Citrus asian salad
Easy crunchy rainbow salad. Made with kale, red cabbage, carrots, edamame, broccoli, cilantro, oranges, vegan chicken and lettuce. Topped with a citrus sesame ginger dressing. Healthy, every day, easy salad recipe. Great to have for a healthy lunch
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❤️ Why you’ll love this recipe
- it’s super healthy and full of vitamins, minerals and fiber.
- it’s vegan, vegetarian and can be made gluten free
- it only uses one bowl (yay, less dishes!)
- it’s great to make a big batch and meal prep for the week
- it’s a delicious way to get in your daily vegetables
🥕 Ingredients
The fun with this salad is that it’s really adjustable. Don’t have an ingredient on hand, use whatever you’d like. The goal is to mix many different colored vegetables into a bowl, with some lettuce and herbs like cilantro or mint.
- Romaine lettuce – Rinse and chop. This is a more nutritious base than iceberg lettuce.
- Kale – Chop up into small pieces. Then massage to break down the fibrous cell walls.
- Red Cabbage – Gives the salad a nice crunch and is full of antioxidants.
- Cilantro – If you don’t like cilantro, feel free to use another fresh herb that you like.
- Chopped broccoli – I cut sideways, starting at the crown and then I cut a little bit of the stalk as well. This makes it easier to chew.
- Edamame – Great source of protein.
- Clementines – Gives a nice sweet and juicy element to the salad.
- Shredded carrots
- Plant based chicken – Heat it up on the stove, so it’s nice and crispy. I love using the breaded plant based chicken. If you don’t want to use plant based chicken, just add some chickpeas or black beans.
- Citrus sesame ginger dressing – this is really easy to make at home. You just need soy sauce, sesame oil, olive oil, rice vinegar, orange juice, maple syrup and minced ginger and garlic.
✏️ Expert tips
- To keep this fresh all week, don’t mix it with the salad dressing. Keep the salad separate.
- Massage the kale for five minutes before adding to the salad. This breaks down the fibrous cells and makes it easier to digest.
🔪 Specialty tools
If you make a lot of salads, it’s really helpful to get a salad spinner. Then your lettuce won’t be soggy and wet if you store it.
These are great if you want to make a big batch of this salad to have for a couple of days.
👨🍳 Step by step directions
- Clean and chop up all of the vegetables. Chop up the kale, then massage it for about 2 minutes. This helps to make it more digestible.
- And all veggies to a large mixing bowl and mix.
- Heat up the vegan chicken on the stove, then chop it up and set it aside.
- Mix together all the ingredients for the dressing and stir well. Add the dressing to the salad and mix well.
- Add the cooked vegan chicken on top of the dressed salad and enjoy!
Make sure to scroll down to the recipe card for the full ingredients list and instructions!
❄️ Storing tips
Keep the dressing separate from the salad, so it doesn’t get soggy. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3-4 days.
This does not freeze well, so avoid freezing.
🥣 Variation ideas
You could add any of your favorite vegetables to this salad and it would taste amazing. Try adding toasted almond slivers or sunflower seeds as well.
Some other things you could add in:
- sliced mango
- fried noodles
- chickpeas
- raisins or craisins
- sesame seeds
🥄 Serving suggestions
This salad is very filling and can be eaten on it’s own for a healthy lunch or dinner.
You can also serve it on the side of an asian noodle dish, or with some sticky maple miso tofu, broccoli and rice.
This would also be delicious served with tofu dumplings.
🥬 More salad recipes
❓FAQ’s
Yes! This salad is great to meal prep ahead of time. Just keep the dressing separate so it won’t make the lettuce soggy. It might also taste good, especially if your vegan chicken is breaded, to wait to add the plant based chicken until you’re ready to eat, so it crisps up nicely and doesn’t get cold and soggy.
Since lettuce and veggies that are high in water don’t freeze well, I don’t suggest you freeze this salad.
Yes! This is a great way to get in a lot of veggies in your day! Since this salad is packed with tons of minerals, vitamins and fiber from the vegetables, plus healthy fats from the dressing.
If you loved this recipe, leave a 5 ⭐️ rating on the recipe card and comment below!
📖 Recipe
Crunchy rainbow salad
Ingredients
- 1-2 heads romaine lettuce (chopped)
- 3 cups kale (chopped)
- 1 cup red cabbage (chopped)
- 1 cup chopped broccoli
- ½ cup shredded carrots
- ⅓ cup cilantro
- 1 cup shelled edamame
- 2 vegan chicken patties
- 1 orange (chopped)
- ½ cup toasted almonds (chopped)
Citrus sesame ginger dressing
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
Instructions
- Chop up the kale, then massage it for about 2 minutes. This helps to make it more digestible.3 cups kale
- Clean and chop up all of the vegetables. And all veggies to a large mixing bowl along with the kale and mix.1-2 heads romaine lettuce, 3 cups kale, 1 cup red cabbage, 1 cup chopped broccoli, ½ cup shredded carrots, ⅓ cup cilantro, 1 cup shelled edamame, 1 orange, ½ cup toasted almonds
- Mix together all the ingredients for the dressing and stir well. Add it to the salad and mix.2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons sesame oil, 2 tablespoons orange juice, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger, 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic, ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Heat up the vegan chicken on the stove, then chop it up and add it to the salad.2 vegan chicken patties
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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