Asian Chopped Salad with Ginger Dressing
We all need a few good salads we can whip up for a quick dinner or meal prep for our weekday lunches right? This asian chopped salad is exactly that: easy, delicious and chockfull of nutritious ingredients. Douse it all in an amazingly good ginger dressing and you’ll be looking forward to lunch break everyday!
What I love most about this salad is all of the yummy ingredients that go into it. I mean just look at all those colors and different textures! And then when you chop everything up into really small pieces it makes it so much better because you can easily get a mouthful of everything at once for that perfect bite. Also, don’t you just love having a reason to actually use up all the produce you just bought instead of letting it sit in your fridge going bad… or is that just me?
My asian chopped salad is loaded with chopped romaine, cabbage, carrots, bell pepper, green onion, edamame, almonds and dried mandarin oranges. I found the dried mandarin oranges at Trader Joe’s and they are so good! But if you want to add in canned mandarin oranges, dried apricots, dried cranberries or any other dried or fresh fruit you have on hand, go for it! Having that one sweet element really makes a difference to me though. Also, fee free to use whatever nuts you have on hand. I actually threw some peanuts on top for lunch one day and it was amazing!
How to make asian chopped salad with ginger dressing
Couldn’t be easier! Literally chop everything up into small pieces (I mean really chop it up, get out your big knife and big cutting board and go to work). I found the chopping process of this recipe to be very therapeutic :) Once everything is chopped up just add to a large bowl, then make the ginger dressing.
Very similar to the one from Hibachi restaurants, you will be using olive oil, ginger, onion, carrots, celery, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and a little ketchup. I actually used the grated ginger from the tube. You can buy this at the store and I love it, it saves so much time and mess. You just throw all the ingredients into a food processor and blend! This will make plenty of dressing for this salad and you can store it in a mason jar in the fridge. I love this ginger dressing because it really gives that asian flavor while also being a super healthy ingredient to cook with due to its anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties.
Top with wonton strips, peanuts and some diced avocado, drizzle that dressing and toss!
Pro tip: air fry a couple crispy spring rolls and chop them up on top or eat them on the side if you know what’s good for you.
I hope you all love this salad as much as I do!
Asian Chopped Salad with Ginger Dressing
3 cups chopped romaine
1 1/2 cups chopped cabbage
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 cup edamame
1/2 cup sliced almonds or peanuts
1/2 cup chopped dried mandarin oranges (or another fruit)
wonton strips
diced avocado
For the dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tbsp grated ginger (fresh or from the tube)
1 stalk of celery, roughly chopped
1/4 cup carrots, shredded or roughly chopped
1/2 cup onion, roughly chopped
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 tsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp ketchup
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
In a food processor, add all of the ingredients for the dressing and pulse until smooth. (If necessary, you can thin the dressing with 1-2 tablespoons of water)
Add all of the salad ingredients into one large bowl and toss with the ginger dressing.
Store extra dressing in a mason jar in the fridge. If not eating right away, save wonton strips, avocado and dressing until you are about to eat for maximum freshness.
