Chinese Chicken Salad

This recipe was semi-inspired by the Chinese chicken salad from a few of my favorite restaurants . I fell in love with the dish in 9th grade—it made me feel grown up and sophisticated, and best of all, it was ridiculously tasty. 15 or so years later, I still find the salad delicious. It’s sweet, savory, refreshing, and extremely crunchy. (I’m a huge sucker for iceberg lettuce.) The key ingredient in this salad is uncooked ramen noodles for that irresistible crunch.

Ingredients for the salad:

• 3 cups finely chopped romaine or iceberg lettuce
• 2 cups shredded red cabbage
• 2 cups shredded chicken
• 1/2 cups jarred mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 instant ramen packet, crushed (flavor packet discarded)
• 1/2 cups shredded carrot
• 1/3 cups sliced green onions
• 1/4 cups sliced almonds

Ingredients for the dressing

• 3 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. minced ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cups vegetable oil

Step 1

Make salad: In a large bowl, toss together lettuce, red cabbage, chicken, mandarin oranges, crushed ramen noodles, carrots, green onions, and sliced almonds. 

Step 2

Make dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, honey, sesame oil, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. Slowly drizzle in vegetable oil, whisking constantly until emulsified. 

Step 3

Before serving, drizzle dressing over salad and toss to combine.