This is a crisp lettuce salad with a zippy sweet and sour dressing. Always a hit at a gathering, but doesn't store well. Very quick to prepare at the last minute.
A PERFECT dressing for oriental salads!! Giving only 4 stars because I DID mix in a little Sesame Seed oil, along with the vegetable oil, and added bean sprouts, shredded cabbage, and snow peas to the other ingredients in the salad. Also substituted shredded, baked wontons (from another recipe on this site) for the chow mein noodles. My husband said this was the best oriental salad he's ever tasted.
Read MoreI thought this dressing was way too bland. I added sesame oil and terriyaki sauce and it helped it a lot. With those additions the recipe is a keeper, but I am rating it based on the recipe as is- needs additions to be good in my opinion.
Read MoreA PERFECT dressing for oriental salads!! Giving only 4 stars because I DID mix in a little Sesame Seed oil, along with the vegetable oil, and added bean sprouts, shredded cabbage, and snow peas to the other ingredients in the salad. Also substituted shredded, baked wontons (from another recipe on this site) for the chow mein noodles. My husband said this was the best oriental salad he's ever tasted.
People always ask me to make this for get-togethers and it's the only lettuce salad my husband will eat. The dressing is delicious and it's a favorite of everyone's.
This is my son's favorite salad. I used 1 tablespoon of Splenda instead of 4 tablespoons of sugar and I also added 1/4 cup of peanut oil for flavor.
I modified the recipe a bit. I didn't have chow mein noodles or water chestnuts, used dry roasted peanuts instead of almonds and added mandarin oranges. It was great! The dressing (I used white wine vinegar) is really what brings the whole salad together, no matter what ingredients you have in it.
Loved this salad! For the chicken on top, I cut chicken breast into thin strips and dipped it in an egg/hoisen sauce mixture, breaded with crused cornflakes and fried. May add mandarin oranges next time, as well. Will make again.
Loved the water chestnuts and almonds. I also added mandarin oranges for color and texture.
I tried this recipe for my husband who loves a Chinese Chicken Salad at a local restaurant. For ease in preparation, I used a bag of pre-made salad, which had carrots and red cabbage, and left-over rotisserie chicken. Also, as suggested by another reviewer, I added mandarin oranges. With these changes, this salad was easily made within 8 minutes - great for busy weeknights. However, the dressing was a bit bland. The recipe doesn't state which vinegar to use, so I would conclude she meant white vinegar. I suggest you use cider vinegar to give it some zing. Also, you may want to add a couple of teaspoons of Teriyaki sauce. I think that really helped it a lot. Although the dressing needs to be tweeted a bit for personal taste, it is a recipe worth trying and keeping. We really enjoyed it.
I have made this recipe many, many times and everyone ALWAYS loves it. My married daughter begs me to make it for every family get together. And...It is so simple to make.
I made this today and it was a great hot weather salad to have with leftover rotisserie chicken that I got at the grocery store earlier this week. I added about 1 T of sesame oil to the oil and also used 1/2 olive and 1/2 veg. oil (using the tablespoon of sesame oil to fill up the 1/2 c. I used rice wine vinegar. I added a large can of mandarin oranges and pea pods (cut in half). I used rice noodles instead of chow mein noodles. If I had ginger on hand, I would have grated some in the dressing. I think I'll leave the poppy seeds out next time. They really don't add much. This was a very nice salad!
It was good but i put fresh ginger, garlic and a chili pepper with sesame oil, salt and pepper into the blender until smooth and added this to the original recipe. It tasted great!!!
this was good. after reading other reviews and for personal preferences, i did make some changes. i didn't add green onions, chow mein noodles, black pepper or poppy seeds. i used extra virgin olive oil and sesame oil in place of the vegetable oil and a packet of splenda instead of white sugar. i also added in canned mardarin oranges with the salad and mixed the dressing in a blender with a carrot.
This is a great recipe. The dressing is so good and so easy! My whole family enjoyed this one and I will definitely make it again.
My Mom makes a salad very similar. I was craving it and couldn't get a hold of her to get the dressing recipe. Found this and it is so similar. Absolutely delicious! I made a few changes to mimic my Mother's recipe. Used Napa Cabbage and added sliced red peppers, mandarin oranges,bamboo shoots, sliced English cucumbers, omitted almonds and added toasted sesame seeds. Dressing was spot on! I did add a bit of apple juice to dressing because I didn't have apple cider vinegar and wanted that kick but absolutely perfect!!!! Yummmm! The whole family loved this!
Very good recipe, the only reason I am giving it four stars is because I thought the ratio was off for the vinegar and oil. The original recipe made the dressing more bland that I like, and adding vinegar not only cuts the fat of the oil, but gives it a bit more zing. I used apple cider vinegar which helped, too. But great mix of ingredients, very fresh and tasty!
OMG, this recipe is so good! I added fresh snow peas, baby corn, red pepper and mandarin oranges. To the dressing, I substituted 1/4 C. ea. veg. & olive oil, 1 Tbsp. sesame seed oil, rice vinegar and left out the poppy seeds. The next time I make this, I might try using bean sprouts, celery, shredded cabbage instead of lettuce, and dry roasted peanuts instead of (toasted) almonds (Other reviewers have suggested many of these changes.) This will certainly become a family favorite, it's easy to make, and it's quick to put together at the last minute.
I thought this dressing was way too bland. I added sesame oil and terriyaki sauce and it helped it a lot. With those additions the recipe is a keeper, but I am rating it based on the recipe as is- needs additions to be good in my opinion.
Thank You Lea! This is so easy to make and I just loved the flavor. I took one bite and knew I will make it again very soon. I wouldn't change a thing in this recipe!
This is excellent! I used a spring mix of lettuces and bought a rotissere chicken to save on time and get a really good flavor. Read the reviews about the vinegar so I used seasoned rice vinegar with a splash of distilled vinegar for the dressing and it was fantastic. I took this to work so I kept the lettuce separate, mixed the chicken, onions, and waterchestnuts in a bowl and put the noodles and almonds in another bowl. The salad was put together right before eating without the salad dressing. Each person added their own salad dressing because we all take lunches at different times and I did not want the lettuce to wilt. I got rave reviews over this recipe with several asking for the recipe. I have made it twice in the same week. You won't be disappointed by this one!
Really liked this recipe. I added mandarin oranges and didn't have almonds but other than that followed the recipe exactly. Very good.
This is our favorite Chicken Salad recipe, though we leave out the poppy seeds for those children who are seed-a-phobic. Those who want the seeds get to add them in separately.
This was an easy lunch salad to prepare and delicious! I took the advice of another reviewer and fried up some wonton skins in strips instead of the chow mein noodles and a touch of sesame oil in the dressing was the over the top finish. Frankly, this salad would be good with anything you had left in your fridge. Thanks Lea_b!
This salad dressing is fantastic!! The only change I've made is that I add a splash of sesame oil. Perfect on all kinds of Asian salads!
This was great! I used 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 sesame oil, rice vinegar and splenda in place of the sugar. Also added ground red pepper and garlic powder. The dressing is fabulous and I always have these ingredients at home!
This was delicious! I added sesame oil and mandarin orange segments and it was delicious!
Really dressing. I added quite a bit more pepper and some sesame oil. I didn't have poppy seeds but I didn't miss them. It was a good balance of vinegar and oil.
Great salad! Although I didn't make the dressing. Instead I used Kraft's Asian Sesame Dressing. But I'd like to try making it sometimes. I made this salad for a reunion. I doubled it. I added julienned carrots, extra chicken, bean sprouts and mandarin oranges. And it was GONE fast! :)
The dressing was really sweet and yummy. I didn't put the dressing on the salad but served it on the side since most of my family members likes to put their own dressing on. I didn't have any water chestnuts and onions so I left them out. It was very quick to put together. I will definately make this again.
I thought this was really good...I loved how easy it was to put together, I needed a really fast salad for a Chinese dinner I was putting together that used up ingredients that I had. Although I thought it was really good, my husband just thought it was "okay" so I probably won't make it again. But thank you, I thought it was great! :)
The women at my women's ministry meeting love this so much that every time our theme is Chinese they all (15) beg me to bring that wonderful salad. This is really good.
The actual salad was great. The dressing was horrible. Way too sweet, and bland besides. The flavor just did not complement the salad at all. I can't even think of a way to help it. Thankfully I did not mix the dressing into the salad, so I can just use a different dressing.
My husband rated this salad above his previous fave, Ceasar's Salad. I make it once a week now and keep all ingredients on hand - which is easy because they are all basics!
Made this tonight....awesome...no sugar, used stevia!! Olive Oil instead of Veg. Oil. Added a sprinkle of Ginger to dressing, roasted some sesame seeds also, added Mandarin oranges......AWESOME!! (BTW---used only 3 TBSP of Apple Cider Vinegar instead of 4) Very tart!! Will make again SOON!!
Great recipe! I added sesame oil (about 3 tablespoons) with the vegetable oil and I left out the onions because we don’t like them. Yummy. Also I tripled the amount of chicken so it can fill us up as a whole meal. It is amazing
We loved it! I also read the reviews and used olive oil, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and mandarin oranges. Just taste the dressing while you make it. I added more rice vinegar and sesame oil, and we (2 people) ate enough for six. The chow mein noodles are a big plus in this salad. I also egg-dipped the chicken and used panko before frying. Kudos to the reviewer who suggested this. Make extra dressing, about one and a half times the amount the recipe calls for. I can't wait to make it again. Also, I used cashew pieces, (mostly whole cashews), instead of almonds. In my opinion, the cashews go much better with this excellent salad.
