Red Cabbage and Chicken Asian Salad with Tangy Cilantro Dressing

I’m crazy about this deliciously healthy Red Cabbage and Chicken Asian Salad Recipe with Tangy Cilantro Dressing. And this tasty cabbage salad is low-carb, low-glycemic, gluten-free, and South Beach Diet Phase One. Use the Diet-Type Index to find more recipes like this one.

Click here to PIN Red Cabbage and Chicken Asian Salad with Tangy Cilantro Dressing!

I’m a fan of all types of cruciferous vegetables, but the one cruciferous vegetable I almost always have in my crisper is cabbage, and I especially love sweet red cabbage in salad. So back in 2008 when I spotted a recipe in Cooking New American with red cabbage, chicken, and an Asian dressing with peanut butter and cilantro, of course I wanted to try it. My version of this Red Cabbage and Chicken Asian Salad Recipe with Tangy Cilantro Dressing has turned out to be one of my favorite salads with red cabbage, and I’d happily eat this any time of year.

When I made this recently and decided to update it with better photos, it disappeared quickly. I love this Red Cabbage and Chicken Asian Salad with Tangy Cilantro Dressing just like the recipe, but t here are any number of wonderful variations to this salad that would work. If you’re not a cilantro fan, I’d use some thinly sliced green onion in the dressing. I love to make this with leftover rotisserie chicken, but if you don’t eat meat, I think you could use all veggies for this and make a delicious salad. The dressing is a slightly-sweetened tangy combination of ginger, garlic, cilantro, peanut butter, lemon juice, peanut oil, and soy sauce, so just imagine what would taste good with that and let your imagination go.

Slice up several cups of red cabbage. (If you have one, I’d use a Mandoline Slicerto get thin slices of cabbage.) Slice the green onions and sugar snap peas (or use a different vegetable if you prefer.) Chop up a few cups of cooked chicken. Buzz together ginger, garlic, chopped cilantro (or green onion), peanut butter, lemon juice, soy sauce (use Gluten-Free Soy Sauce for gluten-free), hot water, and sweetener of your choice to make the dressing.

Toss the chicken pieces with part of the dressing, until all the chicken is well-coated with dressing. Add the red cabbage, sugar snap peas, and sliced green onions and toss, adding more dressing if desired.

Then toast the almonds and sprinkle over the Red Cabbage and Chicken Asian Salad with Tangy Cilantro Dressing and enjoy!

More Yummy Salads with Cilantro:
Vegan Tomato Salad with Cucumber, Avocado, Cilantro, and Lime ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Cucumber Salad with Fresh Pineapple and Cilantro ~ Reluctant Entertainer
Cucumber Avocado Salad with Tuna, Cilantro, and Lime ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Southwestern Cobb Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing ~ A Mind “Full” Mom
Chicken and Avocado Salad with Lime and Cilantro ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen

Red Cabbage and Chicken Asian Salad with Tangy Cilantro Dressing
(Makes 3-4 servings, recipe adapted from Cooking New American.

Salad Ingredients:
(You can use other vegetables or vary the proportions of different ingredients based on what you have.)
2 – 3 cups very thinly sliced red cabbage
1 cup diagonally sliced sugar snap peas (carrots or red bell peppers would also be good, or use a combination of veggies)
1/3 cup diagonally sliced green onions (scallions)
2 cups diced cooked chicken (leftover rotisserie chicken is great for this salad)

Dressing Ingredients:
1/2 tsp. ginger puree or minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. garlic puree or minced fresh garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (or use sliced green onion if you’re not a cilantro fan)
3 T peanut butter (or more, use natural low-sugar peanut butter, or pick the peanut butter with the least amount of sugar)
1 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 T peanut oil
3 T soy sauce (low sodium is ok; use Gluten-Free Soy Sauce for gluten-free)
1 T very hot water
1 T sweetener of your choice (Stevia In the Raw Granulated Sweetener, Splenda, sugar, or Agave Nectar)

Garnish Ingredients:
2-3 T finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup finely chopped almonds or peanuts

Instructions:
Remove outer leaves from cabbage, cut out core, and cut into thin slices not more than 1/4 inch thick; use a Mandoline Slicer to cut the cabbage if you have one. Cut sugar snap peas (or other vegetables) into thin diagonal slices or matchstick pieces and thinly slice green onions. Chop chicken into pieces about 1 inch square.

Put ginger, garlic, cilantro (or sliced green onion), peanut butter, lemon juice, peanut oil, soy sauce, hot water, and sweetener of your choice in food processor. Pulse about one minute, until ingredients are well combined. Taste to see if you want more peanut butter. (I think this could be done in a blender if you don’t have a food processor.)

Put the chopped chicken into a large salad bowl with about half the dressing, then toss until all the chicken is coated with dressing. Add the cabbage, sugar snap peas, and sliced green onions and toss, adding more dressing as desired. Divide salad into individual serving bowls and garnish with chopped cilantro and almonds or peanuts.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Red Cabbage and Chicken Asian Salad with Tangy Cilantro Dressing is perfect for low-carb diets or South Beach Phase One, especially if you use Stevia In the Raw Granulated Sweetener or another approved sweetener to sweeten the dressing. For low-carb diets or the South Beach Diet use low-sugar peanut butter for the dressing. (Peanut butter labeled “natural” is usually low in sugar.)

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Nutritional Information?
If you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into this nutrition analyzer, which will calculate it for you. Or if you’re a member of Yummly, you can use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information there.