Potluck Asian Chicken Cabbage Salad

Chicken, cabbage and salad greens tossed with an easy Asian dressing. Almonds, radishes, and ramen provide a crunchy contrast to this pot luck salad.

I had cabbage and radishes aplenty when informed of the impending opportunity to use up farm share veggies pot luck. Following my tip to stick with the familiar, from my post Five Tips to Feed Your Family From the Farm Share, I decided to make a chicken & cabbage salad with an Asian dressing. The guests did not include vegetarians or folks with nut allergies, so I felt comfortable making my usual recipe which comes from the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook (Amazon affiliate link).

I've tweaked this recipe in a few ways, shown below. First off, I added salad greens since I'm serving a crowd. Second, I added radishes since I had some, I thought they'd look pretty, and the extra crunch would go well. Third, I used seasoned rice vinegar (the kind I use for my sushi rice) and, since that is sweetened, I omit the sugar. I double the dressing since it's so good--and so easy to make. Method-wise, I change the recipe by tossing the chicken-cabbage mixture with the dressing and let it hang out for a few hours. Then I toss the whole lot together with a bit more dressing and it's ready to serve.

If I were planning to take this to work for a lunchtime pot luck, I'd cook the chicken, toast the ramen & almonds, make the dressing and chop all the vegetables the night before. In the morning I'd combine the chicken, cabbage & some of the dressing in one container, the salad greens, radishes, and green onions in another, and the ramen and almonds in a third container. At serving time I'd [carefully] toss everything together with more dressing in a large bowl or serving tray, top with ramen and almonds, and serve with extra dressing on the side.

For more recipes using cabbage, please see my Cabbage Recipes Collection. For more recipes using salad greens, please see my Salad Greens Recipes Collection. For more ideas using radishes, please see my Radish Recipes Collection. These collections are all part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient.

Potluck Asian Chicken Cabbage Salad (serves 8 to 10)

Ingredients

• 1 package ramen noodles (any flavor, you're just going to throw the flavor packet into the trash)
• ½ cup chopped almonds
• 6 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 5 Tablespoons seasoned sushi rice vinegar
• 4 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 Teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 to 3 cups cubed cooked chicken (about 2 large breasts)
• 1 napa or savoy cabbage, sliced thinly
• 1 head lettuce, washed & torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup thinly-sliced radishes
• ¼ chopped green onion

Instructions

1. Break dry ramen noodles into small chunks. In a large dry skillet over medium heat, toast ramen and almonds for 5 minutes until the almonds are fragrant and ramen is lightly browned.
2. In a screw top jar, combine  oil, vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Shake until well blended.
3. In a large bowl, combine chicken and cabbage. Pour about half the dressing over top and toss together. Chill for 30 minutes up to 4 hrs. 
4. Just before serving, toss with lettuce, radishes, green onion, ramen and almonds. Serve with remaining dressing on the side.