Asian Salad with Peanut Dressing

The combination of flavors and textures packed in this easy cabbage salad recipe will have you craving this Asian Salad with Peanut Dressing time and time again! 

This healthy Asian cabbage salad recipe is full of crisp and fresh vegetables that add a delightful crunch to every bite.  

The creamy peanut butter dressing is a perfect balance of sweet, salty, sour and slightly spicy flavors. It makes this dish so delicious and addictive you'll want to have this salad on repeat! 

How to Make an Asian Cabbage Salad

Though there are many ingredients in this crunchy cabbage salad, it's an easy recipe to prepare. The salad and dressing ingredients are common enough that you should be able to find them in your local grocery store.

Here's a list of the ingredients you'll need to make this Chinese Napa cabbage salad, please see the recipe card for ingredient amounts and instructions.

Ingredients Overview: 

Asian Salad:

• Napa cabbage: This is a type of Chinese cabbage that is softer in texture than the regular red or green cabbage that is common in North America.
• Carrots: You can grate them yourself or use pre-shredded carrots.
• Fresh sugar snap peas or snow peas 
• Red bell pepper: Yellow and orange bell peppers also work great in this salad.
• Bean sprouts
• Green onions
• Cilantro: Fresh cilantro adds so much flavor to this salad. 
• Peanuts: You can also use cashews, sunflower seeds or sesame seeds.

Asian Peanut Salad Dressing Ingredients:

• Regular or all natural peanut butter
• Brown sugar: If you prefer to use a natural sweetener, you can substitute with honey or maple syrup.
• Fresh lime juice
• Vegetable, canola, avocado or other neutral flavored oil.
• Sesame oil
• Fish sauce
• Soy sauce
• Sriracha hot sauce
• Peanuts
• Cilantro

Steps Overview:

1. Prepare the salad ingredients by rinsing the vegetables. Peel and grate the carrots and chop the remainder of the vegetables. Combine all of the vegetables in a large mixing bowl.
2. Roughly chop peanuts and reserve in small bowl on the side.
3. In the blender or food processor, add all of the dressing ingredients and process until all ingredients are well blended and dressing is smooth.
4. When ready to serve add the desired amount of dressing on the salad and toss to combine. Top with reserved chopped peanuts

Serving Suggestions

This crunchy Asian cabbage salad can be enjoyed as a side with other Asian food or as a light meal on it's own.

You can also add some protein like grilled chicken breast, shrimp or even tofu to make this a more satisfying dish to enjoy on it's own.

Since this Asian cabbage salad stores well, this is also good recipe to prep ahead for healthy work lunches. Make sure to store the salad and savory peanut dressing in separate containers.

Storage Instructions

This recipe makes a lot of salad and peanut dressing which is great since it will last for days in the refrigerator. Simply store the peanut dressing in a mason jar and the salad greens in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

When ready to eat, simply add dressing to salad and toss. You can also use the leftover peanut butter dressing to top these easy Chicken and Vegetable Lettuce Bundles or serve it with Vietnamese salad rolls.

Enjoy!

Complete your meal with these other Asian inspired recipes

• Baked Thai Chicken Wings with Peanut Sauce
• Sticky Hoisin-Soy Chicken Drumsticks
• Thai Baked Salmon with Cilantro-Chili SauceSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

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