This homemade Chinese chicken salad dressing flavored with sesame oil, rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger. It comes together easily with 60 seconds of whisking.
If you don't have rice vinegar, use apple cider vinegar instead, or even fresh squeezed mandarin orange juice or lemon juice.
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Recipe
Ingredients
Sesame dressing
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 3 tablespoon rice vinegar also called rice wine vinegar, see notes for substitutions
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
Prepare dressing ingredients
- Grate the ginger and garlic on a microplane grater. This makes them paste-like, which easily mixes into the dressing.1 tablespoon grated ginger, 1 clove garlic
Make the sesame dressing
- Add the grated garlic, ginger, and remaining dressing ingredients to a bowl. Whisk until it comes together. (Keep whisking for a minute or two and it will turn into a more viscous consistency). Taste, adjust flavors as needed (more sesame oil, more honey, etc).2 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, 3 tablespoon rice vinegar, 2 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon honey, ½ teaspoon black pepper
Combine the salad & serve
- Make your favorite Chinese chicken salad (or grab a salad kit). In a large bowl, toss the cabbage with half of the dressing. Add in chicken, shredded carrots, mandarins, and almonds (or whatever mix-ins you're using). Add more dressing and toss to coat.Garnish with green onions, cilantro, sesame seeds, etc. Serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Typical ingredients
The typical Chinese chicken salad dressing contains sesame oil, rice vinegar (also called rice wine vinegar), soy sauce, and ginger. Different recipes vary the amount of each ingredient quite a bit.
Homemade dressings are the perfect opportunity to customize the ingredients based on your preferences. To do that, make a recipe (mostly) as instructed, but go slightly lighter on each flavorful ingredient.
For example, start with just slightly less ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Once you stir it together, taste it. Add what you think is missing or make a specific flavor more prominent.
Grating the garlic & ginger
If you have a microplane grater (or zester), it's the best way to grate garlic and ginger into any type of dressing. It almost makes it paste-like with little effort, which mixes easily into the dressing.
Grating the garlic is actually a key step, since it helps bind the oil and vinegar together in the dressing. In order to properly do that, the garlic needs to be very broken down so the cells release their emulsification properties.
If you don't have a microplane grate or zester (or yours is really dull... been there!), this is the product I'm talking about. I suggest getting one (like this) with a type of 'foot' so it doesn't slide around on a plate (or dent a wood cutting board... also been there!).
Those Amazon links are affiliate, which means I get a small commission if you purchase something. I have no brand loyalty for which microplane grater to buy - so choose anything you want!
Emulsify the dressing
In order to make a creamy Chinese chicken salad dressing, you'll need to follow a couple of rules.
Water and oil don't mix, so you will need to emulsify them until they do mix. This can be achieved with enough whisking and adding an emulsifying agent.
Technically, you don't need an emulsifier. The traditional vinaigrette is made with slowly whisking a steady stream of oil into the liquid. As the oil is added, the molecules mix with the water to make a creamy dressing.
But that can be fussy. I prefer the more fool proof method that comes with adding specific ingredients that bind the oil and vinegar. I add them all to a bowl at the same time then whisk for 30-60 seconds and it comes together perfectly.
Types of emulsifiers
Emulsifiers play nice with both oil and water (vinegar), helping the different ingredients to bind. Examples of emulsifiers include honey, maple syrup, mustard, mayo, egg yolks.
Garlic paste is a lesser know emulsifier but has actual research behind it. It has also been emulsifying foods in other cuisines, like the Lebanese traditional Toum (garlic sauce).
Garlic isn't the best emulsifier, especially compared to egg yolks. But this recipe uses two emulsifiers, garlic paste and honey, making the dressing come together pretty easily.
Whisking the dressing
As mentioned earlier, the "correct" way to make a vinaigrette is to mix together the watery ingredients, then aggressively whisk in a slow stream of oil.
I know I'm committing a crime against chefs, but I like recipes that allow me to mix everything in a single bowl, all at once. This Chinese chicken salad dressing is my type of recipe - easy and fool proof.
You can whisk everything together for about 60 seconds, it doesn't even have to be that vigorous. If it doesn't come together to form a thicker, creamier dressing, keep whisking. You'll notice when it changes.
If you're having trouble and it's just not coming together, add a little more honey and keep whisking. You can also put it into a food processor which will make quick work of it.
You can also shake it in a mason jar for about a minute and the dressing should come together well.
This dressing will separate after a little bit, so if you make it ahead of time get ready to whisk it again before dressing the salad.
Oil & vinegar
Olive oil is the main fat, with a little toasted sesame oil. You can play around with those ratios to suit your preferences. It won't affect the consistency of the dressing.
In fact, a Chinese chicken salad dressing with more sesame oil is delicious. If this is the first time you're using sesame oil in a dressing, start with the recipe as written. Then add more after you taste it, or swap it with the olive oil next time.
Rice vinegar is the traditional vinegar in Chinese chicken salad dressing. It's more mild than the American standard white vinegar. It's commonly described as having a delicate, slightly sweet & sour flavor.
Rice vinegar alternatives
If you don't have rice vinegar, you can use apple cider vinegar, which is actually a fairly close match. I've also used champagne and sherry vinegar in a pinch.
Another great alternative is some fresh squeezed orange juice from the mandarins on the salad, as well as lemon juice.
If you've made some chive blossom vinegar (which I do every summer for its flavor and striking pink color), you can absolutely swap that in here.
Lastly, if the only thing you have is regular white vinegar, go ahead and use it. Just use about half as much since it has a stronger and more acidic flavor.
Chinese chicken salad recipe
If you just need to make a dressing for your favorite salad, hopefully I've helped. But in case you are looking for a Chinese chicken salad recipe, I have a favorite for you to try. It uses the dressing from this article as well.
The salad is healthy with more than half of your daily recommended protein and almost half your fiber. It's a meal by itself with less that 550 calories.
More recipes & resources
Craving more salads? Try another meal-sized salad with my summer Cobb salad. Or make one of these recipes below.
If you're wondering what else is currently in season, check out my calendars to see what produce is in season each month (and coming up soon).
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