Asian Chicken Salad

I’ve always been a fan of good salads, and balsamic vinegar is the perfect way to bring a little sweetness to a pile of fresh vegetables, IMHO.

I do a lot of Salad Meal Prep - making a bunch of salad bases on grocery day, then adding *stuff* to them when making each meal.

I’ll cook up some tender chicken, add some crunchy vegetables - maybe a bit of fresh fruit - whip up a quick dressing, and BOOM - easy salads all week.

This Asian chicken salad recipe was the result of me picking up a Lychee white balsamic vinegar and brainstorming on how I’d use it!

Starting with the fresh salad bases, I added sweet mandarin oranges, and went with a variety of textures and flavours from there.

Enoki mushrooms for a bit of umami flair, cucumbers for added crunch, avocado slices for a little bit of creaminess. Where I usually only use one kind of fruit, this one has two - obviously we needed some actual lychees in addition to those mandarin orange slices!

It all came together as the perfect base for that Lychee Balsamic Vinaigrette, as well as the glazed chicken breasts.

All around, just a beautiful, tasty salad - and a great way to shake things up, when salads are feeling a bit basic.

Anyway, let’s take a look at the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe...

Ingredients

This recipe uses some pretty simple ingredients - for the most part - but you should be able to find almost everything you need in any larger grocery store.

I have some recipe notes for you, though:

Chicken Breasts

I use small (it’s a filling salad!) boneless, skinless chicken breasts for this recipe. That said, you can use boneless skinless chicken thighs, if you prefer. I’ll usually use 1 big or 2 small thighs per salad.

Lychee White Balsamic Vinegar

This is a speciality ingredient that is SUPER fun, but may be a bit difficult to find.

I found it at a local olive oil shop - The Olive Oil Dispensary - but haven’t seen it in grocery stores or on Amazon.

It looks like a lot of olive oil shops carry it, though.

Salad Greens

You can really use whatever crisp greens you like: iceberg lettuce, spring mix, romaine lettuce, maybe a bit of arugula.

Sometimes we’ll add a bit of shredded cabbage for a little bit of crunch - red cabbage/purple cabbage, green cabbage, napa cabbage, it’s all good.

Veggies

We use a few different veggies in this salad:

Avocado
Carrots
English Cucumber
Enoki Mushrooms
Green Onions
Snow Peas or Snap Peas

The only real note I have here is that you should probably cook your enoki mushroom before adding them to the salad, especially if you live in the USA. There’s been a lot of concern about Listeria lately!

Feel free to swap for another mushroom variety, or just skip them altogether if you prefer.

Fruit

While you can use canned mandarin oranges and/or lychees in this recipe, fresh tastes a bit better, and I just think the texture works better in a salad.

That said, lychees can be hard to find, and AWFUL to peel/pit, IMHO, so I wouldn’t judge anyone for using canned.

They tend to come in syrup, so I’d recommend rinsing them so they’re not *too* desserty.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Avocado Oil or Olive Oil
Apple Cider Vinegar or Rice Vinegar
Coconut Aminos, Gluten-Free Soy Sauce, or Gluten-Free Tamari
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Honey
Salt

... I just don’t have anything else to say, as far as these last few ingredients go. Pretty straightforward!

How to Make Asian Chicken Salad

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is a pictorial walk through with detailed instructions.

Lychee Balsamic Vinaigrette

Measure all of the vinaigrette ingredients into a blender, mini food processor, or the cup of an immersion blender, blitz until smooth.

Season with salt, to taste, then cover and chill until ready to serve.

Glazed Chicken Breasts

Trim chicken breasts if desired, place in a Ziplock baggie.

Whisk together the coconut aminos, vinegar, honey, garlic powder and onion powder.

Pour marinade over the chicken breasts, press excess air out, and seal the bag. Marinate in the fridge for a few hours. (I wouldn’t go more than 8 hours).

Add chicken - reserving the marinade - cook for several minutes until browned on one side. Flip, brown on the second side.

Pour the marinade over the chicken, cover, and allow to cook - flipping every few minutes - until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165 F.

Remove from heat, allow to cool slightly as you prepare the salads:

Salad Base and Assembly

Divide your salad ingredients between 4 large serving bowls or plates, arranging as desired.

Serve with the Lychee balsamic vinaigrette.

Leftovers or Meal Prep

If serving fewer than 4 salads when you make it, I like to assemble all 4 salad bases - without the chicken - and wrap each with plastic wrap.

Then - after cooling to room temperature - I store the leftover chicken separately, to be heated just before serving. It will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container in the fridge.

The balsamic vinaigrette should also be stored separately in the fridge, I usually keep it in a small mason jar.

More Gluten Free Main Dish Salad Recipes

Looking for more healthy salad recipes that are substantial enough to serve as a meal and gluten free? Look no further!

Balsamic Chicken & Peach Salad
Balsamic Chicken Salad with Grapes & Grape Vinaigrette
Balsamic Salad with Chicken & Berries
Big Mac Salad
Buffalo Chicken Salad
Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad
Cobb Salad
Cranberry & Pear Balsamic Chicken Salad
Curried Chicken Vietnamese Noodle Salad
Grilled Halloumi & Peach Salad
Harvest Chicken Salad
Hazelnut Crusted Chicken Salad
Honey Calamansi Mango Shrimp Salad
Honey Ginger Shrimp Salad
Italian Sub Salad
Keto Taco Salad
Mandarin Glazed Chicken Christmas Salad
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Salad Meal Prep
Seafood Cobb Salad
Seared Tuna Salad
Sesame Ginger Chicken Salad
Shawarma Chicken Salad
Steak Salad with Creamy Wasabi Dressing
Teriyaki Chicken Salad
Thai Pesto Salmon Salad