Macadamia Free Asian-Style Chicken Salad with Coconut Ginger Dressing
This vibrant, crunchy salad is everything you want in a warm-weather meal — bright, fresh, and packed with bold flavor from every angle. Ginger-poached chicken is the quiet hero here, staying incredibly tender and juicy thanks to a simple stovetop simmer before being shredded into silky strips. The rainbow of cabbage, carrots, cucumber, and fresh herbs gives you serious texture and color in every forkful. What really pulls it all together is the coconut ginger dressing — a punchy blend of coconut aminos, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, and turmeric that tastes like something you'd order at a restaurant but comes together in about two minutes flat. Asian-inspired salads sometimes lean on tree nuts for crunch, but this one skips them entirely without sacrificing a single thing — the toasted coconut flakes on top add all the textural interest you need. It's the kind of dish that works just as well for a casual weeknight dinner as it does for meal prep, since the components hold up beautifully. Serve it with extra lime wedges on the side and watch it disappear fast.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the chicken
- 1 ½ lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 slices fresh ginger (each about ¼ inch thick)
For the salad
- 3 cups green cabbage, thinly shredded
- 1 cup red cabbage, thinly shredded
- 2 medium carrots, julienned or coarsely grated
- 1 english cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
- 3 scallions (green tops only), thinly sliced
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
- ¼ cup fresh mint leaves, torn
For the dressing
- 3 tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1 tsp honey
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ¼ tsp salt
For serving
- 1 tbsp toasted coconut flakes (optional)
- lime wedges (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Place the chicken breasts in a large pot and cover with cold water by about 2 inches. Add the salt and ginger slices. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 15–18 minutes, until the chicken reaches 165°F (74°C) on an instant-read thermometer at the thickest part.
- 2
Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let it rest for 10–15 minutes, until cool enough to handle. Discard the poaching liquid and ginger slices. Shred the chicken into thin strips using two forks or your fingers.
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