Cold Chicken Noodle Salad

I posted this recipe for a Cold Chicken Noodle Salad in 2017 & I continue to love it! I have updated it a bit!

This dish can be eaten cold or warm (we prefer it cold)  This comes together very quickly even though there are several steps to the recipe. While the chicken is cooking, you get everything else cooked & then mix it all together & enjoy!

The chicken gets marinated for at least an hour. Then you can grill the chicken breasts outside, use a grill pan or bake them in the oven. Discard the marinade. Some thinly sliced purple cabbage, a red pepper & a carrot are gently sautéed and added to the cooked noodles with a delicious dressing.

The recipe calls for spaghetti as the noodle but I had brown rice ramen noodles in my cupboard from Costco so I used those..really quick & easy to make & we like them! I have used spaghetti and it is great too! Soba noodles would work well here as well.

The flavor is outstanding in this Cold Chicken Noodle Salad & I intend to use the salad dressing recipe on other asian inspired salads.

This recipe is easy to make without the chicken, you could use Tofu in the marinade if you want!

The recipe is from The Nosher, but I have made a few changes!

Here is the recipe

Ingredients

Marinade for the chicken

3 tbsp rice vinegar

3 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 cup sesame oil

2 tbsp maple syrup

1/2 – 1 tsp garlic powder

4 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless

Salad Ingredients:

1/2 of a small purple cabbage, sliced thinly

1 large carrot, cut into thin julienne slices

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

2 tbsp oil

2 ramen cakes….I used the brown rice ramen from Costco…the original recipe calls for 1 pound of spaghetti so use any noodle you like! OR use 1 box of spaghetti

2 green onions, sliced *** some of this is for the garnish

2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Dressing for the salad

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp honey

3 tbsp sesame oil

5 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp soy sauce

Method

1. Mix the marinade ingredients …. the rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, maple syrup, garlic powder together in a bowl. Set aside about 1/4 cup of marinade to baste the chicken with if you are grilling the chicken
2. Put your chicken breasts into a ziplock bag & pour the marinade in the bag & move the chicken pieces around in the marinade so that the chicken is completely covered in the marinade. Put into the fridge for up to an hour.
3. While the chicken is in the fridge, make the vegetables. Saute the carrot, purple cabbage & red pepper together until tender crisp. Set aside.
4. Cook the noodles as directed for the type of noodle you are using. Drain & set aside

   Make the salad dressing: Put the garlic, ginger, salt, honey, sesame oil, rice vinegar & soy sauce in a  small saucepan & bring to a slight boil, lower the heat & simmer until a bit thickened & the ingredients are well combined. Set aside.

   Now, cook your chicken Take the chicken out of the bag & discard the marinade. We BBQ’d it, but you can use a grill pan or saute pan if you want. Cook the chicken until completely cooked through.  Baste the chicken with the marinade that you kept aside. *** if you want, you could put the chicken breasts in the oven to cook while you are preparing the rest of this dish…if its raining..or you don’t want to BBQ

   When the chicken is cooked set it aside to cool while you put the salad together. When you can handle the chicken, shred it or cut it up into bite size pieces. *** I cut it up into pieces.Using a large bowl, add the noodles first, then the cooked vegetables. Next add the chicken. Dress with the salad dressing & add 1 of the cut up green onions; Mix it all togehter & garnish with the other sliced green onion & the sesame seeds

   Enjoy!