Asian Chopped Salad Recipe
Asian Chopped Salad is a bowl of crunchy, delicious goodness. This is a vibrant and healthy side dish with a sweet and savory flavor profile. The homemade Asian salad dressing is quick to whip up and irresistible.
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Hi there! My name is Natalya and I run the blog Momsdish. If you already follow me, you know I can’t get enough of easy meals that require simple ingredients. Well, this salad is no different. I can’t wait for you to try it!
Crunchy Asian Salad Recipe
Asian Chopped Salads always found their way into my grocery cart. Once I decided that I could easily make it homemade, I was hooked. Making this salad from scratch is a no-brainer. It is just as good (if not better) than the bagged varieties. Plus, you get to use the freshest ingredients and control what you put in the salad. Using fresh cabbage, carrot and snap peas gives this salad an amazing crunch with every bite.
How to Make Asian Chopped Salad
Don’t fall for the bagged salads! You’ve got this. Making an Asian chopped salad is super easy. Follow these simple steps:
- Roast cashews on a preheated skillet and chop them into small pieces.
- Wash and prepare all your veggies and place them into a large bowl.
- Sprinkle the salad with chopped cilantro, sesame seeds, crunchy noodles, and cashews.
- For the dressing, combine the ingredients together in a jar and shake well.
- Pour the dressing over the salad, toss everything together, and season with salt and pepper.
Asian Salad Dressing
What makes this salad so great is the homemade Asian dressing! It’s certainly going to win you over. It’s super easy to make and you likely have most of the ingredients to make it hanging out in your fridge and pantry.
Grab a mason jar and fill it with sesame oil, rice vinegar, honey, lime juice, ginger and salt, and pepper. Then, seal the jar and get to shaking! Once the dressing looks well-incorporated, pour it right over the salad.
Other Variations of the Salad
To change things up you can always add a few other ingredients to the mix. Here are some options:
- Nuts – Peanuts, almonds, or cashews add a wonderful crunch to this salad.
- Proteins – Grilled chicken, pan-seared steak, pulled pork, or even shrimp and eggs will work great.
- Veggies – Cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, and zucchini are tasty additions.
Can this Salad be Made Ahead?
The great thing about crunchy salads is they last longer than spinach or lettuce-based salads. After you mix in the dressing, this salad will stay fresh for a few hours. You can make it in advance, but only add the dressing right before serving. If you are meal-prepping, store the veggies separately from the dressing.
More Asian-Inspired Recipes:
- Chow Mein – make your favorite takeout dish at home.
- Fried Rice – a great way to use leftover rice.
- Beef and Broccoli – this stir fry is the perfect balance of sweet and salty.
- Mongolian Beef – super saucy and satisfying
- Lo Mein – it’s all about the sauce, incredible flavors!
- Yakisoba – these noodles are so satisfying with a wonderful mouthfeel.
Asian Chopped Salad Recipe

Ingredients
Ingredients for Salad:
- 3 cups white cabbage , thinly sliced
- 3 cups red cabbage , thinly sliced
- 1 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
- 1 medium carrot, julienne
- 1 cup sugar snap peas, chopped
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1/2 cup cashews, toasted and chopped
- 1/2 cup crispy chow mein noodles, or wontons
Ingredients for Asian Salad Dressing:
- 4 tbsp sesame oil
- 4 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 tsp salt, or added to taste
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, or added to taste
Instructions
- Roast cashews on a preheated skillet until golden brown. Let them cool down completely. Chop them into small pieces.
- Wash and prepare all the vegetables and arrange them in a large bowl.
- Sprinkle the salad with chopped cilantro, sesame seeds, noodles and cashews.
- For the Asian salad dressing, combine the ingredients together in a jar and shake well.
- Pour the dressing over the salad before serving and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
I´ve been loving and enjoying your recipes for a long time. This Asian salad is a great blend of veggies. The only thing I didn´t like was the dressing. The sesame oil was way too dominate for me. So, I just made a new batch without it, and added some peanut butter to make my favorite sauce!
The addition of peanut butter sounds delicious! Did you change anything else?
How much is a serving? One cup or two cups. It shows calories per serving but not how much a serving is.
Hi Betty! At the top of the recipe card, you’ll see the number of servings. This recipe serves 6 and the nutrition facts are estimated based on one serving. I’m sorry, I don’t have each serving measured out exactly, it’s computer generated. You can divide the whole into 6 even servings or weigh the whole recipe by weight and divide by 6. I hope that helps.
I have made this salad several times. The dressing is the best I have ever had. I use two tablespoons of sesame oil due to the cost and it in no way takes away from it. I use the dressing on every salad I have and always have it on hand. It lasts several days in the refrigerator and blends well as long as you let it come to room temperature so that it blends. So good I could drink it.
I’m so glad you loved it, Donna! Thank you for sharing.
This is delicious, love the dressing! I added precooked grilled chicken strips and a mandarin fruit cup (drained)!
Glad you enjoyed this recipe, Michelle!
Is this recipe gluten free? If not, can it be adapted for a gluten free diet?
Hi Monica! If you can find GF wontons or crispy chow mien noodles, you can make this GF. I have not tested an alternative to these, but you could probably leave them out as well.
i toasted some almonds instead of the chow main noodles and it was DELISH!
Good to know that it turned out great!
Excellent recipe. Easy to make. I added grilled chicken to it and it was delicious!!
Grilled chicken on this salad is amazing! Thank you for the review, Patty!
That sounds delicious, but How do I make the crispy noodles?
I don’t have a recipe for this. You can find this pre-made at the store in the Asian aisle.
Excellent! Simple to make and the dressing is deliciously flavorful. I left out the cilantro because I didn’t have any and it didn’t seem like the salad was missing anything.
So glad you enjoyed this salad, Pamela. Thank you for the review. 🙂
This is a hit in my home.
I was craving this salad, but I was also having dental work. I nuked the salad first and this worked for me. I love all the vegetables packed into one salad.
I have a dressing recipe using peanut butter and I think I will try this on the salad next time.
Sounds like a plan. I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try!
Painfully delicious. It was so good but chewing it was honestly starting to hurt a little bit from my jaws getting sore. Totally my own fault though haha. I also doubled the dressing recipe because we like a little more. Would totally recommend this though. My boyfriend and I loved it.
Hi Jessica! Wonderful to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for the review.
I cannot say enough good things about this salad! Crunchy and delicious. I’m on my 5th day in a row of eating this for lunch. I added pork tenderloin to up the protein. The only change I made was to use half vegetable oil and half sesame oil in the dressing, because I find sesame oil to be a bit overwhelming.
Thank you for this great recipe!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Robin!
And after eating this for about a week, I took essentially the same ingredients and made a stir fry for dinner!
This is the best asian dressing I have made. I love it!! You have it going on Natasha! Every one of your recipes I have tried are winners!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Pam!
Great recipe, thanks for sharing. I added some sliced pak choi that I had in the fridge to the salad and some cooked (cooled) vermicelli noodles through the salad to bulk it out. Served with soy/ginger/garlic/honey glazed pork tenderloin. Results were great!
Sounds awesome, good to know that you loved the result!
Hi, this looks amazing. Does it hold up well in the fridge? Or should I keep the dressing separate?
Hi Meredith, if you keep the dressing separate from the fresh ingredients, and properly stored, it will be fresh for a few days as long as your start with fresh ingredients.
I wanted to use the Asian salad inside a lettuce wrap. Would this work?
Hi Bonnie, I have not tried that yet but I think it’s worth experimenting with. If you try that, please share with us how it goes.
Added some grilled chicken and had this for lunch. Loved the crunch and the dressing was light and flavorful. I have yet to cook one of Natasha’s recipes I haven’t liked, though!
That’s fantastic feedback, thank you so much for your good comments. I appreciate it!
This was so great. The whole family loved it! Another great recipe. Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Mk!
Hello Natasha, I’m a big fan of your cooking. You made this asian salad we call it ‘chanachur makha’ its so tasty and spicy as well.what I love about this dish we add a little puffed rice (muri) and its just wow. I’m delighted to have a look of your dish. Thank you.
You’re welcome. I’m glad you like this recipe, I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try.
Hello,pls text me where did u buy u cabbage cutter from? Are u happy with it?
Hi Cristina, we love it! you can find our favorite kitchen tools in our Amazon Affiliate Shop HERE.
How long do you think this would stay good in the fridge? 2-3 days?
Hi Zach, I haven’t tried storing it for too long in the fridge. It usually lasts just for a few hours.
You are my favorite chef, I have made so many of your recipes and everyone was perfect. Thank you so much for sharing and God Bless you and your family.
Aww, that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I’m all smiles
Im gonna use this for my Food & Nutrition class and I bet a 100 dollars that my teachers will loooooooove it. Trusting u Natasha! 🙂
Loved this dressing. I did change to 1 TBSP of sesame oil and 3 TBSP of vegetable oil due to cost of sesame oil. Served on similar salad, but modified to veges on hand.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
I make this salad in summer. Instead of cabbage.. I use Napa cabbage very good .
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Delicious salad! It tastes even more flavorful if you mix the dressing in a few hours before serving to let the flavors absorb into the veggies and then sprinkle wontons on right before serving… perfect 👌
Great idea! Thank you so much for sharing that with us!
Hello Natasha, my question might be stupid, but is the calorie count per serving or for the whole amount? Thanks!
Hi Sara, that is per serving!
I enjoy many of your recepies…my husband and I are diabetic and i just use splenda and make a few changes here and there….You have made my life a lot easier with all the post you do on facebook…my phone has so many of your recepies stored
Sounds great! I’m so glad that you are able to make the recipes work with your substitute. Thanks for sharing that with us!
I blog often and I really appreciate your content. Your article has really peaked my interest. I will bookmark your site and keep checking for new details about once per week. I opted in for your Feed too.
Loved this salad! Since I ran out of rice vinegar, I added only 2,5 tbsp of it. I didn’t have sesame oil on hand, so used peanut oil instead. With all the adjustments, I was blown away by the look and taste of Asian chopped salad. Highly recommend!
I’m so glad that worked out Zhanna! That’s so great!
So amazing. I’m eating a late night second helping (we stored the dressing separate). We also added canned chicken breast. Totally worth all the chopping. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing that with us, Melanie. Great to hear that you enjoyed this recipe!
You have to be VERY careful with the pepper. i put in 1/2 tsp. and it was WAY too much! The dressing tasted terrible. Just add a tiny bit and taste before adding anymore. The salad itself was good. Instead of chow mien noodles I used crunched up Top Ramen noodles.
Hi Judi, thank you for that feedback!
I need a lesson on how to Julienne carrots like that! Very good looking recipe. Thank you. Really enjoy your site.
can not wait to try it when my sno peas are ready,sounds wonderful
Sounds like a good plan, Terry. Enjoy!
How long will the chopped, mixed salad stay fresh in the fridge without the dressing?
I see that you wrote that it lasts only a few hours in the fridge. Do you have any recommendations as to how a single person cooking for one should prepare this?
Hi Sara, I recommend using the recipe sliders to adjust how many servings you would like. halving the recipe would work also.
Hi Sara, not mixed and properly stored it will be fresh for a few days as long as your start with fresh ingredients.
This was an excellent salad. I have been using your recipes on a regular basis, and love them all. Thank you
Thank you for your good comments, Donna! I hope you love every recipe that you try.
I made this for dinner tonight-absolutely delicious 😋!!! My husband even ate it as a snack after dinner while watching 📺!!
Wow so awesome to hear that! Thanks for leaving a great review, we appreciate it!
I love your blog and recipes. But please tell me what you use to shred/chop the cabbage. Thanks.
Thank you, Anne. You can see the kitchen tools that I use here in our Amazon Page.
Thank you so much for this recipie¡
Greetings from México¡¡¡¡
You’re welcome! I hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy.
This is a staple all summer long at our house
That’s so awesome Rachael! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
Made this for lunch and we loved it. Can’t wait to bring it to our next potluck!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
I loved it!! Packed full of flavors and really delish!
Hello Toni, I am so happy that you loved it! Thanks for your excellent review.
Hi Natasha!
Quick question: you add the snap peas fresh? No blanching?
That’s right! We used fresh snap peas!
Hi Natasha, my name is Marta I’m a big fan frome Portugal, and I do lots of your recipes, but when it comes for baking I don’t achieve the results I whish for, I believe is because I’m not familiar with de measurements like ” 1 cup” Ect.
Can you please help me and give me one chart corresponding your measurements into grams and ml..
I’ve been looking but their all different and for that I don’t no what to choose.
I really want to make your dinner rolls.
Thank you so very much.
Keep going you are fabulous.
Marta
Hi Marta, We are currently working on adding metric measurements to all of our recipes but it is taking some time as we have to add them one at a time. Thank you so much for being patient! In the meantime, check out our post on measuring which should help.
Marta, try googling the conversion table to metric. Nice to see Natasha’s Kitchen makes it all the way to Portugal. Yes, Natasha’s recipes are easy to follow and kitchen-tested delicious. We all thank her for making it easy.