My vibrant Asian slaw is all crunch and color, tossed with a creamy peanut dressing that makes the whole bowl irresistible. Serve it as a summer side with anything grilled, pack it for lunch, or add rotisserie chicken, shrimp, tofu, or edamame and call it dinner.
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.
Add The View from Great Island as a Trusted Google Source
Asian Coleslaw
Video
Ingredients
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
Nutrition
More Asian inspired salads
Japanese Cucumber Salad (Sunomono)
Japanese Cucumber Salad is a refreshing side salad for everything from burgers and sandwiches to grilled steak, chicken, salmon, and more!
Thai Salad
Vibrant and crunchy Thai Salad is a 100 calorie lunch that feels like a feast!
Crunchy Chinese Coleslaw
My Chinese coleslaw is tossed with the perfect Asian sesame dressing and topped with sliced almonds and salty sesame sticks to double down on an already epic crunch.
The BEST Chinese Chicken Salad
This Chinese Chicken Salad recipe is probably my favorite year round main course salad. It's healthy, satisfying, and insanely crunchy!
Korean Bulgogi Beef Salad
This Korean barbecue inspired bulgogi beef salad is topped with marinated grilled beef and a variety of veggies. A delicious summer meal!
Edamame Salad
Edamame Salad is healthy, colorful, and crunchy ~ it's Asian bean salad meets rainbow slaw, and this easy no-mayo salad goes with everything!
Looking forward to trying this. I am unable to eat fresh garlic and onions but can have them in their powder form. I assume this variation will still make a good dressing.Thoughts?
Should be fine, just taste as you go since powdered garlic, onions, etc., can be strong.
Fabulous salad! The dressing is amazing but 8 TBS of sesame oil was too much…I made it with about 5 (a little less) and it was perfect! Such a strong flavor…
Stupendous Sauce! Super healthy salad capped off with a full nutty flavoured satay sauce! Follow the directions and you can’t go wrong!
Just read this. Sounds delicious. ?? Could I use regular cold slaw as the salad blend instead. I ask because I have most of the dressing ingredients on hand and a bag of cold slaw in the fridge. What do you think?
Yes, you definitely can.
Hi Catherine, as Sue says – Yes, I say absolutely too! I’m all into saving time in prep, so getting your average supermarket packet of Coleslaw (shredded two cabbages and carrot with a red onion mix), thrown into the wok with your favourite ‘Asian style’ vegetables such as Snow Peas, Broccoli, Bok Chuy, Sprouts or whatever – is just a brilliantly colourful and flavour infested stir-fry; but it is Sue’s nutty sauce that just caps the whole salad off to the level of Bliss. SO Enjoy.
p.s. I’ve also found that Sue’s suggestion of the ‘Tamari’ Soy sauce (I was amazed our local Australian supermarket stocked it), is just so brilliantly subtle and delicate too on the stir-fry as it is not too salty as other soy sauces. So anyway Enjoy!
Loved the variation on my usual cucumber salad. The addition of fresh corn to the cucumber salad was wonderful. So glad my guests did not eat it all. I finished up the rest for lunch, all by myself!
Love your recipes!
This looks spectacular and I can’t wait to try it. It would have been last night but had already gathered the ingredients for your corn and cucumber salad. It was delicious and four of us polished it off even with adding the third ear of corn. Also made your Shirazi salad and it was a hit as well. Your hearty salads are all beautiful and I can’t wait to cook my way through them!
I love hearing this Didi, my salads don’t get that much glory, it all goes to the desserts!
I could eat my weight in this lovely salad! I’ve been looking for a recipe like this so thank you! Can’t wait to try it.
This salad looks delicious Sue!! Thanks for the tips too! Have a great weekend..,. 🙂
This is fabulous. I love all of the flavors and textures going on ! And honestly, I think that vinaigrettes/dressings are equally important to all salads. No yucky bottled dressings in my kitchen. Plus they’re so fun to create! Great photos.
Thanks Mimi, and I totally agree with you about the dressings, they’re key!
It is the Peanut Dressing that calls to me. Funny really as I will eat Peanut Butter but I’m not all that fond of it but love sauces and dressings made with it. Thanks Sue, looks really good!!
I know what you mean, it seems like a strange ingredient until you taste it in a dressing like this. I love it spicy, too.
This slaw looks wonderful, Sue ! I’ve bookmarked it for making this week ! It’s so hot here that it will be a welcome dinner … with that rotisserie chicken !
Perfect ~ stay cool!