Chinese Chicken Salad with Sesame Dressing

by Heidi Published: Aug 11, 2024

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This easy Chinese Chicken Salad recipe is a healthier spin on versions I always see at those popular food chains everyone loves.

In This Post

I always enjoy a hearty salad that’s healthy without being overly virtuous. Because life’s all about compromise and moderation, isn’t it? Case in point: This recipe for Chinese chicken salad. Similar to my recipes for my BBQ chicken chopped salad, taco salad, and Asian ramen noodle salad, this Chinese Chicken Salad takes the lighter road. It’s made with crunchy romaine, wontons, and an almond crunch, and is topped with protein-packed chicken breast, pasta noodles, and an addictively-good sesame dressing. I based this salad on two of my Los Angeles quick eats faves: Feast from the East where they use it to dress crunchy romaine topped with their lightly fried and highly addictive wonton strips, but I added rotini pasta noodles ala the Chinese chicken salad from California Chicken Cafe.

Why You’ll Love It

This Chinese salad is so easy to meal prep for the week and have everything ready to go
The addictive sesame dressing is reason enough alone to make it
With meal prepped cooked chicken breast, sesame dressing, cooked pasta in the fridge, and a bunch of chopped romaine at the ready, all I have to do is toss it all in a bowl and I’m ready to eat

Chinese Chicken Salad Ingredients

Romaine lettuce—Napa cabbage and/or kale would also be yummy (you could do a mix)
Chicken breast—I love making my favorite easy baked chicken breast, but will sometimes use a storebought rotisserie chicken in a pinch
Green onions (cilantro would also be yummy)
Rotini pasta (use whole wheat or gluten-free if you prefer)
Sliced almonds, preferably toasted (you could also use cashews)
Fried wontons (you can leave these off, but they’re so good that moderation is my favorite ingredient too :)

Dressing Ingredients:

Grapeseed oil—it has a milder flavor than olive oil. You can use canola oil if you’d like too
Seasoned rice vinegar—get the seasoned version, not the unseasoned
Sesame oil—brings mega flavor to the salad’s dressing
Sugar—for a touch of sweetness (you could also use honey or agave)
Light soy sauce—I find that light soy sauces already have plenty of sodium
Sesame seeds—for texture and more delicious sesame flavor
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper—always, for flavor

Find the complete recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Chinese Chicken Salad

Fry the wonton strips. I recommend doing this in batches. You’ll fry the wontons until crisp, then place them on a paper towel-lined plate to soak up any excess oil.
Give it a toss. Toss together the chopped romaine, chicken breast, green onion, almonds, and pasta.
Make the sesame dressing. Simply add the following ingredients to a small jar with a lid and shake. Or, of course, you can whisk away if you’d like.
Dress and serve. Pour the Chinese chicken salad dressing over the lettuce mixture, then sprinkle with fried wonton strips and sesame seeds before serving.

Recipe Substitutions and Variations

Use a different noodle shape (such as orecchiette, rigatoni, or farfalle)
Add some fresh cilantro for even more herbaceous flavor
For a kick of spice, mix a little Sriracha or Sambal Olek into your sesame dressing
Swap the sliced almonds out for cashews
Use cabbage (such as green or Napa cabbage) or kale instead of or in addition to the romaine lettuce

FAQ and Recipe Tips

Can I use another type of pasta? Of course! Any short, sturdy pasta will work. Avoid thin pasta like spaghetti as they won’t work well in this recipe.
Can I meal prep this Chinese chicken salad? I recommend waiting to assemble the Chinese chicken salad until you’re ready to eat it. However, you can meal prep the individual ingredients (i.e. whisk together the dressing and store it in a jar, cook the chicken and pasta, and so forth).
I’m a fan of meal prepping a few chicken breasts for the week to have them on hand for quick lunches and easy dinners, and this recipe is exactly one reason why.
A grocery store rotisserie chicken will always save a few extra minutes in the kitchen. I used just one chicken breast for these salads and saved the rest for the lunch leftovers.
The spiraled rotini pasta that tops the crunchy romaine plus the spunky green onion are probably my favorite additions to this salad. While you could skip the rotini pasta, I don’t.
If you want to make a larger batch of the recipe to have salad left over, prep the components, but don’t mix them until you’re ready to assemble (otherwise the fried wontons and lettuce will get soggy.

Storage Tips

The sesame dressing will keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks. The fried wontons can also be stored in an airtight container on the counter and should last for about a week.

More Asian-Inspired Salads We Love

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a star rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.

4.69 from 32 votes