Asian Slaw with Peanut Dressing

What makes this Asian slaw so good

My Asian slaw is the kind of salad I never get tired of. It’s crisp, colorful, healthy, and it goes with just about everything ~ grilled chicken, salmon, burgers, tacos, or a simple sandwich. The vegetables stay crunchy, the peanut dressing makes it feel satisfying, and it’s just as useful for meal prep as it is for a summer table.

What readers are saying

⭐️ This is a keeper! That dressing should be bottled and sold!

⭐️ Super healthy salad capped off with a full nutty flavoured satay sauce! Follow the directions and you can’t go wrong!

⭐️ it is Sue’s nutty sauce that just caps the whole salad off to the level of bliss.

About that peanut dressing

An Asian slaw lives or dies by its dressing, and my creamy peanut dressing is the reason everybody talks about this salad. It’s tangy, nutty, salty-sweet, and just spicy enough ~ it adds the oomph to all that fresh crunch.

These ingredients should be pantry staples:

• Toasted sesame oil ~ this is key. If you’ve never bought it you’re missing out, the flavor is rich and nutty. It’s also Vitamin E and antioxidant rich. Branch out and keep a few different oils in your pantry.
• Rice wine vinegar, a definite must in your vinegar collection, it’s less acidic and milder than regular vinegar.
• Tamari sauce, my favorite soy sauce. It’s naturally gluten free, and has a more complex flavor than regular soy sauce. Find it in the Asian section of  your supermarket.
• Creamy peanut butter
• Fresh garlic and ginger
• Brown sugar
• Red pepper flakes

You can whisk this together or, my preference, hit it with your immersion blender, which emulsifies it into a thick creamy sauce in seconds. I love my immersion blender 🙂

This fusion salad is part legit Asian, part American potluck

And the result is a delicious hybrid and a guaranteed people pleaser. I’ve included options down below for special diets and restrictions, because nobody should have to miss out on this one.

How to make this Asian slaw look its best

A big colorful salad like this is all about the toss, the bowl, and the final little finish.

• Serve it the day it’s made. You can prep the vegetables ahead, but toss with the dressing closer to serving for the best crunch and color.

• Toss it in a huge bowl first. You need room to get everything evenly mixed and coated, then transfer it to a clean serving bowl.

• Choose your color mood. Go full rainbow with red cabbage, carrots, peppers, and cilantro, or keep it mostly green with Napa cabbage, pea pods, green onions, and peanuts.

• Add the crunchy finish last. Extra peanuts, sesame seeds, and cilantro make the salad look fresh and intentional.

How I recreate a favorite store-bought salad

This Asian slaw started with a prepared salad from my regular supermarket. I loved it so much I went back the next day for more, but the second batch wasn’t as fresh ~ so I decided to make my own.

Here’s my basic workflow when I’m trying to recreate a store-bought or restaurant dish:

• I study every bite and try to identify the ingredients by sight, taste, and texture.
• If there’s an ingredient label, I save it.
• I search the recipe name plus the store or restaurant name, just in case someone has cracked the code.
• I compare similar recipes online to see what ingredients and ratios keep showing up.
• Then I test, taste, and adjust until it feels right.

And I always make it my own. In this case, I added water chestnuts because I love their crunch, even though they weren’t in the original salad. That’s the fun of recreating recipes at home ~ you get to keep the parts you love and improve the rest.

Asian Slaw variations

• Main course protein: We love to add shredded rotisserie chicken to make it a meal. Grilled shrimp or tofu would be great choices too.
• Nut allergies: If you have nut allergies leave them out and use sunflower seed kernels. Try Sunbutter in the dressing.
• For gluten free: try Japanese soba noodles, which are made from naturally gluten free buckwheat (buckwheat is a seed, not a grain.)
• Cilantro alternatives: If you dislike cilantro try basil or maybe chives instead. Parsley will be a bit bland.
• Add crispy wonton strips, either store bought or homemade (I’ll show you how in my How to Make the Best Chinese Chicken Salad post.)  Or those crunchy kitschy canned chow mein noodles.
• Add canned mandarin slices.
• Include edamame beans, they usually come frozen, so just thaw and add.
• Add fresh jalapeño for heat.

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Asian Coleslaw

4.09 from 115 votes

Asian slaw with creamy peanut dressing is a crunchy Chinese-style coleslaw made with cabbage, colorful vegetables, peanuts, and chow mein noodles. It’s fresh, healthy, and easy to serve as a side dish or light meal.

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Prep Time:20 minutes minutes

Total Time:20 minutes minutes

Servings: 10

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Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

dressing

• 8 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 8 Tbsp toasted sesame oil, look for it with the regular oils, or in the Asian food section
• 3 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
• 3 Tbsp Tamari soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 Tbsp finely minced fresh ginger

salad

• 3 ounces dried chow mein noodles, cooked just until tender and rinse them well in cold water (it will be about 2 cups cooked)
• 3 cups loosely packed, shredded red cabbage (shred on 1/8 inch setting of mandoline, or with a very sharp knife)
• 3 cups loosely packed, shredded Napa or Savoy cabbage
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1 cup snowpeas, sliced lengthwise
• 1 cup red and yellow bell peppers, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts
• 1 bunch (7-8) scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts
• 1/2 cup minced cilantro
• 1/2 cup peanuts
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, optional

Instructions

• Blend together the dressing ingredients. I like to use an immersion blender because the dressing will emulsify into a creamy sauce. Taste to adjust any of the ingredients to your own preference. You can make the dressing a day or two ahead if you like.
• Toss the cooked noodles with a little bit of the dressing to keep them from sticking together, and then put them into a large mixing bowl along with the rest of the salad ingredients. Toss everything together gently with enough dressing to coat well, you don’t have to use all of it if your salad is smaller.
• Garnish with sesame seeds and more peanuts.
• Refrigerate until serving. I recommend serving the same day.

Notes

The salad can be made a few hours ahead, but is best the day it is made.  It will last a day or two in the fridge for leftovers.

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Course: Salad

Cuisine: Asian

Author: Sue Moran

Keyword: Asian, healthy, salad, slaw, vegan, vegetarian

Nutrition

Calories: 306 kcal · Carbohydrates: 42 g · Protein: 11 g · Fat: 14 g · Saturated Fat: 2 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 6 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 6 g · Sodium: 475 mg · Potassium: 1328 mg · Fiber: 14 g · Sugar: 21 g · Vitamin A: 6902 IU · Vitamin C: 243 mg · Calcium: 219 mg · Iron: 3 mg

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.

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