Oriental Chicken Salad

This copycat Applebee’s Oriental chicken salad combines perfectly crispy chicken with a crunchy salad mixture and creamy dressing for an incredible mixture of textures and flavors.

With tons of fresh veggies and crispy chunks of chicken, this delicious salad could easily become one of your go-to recipes. It’s an easy meal to make on a weeknight but it’s also perfect for parties.

The next time you’re looking for salad recipes that will impress guests or just please the whole family, try this perfect salad that everyone will love.

Common Questions about Copycat Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad

What is Oriental dressing made of?

The flavorful dressing in this recipe has a creamy mayonnaise base with an addition of dijon for earthiness, apple cider vinegar for acidity, honey for sweetness, and a little bit of sesame oil for added flavor. 

What is in Applebee’s chicken salad?

Lots of greens and veggies along with pan-fried chicken strips are the main stars of the show in this salad. 

Making Applebee’s Copycat Salad Recipe Ahead of Time

You can prepare the chicken up to 24 hours ahead of time and add it to the salad when ready to serve. You can also mix the veggies and prepare the dressing — just keep all ingredients separate.

Storage

You can easily store leftover salad. It’s best to keep the dressing stored separately to avoid having the greens become soggy.

Refrigerator: Wrap the entire serving bowl of the salad with plastic wrap or aluminum foil or store it in a separate airtight container. Keep it for up to 3 days.

Freezing: Freezing this dish isn’t recommended.

Tips For The Best Oriental Chicken Salad

This is a simple recipe that’s hard to get wrong but we do have a few tips to make it even easier.

• Make sure your oil is hot enough. If the oil isn’t hot enough when you fry the chicken, the coating will not crisp.
• Use one hand for dipping wet ingredients and one for dipping dry to keep from mixing the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients and to prevent clumping on your fingers.
• Let the chicken cool slightly before adding it to the greens so that they do not wilt.

Ingredients

While it may look like a little bit of a long list, many of these simple ingredients are already in your pantry and the rest can easily be picked up at the grocery store.

Dressing

• Mayonnaise
• Honey
• Apple cider vinegar
• Dijon mustard
• Sesame oil (small drops)

Chicken Tenders

• Chicken breast boneless/skinless
• Kosher salt (divided)
• Black pepper (divided)
• Egg (large)
• Milk
• All-purpose flour
• Corn flakes (crushed)
• Vegetable oil (for frying)

Salad

• Romaine lettuce (chopped)
• Napa cabbage (chopped)
• Red cabbage (chopped)
• Carrots (shredded)
• Green onion (chopped)
• Chow mein noodles (crispy)
• Almonds (sliced)

Kitchen Supplies You’ll Need 

• Immersion Blender, regular blender
• Frying Pan
• Cutting board
• Knife
• Bowls (3)

How to Make Copycat Oriental Chicken Salad

It’s hard to believe that a dish this easy is so simple to make.

Dressing

1. Add the mayo, honey, apple cider vinegar, mustard, and oil to a large bowl or a blender. 
2. Using a whisk, combine the ingredients until silky smooth (or blend).
3. Store the dressing in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Chicken

1. Using a sharp knife, slice the chicken breasts into slim strips. 
2. Toss the sliced chicken with salt and pepper. 
3. Pour the milk and egg into a medium bowl and whisk until combined.
4. Pour the flour, crushed corn flakes and the remaining salt and pepper into a separate bowl and stir together until all ingredients are equally dispersed. 
5. Dip the chicken into the egg mixture before dredging through the flour mixture. Ensure each piece is evenly coated. 
6. Then, place chicken on a plate until ready to fry.
7. Place chicken strips into the oil in the hot pan leaving adequate space between each piece.
8. Once one side is browned, flip the strip and continue to cook. 
9. Place cooked chicken strips on a paper towel lined plate.

Assemble the salad

1. In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, napa, and purple cabbage.
2. Sprinkle the green onion and carrots over the top of the lettuce and cabbage mixture and mix together.
3. Mix in the cooked chicken, chow mein noodles, and almonds.
4. If desired, toast the almonds and sprinkle on top.
5. Pour the dressing over top and serve.

What to Serve With This Copycat Salad

This salad can be served as a meal on its own but you can certainly serve it along with some sides, too.

• Sandwiches – You could serve this salad alongside light sandwiches like cucumber sandwiches or heartier ones like a spinach and chicken panini.
• Soup – Is there any better pairing with a salad than a comforting soup? Try cabbage roll soup, a simple chicken noodle, or a bright butternut squash.
• Sides – If you’re hosting a party, this salad might be a nice, light option along other appetizer favorites like sweet Thai chili wings, smoked meatballs, or dumplings.

Why You Should Make This Recipe

With such basic ingredients that are so flavorful and so little time to prep, there’s no reason not to love this healthy Asian-inspired salad!

• Easy – This recipe is so quick and easy — it’s perfect for a weeknight main dish or a starter or side dish for a dinner party. 
• Flavorful – The various veggies lend tons of texture while the spices and the dressing brings creamy, earthy flavor to the salad. 
• Healthy – Lean protein meets up with an entire arsenal of vegetables for a meal that’s tasty and hearty, yet good for you, too.

Variations and Add-ins for this Copycat Applebee’s Salad

Since this is a copycat recipe there aren’t too many switch-ups that will wind up with the same results but there are a couple of changes we suggest in case you need to make some swaps or want to make your own version.

• Nuts – While toasted almonds are a regular addition to the Applebee’s version, they can be omitted or replaced with another nut. 
• vinegar – Replace the apple cider vinegar with rice wine vinegar.
• Extras – Add in your own favorite toppings to change up the flavor or texture like green onions, sesame seeds, wonton strips, sweet mandarin oranges, or any type of seeds — we like sunflower seeds.
• Dressing – Swap out the dressing for a sauce or another salad dressing or add any of these sauces to the dressing: hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, or soy sauce. A sesame dressing also works well.
• Chicken – Try using leftover chicken instead of having to bread and fry it. You can use chicken tenders or swap out the fried version for baked chicken or leftover rotisserie chicken.

---

If you love this easy Oriental Chicken Salad recipe, you’re going to love these other copycat recipes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

Other Delicious Salads

Greek Feta Chicken Pasta Salad

Chicken Caesar Salad

Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad

Easy Chef Salad

---

If you love this recipe for Oriental Chicken Salad as much as I do, please write a five-star review, and be sure to help me share on Facebook and Pinterest!

---

---