Crunchy rainbow salad

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

Jump to:

• Citrus asian salad
• ❤️ Why you’ll love this recipe
• 🥕 Ingredients
• ✏️ Expert tips
• 🔪 Specialty tools
• 👨‍🍳 Step by step directions
• ❄️ Storing tips
• 🥣 Variation ideas
• 🥄 Serving suggestions
• 🥬 More salad recipes
• ❓FAQ’s
• 📖 Recipe

❤️ 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

1. 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.
2. And all veggies to a large mixing bowl and mix.
3. Heat up the vegan chicken on the stove, then chop it up and set it aside.
4. Mix together all the ingredients for the dressing and stir well. Add the dressing to the salad and mix well.
5. 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

If you loved this recipe, leave a 5 ⭐️ rating on the recipe card and comment below!

📖 Recipe