What Makes this an Asian Chopped Salad?
In truth, this Asian-inspired chopped salad recipe is hard to categorize! It’s a veritable vegetable rainbow in a bowl, and all of those beautiful, vegetables are chopped finely so that they have a lovely tenderness and so that they’re uniform in shape. Then—and this is why we’re calling it and Asian chopped salad—we toss the julienned, minced and shredded vegetables with a salty-tart-sweet homemade, peanut butter-based Asian salad dressing.
Thanks to that dressing, this chopped cabbage salad bursts with Asian flavors—wonderful umami from both soy and fish sauce—but it’s versatile enough that it pairs well with everything from simple grilled burgers to more elaborate picnic fare.
Your Shopping List for this Simple Asian Chopped Salad:
One way to ensure that you’re buying the healthiest foods at the grocery store—and staying away from processed, unhealthy foods—is to shop the perimeter because that is where the whole foods (think fresh vegetables, meat and dairy products) are.
With the exception of the Asian salad dressing ingredients, and maybe the peanuts, all of the ingredients for this vegetarian chopped salad come from the produce area, so you KNOW it’s a super healthy salad. If your grocery cart looks like a CSA box, you’re doing it right. This delightfully crunchy Asian salad is composed of:
- Napa cabbage. Or you can sub regular old green cabbage, if you prefer—it’ll be even more crunchy with green cabbage rather than napa, so be sure to chop the cabbage extra finely.
- Carrots. You can buy pre-shredded carrots—sometimes called “matchstick carrots”, or you can shred or shop them yourself.
- Cucumbers. It’s not a must, but if you’ve got an extra minute, it’s nice to seed the cucumber before chopping. Just scoop out the seed-y inside with a big spoon, and you’re good to go.
- Red bell pepper. For a pop of festive color, and for that unmatched juicy sweetness.
- Fresh cilantro. We can’t get enough of this grassy herb, but if it’s not your thing, it’s OK to skip it!
- Green onions. There is something about green onions that transforms a chopped salad—maybe it’s their sweetly assertive flavor or just how pleasing those pale green circlets are? Whatever their magic is, we’re here for it.
- Sesame seeds. These tiny pops of nuttyness will bring a little textural interest to this already Asian crunchy salad.
- Roasted peanuts. Salted or unsalted — it’s up to you! We usually opt for unsalted, so that we have more control over the final saltiness of this Asian salad, but either will work.
How To Make a Chopped Salad
There’s no cooking involved in making a chopped salad—yay for heat-free meals for hot days—that’s the good news! However, your knife and cutting board will get a little workout. If you’re like us and find slicing and dicing to have a meditative quality, this is the recipe for you! Making a chopped salad is as simple as this:
- Prep all of your veggies! Slice, dice, shred.
- Toss them into a bowl with your very delicious homemade Thai salad dressing!
- Once the veggies are coated in the dressing, you’re done! Serve it right away, or you can keep it in the fridge for up to two days.
Tools You’ll Need:
- A sharp knife. Since this is a chopped salad recipe, we really mean it this time!
- A good cutting board.
- A big bowl for mixing and serving.
- Maybe a grater for shredding your carrots. (Or you can do this in a food processor with the shredding attachment!)
Other Simple Summer Salad Recipes:
It’s so considerate of summer vegetables to reach their ripe peak right around the time that it’s getting too hot to bother turning on the stove!
- Radish Salad with Yogurt-Dill Dressing
- Salmon Niçoise Salad.
- Asian Cucumber Salad
- Watermelon Cucumber Salad
- Simple Butter Lettuce Salad.
Chop Chop Chop!
Then chomp chomp chomp! We know that this Asian chopped salad recipe is going to be a hit for you, and we want to celebrate your kitchen success! Snap a photo of your finished Asian salad, and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproperand #themodernproper. Happy eating!
