This salad takes all the best parts of all the other Chinese chicken salads from your favorite restaurants out there, leaves out the things you don't need, and combines them into the healthiest version of Restaurant-style Chinese Chicken Salad. Shall we?
Explore More
- What Ingredients You Need for Restaurant Style Chinese Chicken Salad
- What's the Best Dressing for Chinese Chicken Salad?
- Is Restaurant Style Chinese Chicken Salad Healthy?
- Chinese Chicken Salad, LA Style Recipe
- What is LA-Style Chinese Chicken Salad?
- Chinese Chicken Salad Restaurant Variations
- Is Chinese Chicken Salad Actually... Chinese?
- What is Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing Made of?
What Ingredients You Need for Restaurant Style Chinese Chicken Salad
Most restaurant-style Chinese Chicken Salads have some combination of lettuce, cabbage and/or other greens that might suggest "Asian," mandarin oranges, nuts, a form of noodles like fried wonton strips, "chow mein" noodles, or rice vermicelli, nuts, scallions, and a dressing that involves soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger.
The following ingredients are specifically what you need for THIS homemade Chinese Chicken Salad, though the recipe is endlessly flexible and the ingredients can be substituted to suit your preferences and what's locally and seasonally available to you:
- Cooked chicken, 2 breasts, shredded
- Romaine lettuce, 1 head
- Purple cabbage, ¼ head
- Carrots, 1 large
- Green onions, 1 stalk
- Almonds, slivered 1 cup
- Mandarin oranges, 1 cup segments fresh preferable but canned is ok - optional
- LA-Style Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing
Optional toppings: fried wonton strips, fried rice vermicelli noodles, or cooked pasta
Here's what you need for a healthier version of restaurant-style Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing
- Rice vinegar
- Avocado oil
- Toasted sesame oil
- Garlic
- Maple syrup (or sugar)
- Salt and black pepper
What's the Best Dressing for Chinese Chicken Salad?
The best dressing for this restaurant-style Chinese Chicken Salad is a super simple shake-together vinaigrette of rice vinegar, avocado and sesame oils, garlic, sweetener in the form of maple syrup instead of refined white sugar, and salt.
Ingredients Notes and Resources
Chicken. Store-bought rotisserie chicken is your BEST FRIEND for this recipe. Any cooked or leftover chicken breast works. In fact, I have never actually cooked chicken with the express intent of making this salad.
Romaine lettuce is the oblong-shaped lettuce, commonly used for traditional Caesar salad. If you can't find Romaine, use any green leafy lettuce. To be honest, you can use iceberg lettuce as the base, too. You just want 6 cups of something green and crunchy-crisp, shredded or finely chopped.
Rice Vinegar. I use this brand organic brown rice vinegar. If you don't have rice vinegar, use any other light/mild vinegar like apple cider vinegar.
Avocado oil. I use this Avocado Oil as my every day neutral-flavored cooking oil. If you don't have avocado oil, use olive oil, though olive oil has quite a distinctive flavor.
Sesame Oil. Use toasted sesame oil. Toasted sesame oil is dark brown and is used as a finishing oil, not as a cooking oil. This is the Japanese brand that I like. You can usually find organic like this one in natural and higher end grocery stores.
Maple Syrup. I use an organic maple syrup. You can substitute with other sweetener of choice.
All other fresh herbs and produce from either the Santa Monica Farmers' Market on Wednesday, Mar Vista Farmers Market on Sunday, or Whole Foods Market when I can't find what I need at the farmers' market.
Is Restaurant Style Chinese Chicken Salad Healthy?
Yes! At least this version of restaurant-style Chinese Chicken Salad recipe is healthy! Because we've picked and chosen the healthiest and tastiest parts of all the other Chinese chicken salad out there! This Chinese Chicken Salad recipe is both macro- and micro-nutrient and for most lifestyles, health needs and dietary considerations, is very healthy! In fact, I can't really think of a case in which this Chinese Chicken Salad would not be healthy, barring the usual allergies, sensitivities, etc. to sesame or soy.
Older versions of Chinese Chicken Salad, especially in restaurants, used to be not quite as healthy with less nutrient dense ingredients like iceberg lettuce as the bulk of the salad, and some ingredients that have almost no nutritional value like fried noodles or wonton wrappers. And almost always, the dressings from restaurants are sticky with plain white sugar, and laden with unnecessary preservatives and stabilizers. All of these ingredients made the "salad" delicious, but not particularly health-promoting.
Chinese Chicken Salad, LA Style Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 head Romaine lettuce finely shredded (about 6 cups)
- ¼ head purple cabbage finely shredded (about 2 cups)
- 1 large carrot peeled and finely shredded
- 1 green onion sliced
- 2 cooked chicken breast halves shredded
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
- ½ cup Classic LA-Style Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing below
- optional: canned/peeled Mandarin oranges and fried wonton crisps and/or vermicelli noodles
Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing
- 1 clove garlic green stem removed and very finely minced
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 4 tablespoons avocado oil or other neutral oil
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon tamari or soy sauce (or salt)
Instructions
Make Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing
- Place ingredients for dressing—1 clove minced garlic, rice vinegar, avocado oil, sesame oil, maple syrup, and 1 teaspoon sea salt—in a small bowl and whisk together until emulsified. Alternatively, place all ingredients in a mason jar, cover securely with lid and shake until well combined. The ingredients will separate after a few minutes, so shake or whisk again before using.
Assemble Chinese Chicken Salad
- In a large mixing bowl, place shredded Romaine lettuce, shredded ¼ head purple cabbage, julienned carrots, sliced scallions, and 2 shredded chicken breasts. Drizzle with dressing, then toss to combine until all of the ingredients are coated well with dressing.
- Add ½ cup sliced almonds, and Mandarin oranges and vermicelli noodles if using on top. Divide salad among serving bowls/plates.
Notes
Nutrition
What is LA-Style Chinese Chicken Salad?
So it's not really Chinese, and I can joke all I want about its origins and how problematic the name is, but truth be told, I love a good Chinese Chicken Salad.
I’ve tried my fair share of Chinese Chicken Salads from restaurants in Los Angeles—the famous Feast from the East in Westwood, California Chicken Cafe, Chin Chin, Joan's on Third, and of course, Wolfgang Puck's at Chinois on Main—and each one is different, from the type of greens used as a base to the preparation of the chicken, from the flavors in the dressing to the additional ingredients that make the salad "Chinese."
They're all good, but the best one is the one I build by picking the best components of everyone else's.
Everything, including the chicken, should be shredded. I am not ashamed to admit my love of iceberg. It's perfect for this salad, along with napa cabbage. It's just not quite right when it's dressed up with delicate mesclun or baby greens. Save those for burrata cheese and grape tomatoes.
I'm not especially fond of carrots in any salad because they're too hard, and shredded carrots actually make things worse. Without a spoon, I can't pick them up off the plate. No tomatoes, no mushrooms, no peppers. The only other vegetables that are really appropriate are long sliced green onions and long bias sliced cucumbers.
California Chicken Cafe adds sliced almonds and those squishy squirty mandarin oranges, which I love. Chopped almonds are hard to pick up and don't stick well enough to make a good bite. CCC (for those of you in the know), instead of the usual fried chow-mein noodles, adds regular corkscrew pasta. Now that's just wrong, but honestly, it's kind of right I like feast From the East's fried won ton strips. they're more substantial, they stay crispy in dressing, and they fit in with the whole "shred" theme.
Chinese Chicken Salad Restaurant Variations
These are some of the most talked about Chinese Chicken Salads, which have influenced my own favorite recipe.
- California Chicken Café: lettuce, white meat chicken, almonds, Mandarin oranges, Chinese noodles, rotini pasta, green onions, carrots, sesame-based dressing
- Chin Chin: iceberg lettuce, chicken breast, scallions, carrots, toasted almonds, crispy rice noodles, wonton crisps, ginger-based dressing
- Chinois on Main by Wolfgang Puck Chicken Salad: mixed greens, Napa cabbage, radicchio, grilled chicken breast, carrots, mango, fried wonton strips, toasted sesame seeds, cashews, honey Chinese mustard vinaigrette
- Feast from the East Chinese Chicken Salad: romaine lettuce, shredded chicken, sliced almonds, sesame seeds, scallions, wonton strips, sesame-based dressing.
- Health Nut Restaurant, Khloe Kardashian's Favorite: romaine and iceberg lettuces, shredded chicken breast, chow mein noodles, pickled ginger, carrots, and sesame-dressing
- Joan's on Third: iceberg lettuce, fried chicken, almonds, fried wontons strips and rice vermicelli, sesame-based dressing
All of the salads are good, but none of them are better than making it at home exactly the way *you* want it, pulling the best elements from all the other salads out there. My Chinese Chicken Salad is VERY AUTHENTIC to me.
By the way, if you have a recommendation for a good Chinese Chicken Salad in a restaurant, let me know. I am always researching.
Is Chinese Chicken Salad Actually... Chinese?
from Sunset Magazine:
"Historians point an uncertain finger to California for the first public appearance of Chinese chicken salad. Chef Lee of the New Moon Restaurant, which opened in Los Angeles in 1950, claims to have brought the recipe from Hong Kong. And in San Francisco in the early 1960s, Cecilia Chiang served Chinese chicken salad at the Mandarin. Sunset's first recipe for it, published in 1970, came from Ming's of Palo Alto. Former owner Dan Lee reported that the restaurant started serving the top-selling dish sometime between 1958 and 1970. "We based it on a Chinese dish called finger-shredded chicken," he recalled. Not matter its specific origin, it's gone on to become an American classic."
However, regardless of the uncertainty of it origins and the fact that it's overpriced, overdone, and just plain oh-ver, I still love a good Chinese Chicken Salad and consider it an American classic.
What is Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing Made of?
What is a salad without dressing but just a bowl of vegetables?
Every Chinese Chicken Salad dressing is a permutation of ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and sesame oil. So many people rave about Chin Chin's ginger dressing, but shockingly, I find it a little too tart. Without oil, it makes the salad extremely healthy, but the dressing renders too watery.
Feast from the East's dressing is good, but they are the opposite of Chin Chin, leaning a little too far toward the oily side. Apparently, other people love it enough that it's been bottled and sold in stores.
The restaurant dressing award goes to a small café near my old workplace. Although they dice their chicken and it often tastes like leftover lunchmeat chicken, the Chinese-style dressing is sticky sweet, salty, and i have no idea what's in it. There's probably sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, but there's something else. I suspect it's the juice from the mandarin orange cans!
Best Asian Salads
- Mandarin Chicken Salad
- Soba Noodle Salad
- Jap Chae Korean Glass Noodle Salad
- Creamy Sesame Dressing for Tofu Salad
- Vietnamese Chicken Cabbage Salad
Mensch71 says
I also went there (or at least to the outpost here in the middle of the Mitten). It wasn't even pretty.
The saving grace came in the form of the wonton soup (oddly enough). Which is good and generous enough for a family of 4. I managed to eat the entire bowl myself. That said... it's not worth the trip!
Anonymous says
You are a very brave woman for admitting you went.
It'll be even braver if you admit that you liked it.
Colleen Cuisine says
The best is the South Park episode where Towlie is a waiter at PF Changs...
"Do you want your Chang sauce spicy or miiiiild?"
Julian Hsu says
Funny, I was just having this conversation with a certain unnamed brother in law about "Paul Fleming" Chang's China Bistro. ;-)
As for spicy or mild, more like Sssssalty.
Julian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._F._Chang's_China_Bistro
Androo says
I have never understood the appeal of PF Chang's, particularly when more sumptuous delights can be had for a fraction of the price. I suppose "ethnic" dining can be somewhat intimidating to the casual diner, but I sort of like having to deal with curt Chinese staff when asking for more tea. It makes it seem...I don't know...authentic. My Chinese relatives don't pull vocal punches, so maybe I'm just used to it.
Eddie Lin says
Sarah,
Why the hell were you there anyway? Was it a first date? If so, will there be a second?
I personally have never dined at Pseudo(Chinese)Food Chang's but wouldn't pass it up if I was invited. I hear they have a sweet bar.
Anonymous says
"dash back to the hostess waving the blinking pager like a 16 year-old at her first underground rave."
What a perfect description.
Nicolas says
Chang`s is one of my favourite place in LA.
Nicolas
find it! love it! sell/buy it!
Emily says
PF Changs is "safe". Unfortunately, a lot of Americans aren't as adventurous food-wise as you and I.
The Singapore Street Noodles and Chicken with Black Bean Sauce are pretty good - but everything else that I have had there was bland/sub-par.
Regardless, they do have an AMAZING ASIAN PEAR MOJITO (why I go)
Emily says
PF Changs is "safe". Unfortunately, a lot of Americans aren't as adventurous food-wise as you and I.
The Singapore Street Noodles and Chicken with Black Bean Sauce are pretty good - but everything else that I have had there was bland/sub-par.
Regardless, they do have an AMAZING ASIAN PEAR MOJITO (why I go)
djjewelz says
I'm not even going to comment on PF Chang's "Chinese" food, but totally off topic, you are an internet superstar! I was reading another random site, found you, then found you again, then you were all over the place. Keep up the great work! I can see why you don't have as much time for DL these days.
Anonymous says
that is a surprise. we have one in chicago, too (and a China Grill). of course we only have two Chinatowns and none of which are nearly as big as yours. but yeah why would people want China Grill/ Chang's when Chinatown is 15 minutes away and WAY cheaper and way better tasting?? because of trendiness! i'm still surprised though, doesn't LA have any cool trendy more authentic Chinese restaurants?
Xericx says
I have still never been here.
I like my chinese restaurants dirty, with indifferent service and great food!
Anonymous says
I live in the greater L.A. region and I went to P.F. Chang's for the first time a couple days ago.I liked it, but I must admit that the small Chinese take-out place down the street from me is better. The food is supergood and they even do home delivery.Definitely not trendy though!
Anonymous says
I think Chinese food would be so much better if it wasn't served in a dirty restaurant. Being Chinese myself, and having a quiet a sensitive stomach, I don enjoy the ethnic experience of dining in a dirty place. I like my table lined with fresh paper, not grease-mopped by a semi-wet towel that had been wetted by somebody's left over tea. I think the appeal of PF Chang is that it seems like a clean, ambient place to dine. I haven't been there myself because every time we attempted, the line was out of this world.
Sanitation is extremely important to me, as it was to Howard Hughes and J Edward Hoover, and is to Howie Mandel. Germphobes.
djjewelz says
Having grown up with the B's and C's of MPK, as long as the place doesn't smell like:
1. a damp towel
2. a wet wooden chopstick
It's a winner!
Anonymous says
Ever been to Mao's kitchen: http://www.maoskitchen.com/ ... not authentic either, but way better than PFChangs. I think there are lots of people that like the (aparent) consistency of these large chain restaurants.
sarah says
mensch71: yeah, i think the wonton soup was the best of everything i've ever eaten there (and yes, i am admitting i have been there more than once). is it snowing where you are!??!
anonymous #1: ah, i'm just brave. not braver.
colleen cuisine: hm, towlie might have been our waiter, too.
julian: when i first learned that pf was paul fleming, i almost fell over, but it explained a LOT.
androo: you are so right! i swear when it comes to indian, mexican and asian, i don't feel right when it's totally nice. why is that??
eddie: it wasn't a date, but trust me, if it were, and he had chosen pf chang's, that would have been the first and last date. i mean if we're going to go chain, i want something good. like in-n-out with byob, don't you think?!?!
anonymous #2: except that the raver is probably smiling and happy.
nicolas: really? yikes.
emily: i agree, and to be quite honest, there are instances when the safety of pf chang's is necessary. i can't think of any, but they have to be out there, right?
djjewelz: you found me?!?! where? how can you be so sure that's me?! ;)
and...a wet wooden chopstick?
anonymous #3: i am jealous of you!!! i {heart} chicago! and as for trendy chinese...that's an oxymoron. LOL! although, i think mr. chow is trendy chinese. then again, i haven't eaten there yet so i have no idea about their authenticity. but at least mr. chow himself is chinese!
xericx: eek! dirty is one thing, but i hear you on the strangely attentive-yet-aloof service.
robyn: cute blog! and those chinese take out places that have names like "#1 $1 ABC Best Chinese Fast Food" are awesome.
anonymous #4: i would say that pf chang's is most certainly clean, but once you eat there, especially if you're chinese, you will see :)
anonymous #5: funny. yes. i have, and i will be writing it up shortly :)
Chubbypanda says
Hey Sarah,
So, the company that owns PF Chang's has a Panda Express-style, casual dining version of the crap they serve at PF Chang's. Ever heard of Pei Wei? Same company, mostly the same food, same high prices. But, a more casual "experience" amd even crappier quality.
- Chubbypanda
Anonymous says
Did Mao's reopen? Last time I tried going they were redoing the kitchen or something. Agree that it is a fun place to eat (and drink your own wine!).
H. C. says
OMG snortfully funny to read--hopefully you don't feel the same way about Panda Inn (Panda Express in a more expensive veil?) ~ some of the stuff there I actually dig.
hermz says
except that the raver is probably smiling and happy.
... and not feeling as hungry.
hermz says
except that the raver is probably smiling and happy.
... and not feeling as hungry.
Anonymous says
you people are so funny to me.. we all have our own taste.. BUT for you people to be bashing PF Chang's because it has Paul Flemmings intials.. like that makes the place not Chinese... what you fail to realize is that the "Chang's" part actually comes from a chef in LA LA LAND... he use to own and be the chef of The Mandarin.. So, gasp, a real live Chinese person had direct input in the original menu...shocking eh!! Should we deport him out of your pretentious I NEVER EAT AT CHAINS world.. the company went public years ago and neither one have anything to do with it anymore.. no one claims that they were not American-ize or whatever... it is a chain people!! get over it!! and people do enjoy it ..the food, drinks, and social aspects.. And get ready for this... I have actually seen Asian people in there...DOUBLE GASP I have been to some of the mom and pop chinese places and scared to eat anything from such dirty places!!!
sarah says
chubby: omg! i saw a pei wei when i was in The OC the other day! LOL! i asked Mom, wtf is that?!?! is that like panda express!??!?! LOL!
anonymous #6: mao's is open! i went there about a month ago.
h.c.: "snortfully." i think i may have to use that word.
hermz: totally. ;)
anonymous #7: i agree. we all have our own taste, and while i do make fun of superficial things like the restaurant's name being based on a non-Asian (Paul Fleming), and it being utterly americanized, it still did not taste good, particularly for how much it costs.
there is nothing wrong with "americanized" as long as it tastes good. i sometimes do have problems when we start to throw around judgments like "it's authentic," or "not authentic" or whatever, because in the end, shouldn't it just matter if it tastes good to you? sometimes the most "authentic" things are disgusting to me. LOL! at the same time though, i do understand that some of us like to eat "authentic," and though they may recoil at the taste because it unfamiliar, weird, etc., learn to appreciate it for its authenticity over the actual taste.
sorry for the rambling :)
but anyway, it is all a matter of personal taste.
Anonymous says
disagree with your article...pf changs is one of our favorite places to eat...service is above the average and food is great. i love the buildings, they all are different and for the price (far better than i would expect in such beautiful buildings) it is a great meal...two people can drink wine and eat great for $35.00...get a life and quit bashing great restarants because you can't figure out how to make a living...pf changs is great, try it.
Anonymous says
i went to p.f. chang's today...i was the ONLY chinese person in the place... to me that says A LOT about authenticity. i gotta tell you - sitting there in a dim space, with round booths, loud 80's top 40 pop, being served by blondie-there was ZERO "chineseness"! YUCK.