01.05.22

Vietnamese-Inspired Shredded Chicken Salad

Whether you’re doing a January Whole30 or headed back to the office after months of working from home, this is a great make-and-take lunch that stays well in the fridge the whole week. Inspired by Goi Ga, this shredded-chicken salad is bright and crunchy with three kinds of cabbage, lots of herbs, toasted cashews, and rotisserie chicken to make it easy.

There’s a lot of chopping and shredding in the beginning, but this is mostly assembly. If you have a mandolin and/or a food processor with a shredding attachment, this will be pretty quick. 

As is, when pre-dressed; the salad lasts about 3 days in the fridge. The cabbage does lose a bit of its crunch, and the salt from the fish sauce makes the veggies release a bit of water. To make it last for about a week of lunches, keep the dressing in the fridge and mix together the chicken, veg and herbs. When you’re ready to serve it, dress it on the spot. 

If you are not doing the Whole30, add about 2 teaspoons of coconut sugar to the dressing to help balance out the salt and acid. 

Vietnamese Inspired Shredded Chicken Salad

Serves: 4 people
Print
4.84 from 6 votes
Total Time45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
  • ½ small red onion - very thinly sliced
  • FOR THE DRESSING:
  • ¼ cup avocado oil
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 inch nub ginger - finely grated
  • 1 Fresno chile - thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp. lime zest
  • 2 Tbsp. lime juice - about the juice of one lime
  • 1 Tbsp. fresh orange juice
  • 1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp. coconut aminos
  • 1 Tbsp. fish sauce – I use Red Boat brand
  • FOR THE SALAD:
  • 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
  • 4 cups very thinly shredded napa cabbage
  • 2 cups very thinly shredded purple cabbage
  • 2 cups very thinly shredded green cabbage
  • 2 medium carrots - julienned
  • 1 red bell pepper - cut into matchsticks
  • 1 cup packed cilantro - chopped plus more for garnish
  • 1 cup packed mint - chopped plus more for garnish
  • ½ cup finely chopped toasted cashews
  • Lime wedges

Instructions

  • In a large mixing bowl, add the rice wine vinegar and the onions. Mix, making sure the onions are all coated in a bit of vinegar. Set aside to pickle while you prepare the rest.
  • FOR THE DRESSING:
  • In a medium saucepan, add the avocado oil. Turn the heat to medium high and heat the oil until it is hot but not smoking. Add the garlic, ginger, and Fresno chile to a wide mouth mason jar. Carefully, pour the hot oil over the aromatics in the jar. Give it a stir, and set aside, allowing the flavors to bloom, about three minutes. Once the oil has cooled a bit, add the lime zest, juice, orange juice, rice wine vinegar, coconut aminos, and fish sauce. Cover the jar with a lid and shake the jar vigorously to combine. Set aside.
  • FOR THE SALAD:
  • In a medium bowl, add the shredded chicken and a few tablespoons of dressing. Mix to combine. Rotisserie chicken can be a bit dry, so this helps the chicken absorb some of flavor before adding it to the veggies.
  • In the large mixing bowl with the pickled onions, add the napa cabbage, purple cabbage, green cabbage, shredded carrots, and red bell pepper. Add a tablespoon of dressing, and using tongs, really massage it into the greens, Add in the dressed chicken, and a bit more dressing. Continue to toss until everything is combined well. Add in the herbs, give it another toss, and taste for seasoning.
  • To serve, top with a generous amount of toasted cashews and lime wedges. Enjoy!

19 Comments

  • Reply
    Alana
    January 10, 2023 at 2:01 am

    5 stars
    This salad was super filling and flavorful! It was the perfect amount of spice. I used shredded slaw mixes I had, including a broccoli slaw, as the base.

    • Reply
      Alex
      January 10, 2023 at 6:10 pm

      Thanks so much, Alana! So happy you loved it!

  • Reply
    Jennifer
    June 27, 2022 at 6:38 pm

    4 stars
    This is a delicious salad! I did make some changes:
    I used half a jalapeno instead of a fresno because I couldn’t find the fresno and I don’t like a ton of heat
    I did add some salt to the dressing – I felt like the dressing was supposed to be the star and I just needed it to pop a little more
    I bought pre-shredded carrots and purple cabbage to cut back on prep time
    I cooked two chicken breasts in the slow cooker and then shredded instead of a rotisserie chicken because I already had them
    I did roasted almonds instead of cashews – just preference
    I added some sliced green onions as well
    I’m eating this all week for work lunches and its super tasty!!

  • Reply
    Lindsey
    February 20, 2022 at 6:11 pm

    5 stars
    This is delicious! My 10 year old daughter love it so much she brought it for lunch 2 days as well! Alex, you never disappoint!!

  • Reply
    Toni
    January 31, 2022 at 6:08 pm

    I would love nutritional info for this.

  • Reply
    Theresa
    January 17, 2022 at 3:37 pm

    If you want to eat for lunches do you toss the whole salad or is it better to dress each day you eat it?

    • Reply
      Alex
      January 17, 2022 at 8:35 pm

      Hi! I left a note about this in the blog post 🙂 Here is my tip for that!
      –As is, when pre-dressed; the salad lasts about 3 days in the fridge. The cabbage does lose a bit of its crunch, and the salt from the fish sauce makes the veggies release a bit of water. To make it last for about a week of lunches, keep the dressing in the fridge and mix together the chicken, veg and herbs. When you’re ready to serve it, dress it on the spot. 

  • Reply
    Amy Hurley
    January 13, 2022 at 10:47 pm

    Does anyone know the nutitional breakdown of this recipe? Calories, Carbs, Protein, and Fat?

  • Reply
    Jasmine
    January 10, 2022 at 2:43 pm

    Do you put the garlic cloves in whole or mince/chop for the dressing?

  • Reply
    Asriel Krupp
    January 9, 2022 at 11:32 pm

    5 stars
    Alex,

    Just made this for my January Whole30 meal prep and it is delicious! I cannot wait to eat it for lunch all week!

    Thank You!

  • Reply
    Vickie Avara
    January 9, 2022 at 7:22 pm

    Hey, I didn’t know to get in touch with you. I made your lemon-garlic green beans today and they were wonderful. I used your recipe book ‘Healthy and Wholesome Weeknight Recipes’ but, I think you left out the thinly sliced garlic from the recipe?

    • Reply
      Alex
      January 10, 2022 at 1:12 am

      Hi Vickie,
      Yes– Unfortunately that was an error in the book we missed 🙁

  • Reply
    Cindy
    January 7, 2022 at 8:45 pm

    I am excited to taste this tonight! I will say i love chopping but the zesting, squeezing, roasting, slicing , shredding and dicing the many ingredients in this is a doozy!

  • Reply
    PEGGY STPHILIP
    January 7, 2022 at 2:23 am

    5 stars
    My husband & I loved this salad…very fresh tasting! The perfect dinner salad when wanting to cut back the carbs. Yes, a little bit of extra work & effort but so worth it.

    • Reply
      Angela
      February 6, 2022 at 10:50 pm

      5 stars
      This was delicious. Trader Joe’s has an organic pre-shredded green and purple cabbage with carrots that makes this so much easier. I also keep their cubed crushed frozen ginger on hand at all times.

  • Reply
    Heather
    January 5, 2022 at 8:13 pm

    Thanks for this…can’t wait to try it! I make a Chinese chicken salad that’s similar and on weeks I want to cut down on at least a little bit of the chopping, I buy the bags of coleslaw mix at the grocery store (the bags of mixed cabbages and carrots without dressing packets). It costs a little more, but it saves a lot of time for me!

    • Reply
      Alex
      January 5, 2022 at 8:23 pm

      yes such a great time saver!!! coleslaw bags are the best when you don’t want to shred + slice

      • Reply
        Aspen
        January 6, 2022 at 5:22 pm

        Best replacement for a Fresno Chile? My store doesn’t have them

        • Reply
          Alex
          January 6, 2022 at 7:07 pm

          You can use 1 jalapeno or 2 thai chiles!

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