Asian Chicken Slaw

Asian Chicken Slaw is the answer. Figuring out what to serve in the hot days of summer is always difficult. I ask the same question at least once a week. “What should I make for dinner this week?” The answer that I usually get? “Whatever”. I know my family doesn’t want the same food we eat in February, but they are still hungry. Salads are a good solution but they have to be hearty dinner salads. My husband questions any vegetarian options I make and says things like “You know what would be good in this? Ham”. Or, he might suggest any other meat that is close to his heart at that moment. Because this salad has chicken in it, I don’t have to listen to his ridiculous suggestions.

Right now in August, I am looking for dinners that don’t heat up my kitchen and have limited amounts of actual cooking on the stove or oven. Asian Chicken Slaw is one of my favorite summer recipes. The only part of the recipe that I need to cook if I don’t already have a precooked rotisserie chicken, is two or three chicken breasts. If I poach them in the morning while the house is cool, not only do I avoid the heat which makes my MS symptoms worse, it saves me more energy for later in the day. I then chill the chicken and may chop or shred them in the early afternoon. Pacing myself seems to work best for me.

One of the best parts of this recipe, besides the taste, is that eating all that cabbage and other vegetables makes me feel virtuous. Over the years I have doubled the amount of cabbage so that there is enough for everybody to have hearty helpings. Sometimes we have cold takeout noodles with the slaw and sometimes we just eat the salad it by itself. My husband likes the leftovers for lunch the next day rolled up in a flour tortilla.

A bowl of ice cream always sounds right for dessert after this meal or sorbet if I want to keep up that healthy feeling. Who am I kidding? Chocolate ice cream with almonds usually wins out.

Print Recipe

Asian Chicken Slaw

Hearty and crunchy chicken and vegetable salad with a peanutty dressing.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Optional Cooking Time18 minutes mins

Total Time48 minutes mins

Course: Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: Chicken, Slaw

Servings: 4

Equipment

• knife or food processor
• Rasp Zester or Grater optional

Ingredients

Salad

• 32 oz. Bag Coleslaw Mix or Shredded Cabbage
• 1 lb. Cooked Chicken Meat, shredded I prefer breast meat for this
• 2 cups Broccoli Florets blanched or lightly steamed
• 1 cup Sugar Snap Peas sliced diagonally
• 1 Red Pepper thinly sliced in 2 inches pieces
• 1 cup Sliced Scallions 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup Roasted Peanuts

Dressing

• 2 cloves Garlic minced
• 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons White Vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1 teaspoon fresh Ginger grated
• scant 1/2 cup Vegetable or Neutral Tasting Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

Instructions

• In a very large bowl, toss together the coleslaw mix or shredded cabbage, chicken, broccoli, snap peas, red pepper and scallions.
  32 oz. Bag Coleslaw Mix or Shredded Cabbage, 1 lb. Cooked Chicken Meat, shredded, 2 cups Broccoli Florets, 1 cup Sugar Snap Peas, 1 Red Pepper, 1 cup Sliced Scallions
  
• In a medium bowl, stir the soy sauce, vinegar, peanut butter, sugar, minced garlic, and grated ginger until well blended. Slowly whisk in the canola oil and sesame oil. 
  2 cloves Garlic, 1/4 cup Soy Sauce, 2 Tablespoons White Vinegar, 2 Tablespoons Creamy Peanut Butter, 1 Tablespoon Sugar, 1 teaspoon fresh Ginger, scant 1/2 cup Vegetable or Neutral Tasting Oil, 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
  
• Toss the salad with the dressing. Add the peanuts. Toss again.
  1/2 cup Roasted Peanuts
  

Modifications

Salad

Because we are only getting grocery delivery every three weeks due to the pandemic and my autoimmune disease, I have been buying a lot of cabbage. I buy the whole heads because they last longer. I shred the cabbage with the slicing blade attachment to my food processor. WARNING. This is not easier! Use the bags if you can. I probably use double the cabbage that the original recipe calls for because we like it that way and my family needs more bulk per person in their dinner entree. We are not light eaters at dinner.

I have used grocery store rotisserie chickens in the past. I get either a teriyaki flavored one or the plainest one I can find so that the flavor goes with the dish. Even when I do my best to remove the skin I invariably leave some sauce or seasoning with the meat. 

The other option I have been using is to poach a couple of chicken breasts in water on the stove. Small bite sized pieces work as well if it is easier to cut them than to shred them with your hands.

Lately, I have been using defrosted frozen florets that I lightly squeeze to get the water out of. I have also lightly steamed the broccoli florets for 3-4 minutes in the microwave in a covered container with about a half inch of water. The bell pepper and snap peas just need to be cut into bite sized pieces. This time I only needed to snap the snap peas in pieces because they were so crisp I didn’t need a knife. Cutting some of the vegetables earlier in the day also saves me energy for the time before dinner when I am putting this together.

I used kitchen shears for the scallions which was a lot easier and more controlled.

Dressing

I make the dressing in the food processor. Put the garlic in first and run until the garlic is no longer being chopped and probably stuck to the walls of the processor bowl. It’s fine. 

Add in the rest of the dressing ingredients. I have been using the ginger paste in the tube that is found in the produce department at the grocery store lately. It’s a lot more expensive than fresh ginger but I don’t have to wear out my hands using the rasp grater. Another benefit of this product is that it lasts in the fridge a long time so I don’t find mushy brown pieces of ginger root in the bottom of my crisper drawer a month later. Process all of the dressing ingredients in the food processor until it is smooth. Done!

Handicapped Cooking Tip: A coffee measure is 2 Tablespoons or an eighth of a cup. I use them all of the time for measuring to save myself the repetitive motion of measuring out a Tablespoon twice.

Be sure to use a very large bowl for the salad because you are going to have to mix this and you really don’t want to “toss” the salad all over the counter and the floor. The spring tongs work best for my hands.