Easy Make Ahead Sesame Chicken Salad

Sesame Chicken Salad mixes of crisp vegetables and flavorful chicken with a delicious homemade sesame sauce and dressing.

A perfect make ahead entree salad that stays fresh for days!

Perfect make ahead salad recipe

Some version of this crunchy, sweet make ahead salad is on rotation at my house all year long. In the summer, I prep big batches for camping and potlucks and in the fall and winter it’s the perfect make ahead lunch that stays fresh for days.

Don’t have time to make homemade sesame sauce? Try P.F. Chang’s® Home Menu Sauces to get it on the table even faster.

Ingredients

• Sesame dressing – made from a combination of orange juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and spices this delicious homemade sesame dressing is used as. both the simmer sauce for the chicken and the dressing for the sesame salad. You can also substitute bottled toasted sesame dressing instead.
• Chicken – boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Or you can substitute any other chicken you have. cut even more time off this recipe by using leftover shredded or store bought rotisserie chicken. Simply coat the chicken with sesame sauce before adding.
• Cabbage – shredded red cabbage and green savoy cabbage. Savoy cabbage has a nice crinkly texture but green cabbage or napa cabbage are both just as delicious! Or, use kale, lettuce or chard.
• Carrots – shredded carrots and/or other vegetables like bean sprouts, bell pepper or celery.
• Scallions – or try fried shallots instead of green onions.
• Fresh herbs – mix of cilantro and basil leaves, etc. Use any mix of fresh herbs like cilantro, basil, mint or parsley.
• Olive oil
• Crispy chow mein noodles – or to make chinese chicken salad without chow mein noodles you can add roasted almonds or cashews for crunch instead.
• Sesame seeds
• Optional – add spicy red pepper flakes or a drizzle of hot sauce to make spicy sesame chicken salad.

Step by step instructions

1. Combine orange juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, fresh ginger, sugar, sesame oil and red pepper flakes or chili garlic sauce, if using, in a medium bowl. Pour half the sesame sauce into a skillet and whisk canola oil into remaining sauce to make a homemade sesame dressing.
2. Bring sesame sauce to a simmer in skillet and add chicken, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10-15 minutes.
3. Once evenly opaque throughout remove chicken to rest and continue simmering the sesame sauce to reduce and thicken slightly, about 3-5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, shred chicken or dice into bite sized pieces and return to the thicken sesame sauce. Turn chicken to coat and remove from heat. Cool chicken and refrigerate until ready to assemble.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the other sesame chicken salad ingredients. Shred cabbage using a sharp knife and use a box grater (or cheese grater) to easily shred carrots. Thinly slice scallions and chop other fresh herbs. Toss cabbage salad ingredients together and store until ready to assemble.
6. When ready to serve toss vegetables together and season with homemade sesame salad dressing to taste. Top with crunchy chow mein noodles, sesame chicken, and sesame seeds.
7. Enjoy!

Make ahead

This Sesame Chicken Salad stays fresh and crisp for days if you store the chopped vegetables, chicken, and dressing separately. Store chicken, dressing, noodles and salad mix separately and combine just before serving for the freshest flavor and texture. Or store separately as a meal prep recipe and mix up individual bowls of sesame salad all week long.

It’s the perfect quick lunch or meal for camping. But it’s also great as a picnic meal or take along potluck dish.

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