A dinner salad that’s crunchy, tangy, and sweet

Crunchy cabbage salad with chicken and a sweet, sesame dressing.

We are officially headed into salad season, ya’ll! I love a good main-dish salad, especially during warmer months. For this Sesame Chicken Cabbage Salad, I grilled the chicken and would recommend that if you have a grill. If you don’t, you can bake it in the oven, or cook it in a skillet on the stove-top.

WHAT’S IN IT

This salad is surprisingly filling, but doesn’t leave you feeling heavy. It’s packed with all kinds of crunchy things: cabbage, broccoli, carrots, spring onions, and almonds. It also includes sweet mandarin oranges, grilled chicken, and a delightful sweet and tangy sesame dressing. You’ll toast the sesame seeds before adding them to the dressing to really bring out their flavor. You’ll also toast the almonds in the oven, with a little oil, salt, and pepper. I literally eat them by the handful when I make them – they’re that good!

THE RECIPE SIZE

My Sesame Chicken Cabbage Salad holds up really well the next day, so you can definitely pack it for lunches, or eat as leftovers the next day. This recipe makes what looks like a HUGE amount of salad. That is for three reasons:

#1. It is a dinner salad, meaning it is the MAIN part of your dinner, so naturally you’re going to eat quite a bit of it. Typically you can eat a pretty large mass of salad before you really fill up, although this salad does fill you up much more quickly than a lettuce based salad would. So to summarize, you require more mass when it comes to a dinner salad, than you would if you were eating steak and potatoes. Pretty basic, right?

#2. I like leftovers. Not because I just love the taste of food the second day (except for spaghetti- it’s WAY better the next day), but because I like the extra time it gives me if I can cook once and get two meals (or more) out of it! I wanted this recipe to make enough that Ian and I could eat it for lunch the next day. So, I wanted to essentially get FOUR meals out of it (I did end up getting more than that) and it’s a dinner salad, so I figured large.

#3. I wanted this to be a recipe you could easily take to a picnic or potluck without having to double or triple everything. Salads like my sesame chicken cabbage salad are fairly crowd-pleasing, so I wanted this to be a larger recipe for that reason as well.

THE SERVINGS

That being said, if you want to downsize this recipe, feel free to cut everything in half. As I mentioned, if you’re taking this recipe to a potluck or picnic, it’s the perfect amount and obviously it will go a lot, lot further than if you’re making it for dinner and eating it as the main part of your meal. And if you’re having dinner guests and serving this, you might want to double or triple this recipe depending on the number of people. So, just be thinking about that when you are considering how many this recipe feeds.

WHY I LOVE THIS SALAD

Besides the crazy delicious flavor that this Sesame Chicken Cabbage Salad has, cabbage has so many health benefits too. This article by Medical News Today discusses the health benefits of cabbage in greater detail.

As I mentioned earlier, I grilled the chicken for this salad, so I only had to turn my oven on for a short time to toast the sesame seeds and almonds. This is perfect for those hot summer months when you don’t want to have your oven on much.

Print Pin

Sesame Chicken Cabbage Salad

A crunchy cabbage salad with grilled chicken and a sweet and tangy sesame dressing

Course Main Course, Salad

Cuisine American

Keyword Chicken, main course, salad, sesame

Prep Time 30

Servings 6 people

Author Katie

Ingredients

1/2 head cabbage, chopped in small pieces about 6-8 cups
1 small head broccoli, cut into small florets about 3 cups
3 green onions, sliced use the green part too (about half of it)
1 1/2 cups matchstick carrots
1 15 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained well
6 oz. raw almonds, slivered
1 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut in half lengthwise to make 4 cutlets

Chicken Marinade

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp honey

The Dressing

1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp mayo
1 tsp yellow mustard
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp sesame seeds, dry roasted
3 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar regular rice vinegar could also be used

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375.
Toast the sesame seeds and almonds at the same time, on separate baking sheets/dishes.
FOR THE ALMONDS: Lay them out on a baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tbsp. oil and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper. Toss and mix them with a spoon or your fingers, to evenly coat the almonds with the oil, salt, and pepper. Toast in the oven for 10 minutes, then turn your pan around, and toast for 3 minutes more. They should be an even, dark golden color. Set them aside to cool.
FOR THE SESAME SEEDS: Lay them evenly in a baking dish or on a baking sheet, and toast them dry (no oil) in the oven for 10 minutes. Set aside and let them cool.
FOR THE CHICKEN: Heat your grill to medium heat (about 400 degrees F). Mix the chicken marinade and pour over the chicken breast pieces. Allow it to sit for about 15 minutes while the grill heats up. Grill about 8 minutes, flip, and grill for 8 minutes more. (If your chicken breast is at all frozen, it may take some additional grilling time. Chicken should always be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F before eating) When chicken is done, set aside to cool, then chop up into bite sized pieces for the salad.
FOR THE DRESSING: Vigorously whisk together all the dressing ingredients in the order listed. (A blender can also be used)
FOR THE SALAD: In a large bowl, mix the cabbage, broccoli, carrots, spring onions, and mandarin oranges. Add the chopped chicken, the toasted almonds, and the dressing. Mix well until the dressing has covered everything evenly.

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