Chinese Chicken Salad

This recipe was semi-inspired by the Chinese chicken salad at The Cheesecake Factory. I fell in love with the dish in eighth grade—it made me feel grown up and sophisticated, and best of all, it was ridiculously tasty. Twenty-something years later, I still find the salad delicious. It's sweet, savory, refreshing, and extremely crunchy. (I'm a huge sucker for iceberg lettuce.) The key ingredient in this summer salad? Uncooked ramen noodles for that irresistible crunch.

How To Make Chinese Chicken Salad

INGREDIENTS

• The Lettuce: Maybe it’s an unpopular opinion, but I'm a huge sucker for iceberg lettuce—it’s got that crunch I’m looking for. Alternatively, romaine is a great choice.
• The Chicken: Leftover rotisserie chicken works wonderfully for this recipe, but if you have chicken breasts on hand, follow our easy guide to poaching chicken.
• The Mandarin Oranges: In my opinion, the syrupy sweetness you get from a can of mandarin oranges just can’t be beat. But, fresh mandarin oranges (aka clementines) would also add the perfect pop of brightness to your salad.
• The Ramen Noodles: Many restaurant versions of the dish, including The Cheesecake Factory, use wonton strips and crispy rice noodles. I sub in a block of broken up ramen—the cheap, dried stuff, not the fresh noodles that come refrigerated. Broken up, the crunchy, wavy noodles act almost like croutons.
• The Almonds: Almonds amp up the crunch factor, but they can be easily swapped for cashews or roasted peanuts.
• The Dressing: This dressing—made of rice wine vinegar, honey, sesame oil, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, minced ginger, garlic, and vegetable oil—not only ties this entire salad together, but is perfect drizzled on countless salad recipes.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

First, prep all your ingredients. If you have leftover rotisserie chicken, now is the time to use it! Alternatively, poach and shred chicken breasts before starting on this salad. Then, after chopping and shredding your veggies, you can start compiling your salad. Add everything into a large bowl, leaving the ramen noodles for last. After discarding the flavor packet, get ready to crunch your noodles! If you want bigger pieces, you can break up the ramen right over the bowl, or you can crush it in a bag or over a plate on the side if you want smaller pieces. After everything gets added to your bowl, give it a quick toss to combine.

Now, create your dressing. Combine all of your ingredients—minus the vegetable oil—in a small bowl, and whisk everything together. Once combined, slowly drizzle in vegetable oil. Whisk it constantly (I mean it!) until the dressing is emulsified.

Once you're ready to serve, and only when you're ready to serve, drizzle the dressing over the salad, and toss everything together until it is combined well.

Full list of ingredients and directions can be found in the recipe below.

Chinese Chicken Salad Variations

Not feeling chicken? Make our ramen noodle salad instead! Use fresh clementines instead of jarred, or swap it out completely for pineapple. Add in any crunchy vegetables you please, or even sliced avocado to add a creamy factor. If you don't feel like using a ramen packet, wonton strips would also be great.

Make Ahead

If you want to get ahead of serving this salad, I would recommend prepping all of your ingredients ahead of time, but waiting to combine everything until you're ready to serve. Make sure to wait to add your dressing until right before you're ready to serve to avoid soggy lettuce.