken Breasts – Or 3 cups of shredded chicken if you already have leftovers or cooked chicken.
• Won Ton Dough – To taste, cut into strips
• Oil – For frying the wonton dough, if making them fresh.
• Cashews – Optional, to taste

Chinese Chicken Salad Sesame Dressing

This is my go to recipe for sesame sauce for so many different recipes. I’ve been making it for years and one of the most addicting salad dressings I have in my repertoire. You can make this far in advance, just whisk all the ingredients together and store in the fridge.

• 4 tbsp Tahini
• 3 tbsp Mayonnaise. I know it sounds weird, but trust me it adds a great creaminess to the sauce.
• 1 tbsp Ponzu
• 1 tsp Dark Soy Sauce
• 2 tsp Sugar
• 2 tsp Rice Wine Vinegar you can use apple cider vinegar as a substitute, although it does change the flavor slightly.
• 1 tsp Fish Sauce
• 1 tsp Sesame Seeds. More or less, adjust for preferred texture. You can also leave this ingredient out if you want the dressing to be 100% smooth.

Instructions

This recipe involves a lot of slicing. In a way it is like a faux Asian version of the classic chopped salad. Just add all your vegetables to a large bowl and mix well.

I do not add the chicken, fried won tons, cashews, or dressing until the final mix before serving, as it can cause the salad to be a bit soggy.

If you are making your own fried won tons, just cut the scraps into strips. I always save my won ton skins by freezing as they hold well. Then I can make a big batch of fried won ton strips whenever I want.

Heat a pan of oil to about 350f or 175c. Won ton strips fry extremely fast – just a few seconds. So sprinkle in just a handful at a time and get ready to remove them right away. I like to use a large slotted spoon, or a spider strainer if I fry these in a wok which is a great way to save oil.

When it is time to serve this Asian chicken salad (or prepare it before heading to a potluck) you can add the rest of the ingredients and dressing. Give everything a good toss and move to a large serving or chafing dish (if using the latter place ice in the bottom chamber to keep the salad cold).

Where Was Chinese Chicken Salad Invented?

One popular claim attributes the creation of the Chinese chicken salad to Sylvia Cheng Wu, aka Madame Wu, a renowned Chinese-American restaurateur who opened Madame Wu’s Restaurant in Los Angeles in 1959. However, there are other variations of the salad with different claims of origin. Like many of the world’s most famous dishes, the origin story of Chinese chicken salad is highly contented.

Another potential originator is Cecilia Chieng, owner of the famous and influential Mandarin Restaurant in San Francisco which opened in 1961. Of course, these are not the only two ladies who can claim creatorship of this tasty Chinese-American salad, but they tend to be the most oft named when referencing the origins of this dish.