Chili Crisp Chopped Chicken Salad
A quick, no-cook chopped chicken salad with cabbage, carrots, red bell pepper, green onions, cilantro, and crunchy peanuts, tossed in a creamy chili crisp dressing made with Dijon mustard, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, and toasted sesame oil. Ready in minutes using rotisserie or leftover chicken.
Servings 8 servings
Ingredients
Dressing:
- 3/4 cup mayo
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons chili crisp
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- Pinch of salt
Salad
- 12 ounces finely sliced or angel hair cabbage
- 2 cups cooked or rotisserie chicken
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup chopped red bell peppers
- 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
- 3 green onions , thinly sliced, white and green parts
- 2 ounces salt roasted peanuts , chopped
- Chow mein noodles , optional garnish
Instructions
Make the dressing:
- Add all ingredients to a medium bowl and whisk well to fully combine. Taste, and tweak the salt and acid to suit (e.g., you might prefer an additional splash of rice vinegar to bring out the brightness, and another pinch of salt).
Assemble the salad:
- Toss the cabbage, chicken, carrots, peppers, green onions, and half of the cilantro together in a large bowl.
- Pour in about half of the dressing mix well. Add more dressing as you like (the recipe is meant to use the full amount of the dressing, but you can use just part if you prefer a drier salad).
- Top with the remaining cilantro, the peanuts, and chow mein noodles, if using.
Video
Notes
The dressing can be prepared a day ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator. The salad ingredients can also be tossed ahead of time and kept in the fridge.
I prefer this salad when freshly mixed, although the dressed salad can be stored in the fridge for two or three days. I always make a big batch (i.e., the recipe as written), and toss together half of the dressing and half of the salad for a meal, and the store the remaining dressing and salad separately in the fridge. This way, I can tweak the dressing when mixing the salad for lunch: The chili crisp mellows in the creamy dressing, and I usually add another blop of chili crisp, plus a little more vinegar, for leftovers.