Martha Stewart’s Asian chicken salad is a no-cook mix of red cabbage, carrots, mint, and cilantro with shredded chicken. A lime-jalapeño dressing ties it together in 15 minutes using leftover or rotisserie chicken. It serves 4 as a light lunch or quick weeknight meal.
This recipe appeared in Everyday Food, March 2011. Stewart keeps the dressing to five ingredients: lime juice, soy sauce, jalapeño, vegetable oil, and a pinch of sugar. There’s no mayo, no sesame oil, and no peanut butter, which sets it apart from most Asian-style salads online.
The balance of the dressing is what makes this work. The lime juice brings acid, the soy sauce adds salt, the jalapeño gives heat, and the half-teaspoon of sugar rounds off the sharpness. Miss one element and the salad tastes flat or harsh.
Martha Stewart Asian Chicken Salad
Course: Sides, SaladsCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy4
servings15
minutes175
kcal15
minutesA fresh, crunchy salad with a lime-jalapeño dressing and two kinds of fresh herbs, from Everyday Food (March 2011). Uses leftover or rotisserie chicken for zero cooking time.
Ingredients
- For the dressing:
60ml (¼ cup) fresh lime juice, from about 3 limes
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 jalapeño, finely chopped
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon sugar
- For the salad:
280g (4 cups) shredded red cabbage, about ½ medium head
110g (1 cup) shredded carrots, about 2 large
1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves
1 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves
280g (2 cups) shredded cooked chicken
Directions
- Whisk the lime juice, soy sauce, jalapeño, vegetable oil, and sugar together in a large bowl until combined.
- Add the red cabbage, carrots, cilantro, mint, and shredded chicken. Toss well to coat everything in the dressing.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Poached chicken option: If you don’t have leftover chicken, place 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts in a large pan with sliced ginger, half a lemon (sliced), 3-4 smashed garlic cloves, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cover with water by 2.5 cm (1 in). Bring to the boil, skim, cover, and reduce to medium-low for 5 minutes. Flip the chicken, turn off the heat, and leave covered until cooked through to 71°C (160°F), about 12-15 minutes. Cool completely before shredding.
FAQs
How do I control the spice level?
Stewart notes that most of a jalapeño’s heat sits in the ribs and seeds. Remove them for a milder dressing and keep them for full heat. I scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon and taste a sliver of the flesh to gauge the heat before adding it.
Jalapeños vary wildly in heat from one to the next. If yours is mild, you might want the seeds. If it’s a scorcher, half the pepper without seeds is enough. You can always add more heat, but you can’t take it out once it’s in the dressing.
Can I make this salad vegetarian?
Stewart suggests swapping the chicken for cubed firm tofu. Press the tofu first by wrapping it in kitchen paper and setting a heavy plate on top for 15 minutes. This removes excess water so the tofu absorbs the dressing instead of diluting it.
Cut the tofu into 1 cm cubes and toss it in with the vegetables. It won’t shred like chicken, but the firm chunks hold up well against the crunchy cabbage. Edamame beans work too if you want protein without the tofu texture.
Can I make this ahead of time?
The dressed salad doesn’t hold well because the lime juice wilts the cabbage and herbs within an hour. If you need to prep ahead, keep the dressing and the salad components in separate containers in the fridge. Toss them together just before serving.
The shredded vegetables last two days in the fridge undressed. The poached chicken keeps for three days in an airtight container. This makes it a good meal-prep option if you shred everything in advance and dress each portion fresh.
Why does Stewart use both mint and cilantro?
Most Asian-style salads use one herb or the other. Stewart uses a full cup of each, which is a lot. The cilantro adds a sharp, citrusy note that echoes the lime, while the mint brings a cooling sweetness that balances the jalapeño heat. Together they make the salad taste brighter than either herb alone.
If you can’t find cilantro or dislike it, flat-leaf parsley is the closest swap. Thai basil works instead of regular mint and pushes the flavour in a more Southeast Asian direction. Don’t skip both herbs entirely, though. Without them the salad is just dressed coleslaw.
What makes this different from a standard coleslaw?
Three things. There’s no mayonnaise, so the salad is light and sharp rather than creamy. The herbs are a main ingredient, not a garnish, making up nearly a third of the bulk. And the dressing is built on citrus and chilli rather than vinegar and sugar.
The result is closer to a Vietnamese-style salad than an American slaw. It pairs well with grilled food, rice bowls, or eaten on its own for lunch. If you’re looking for more substantial salads, green bean salad uses a similar citrus-forward dressing. And his tomato and feta salad takes the same fresh, no-cook approach. For a completely different meal, the crown roast is the opposite end of the effort scale.
How do I shred the chicken properly?
If you’re using rotisserie chicken, pull the meat off the bones while it’s still slightly warm. It shreds more easily when it hasn’t fully cooled. Use two forks to pull the meat apart into thin strips along the grain.
For the poached chicken, let it cool completely first. Warm poached chicken tears into chunks rather than shredding neatly. Once cool, hold one end with your fingers and drag a fork down the length of the breast. You want thin, even strips that mix well with the cabbage.
