Crunchy Cabbage Salad with a variety of goodies like chicken, fresh blueberries, dried cranberries, sliced almonds, avocado and a delicious peanut dressing. This unique and impressive salad recipe will level up your weeknight meals!
If you’re like me and you’re into huge salads with big bold flavors and an assortment of crunchy, creamy, sultry goodies, this easy Crunchy Cabbage Salad is for you!
Packed with a variety of fresh vegetables and delicious additions like fresh and dried fruit, nuts, and an impeccable peanut salad dressing, we’re left with a nourishing meal that tempts the taste buds.
Let’s be honest. The peanut butter is the true star of the show here.
While I’m slightly joking, I’m also pretty serious, because I often look at cabbage salad recipes like this as the ultimate excuse to drink peanut butter down.
This salad makes enough to serve 3 to 4 individuals when using it as a main dish, so if you’re serving fewer people, you can decrease the amount of ingredients as needed.
While this salad keeps fairly well for about half a day, I don’t recommend it for longer term storage, which is why I encourage you to only make the amount you think will be consumed.
To save time, you can buy pre shredded cabbage and pre-grated carrots in the produce section of your grocery store. This is ideal for some next level last minute meal prep!
It may seem like the ingredients list for this recipe is fairly long; however, I assure you all of them can be found at any regular grocery store and you may even have some of them on hand already.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for this wholesome salad recipe.
Cabbage Salad Ingredients:
Vegetables: Green Cabbage, Purple Cabbage, Grated Carrots, Red Onion, Red Bell Pepper, and Cucumber are the fresh vegetables we use in this healthy salad recipe.
The end result is a cool, crisp, refreshing crunchy salad, with all sorts of fresh flavors.
You can add in your favorite vegetables, like cherry tomatoes, raw broccoli or cauliflower, celery, green onions, mixed greens, or baby spinach.
You can also substitute iceberg lettuce, salad mix, curly kale, or brussels sprouts for the cabbage.
Avocado: Perfectly ripe avocados bring a delightful creaminess to the salad that I find to be so enticing.
Sliced Almonds: Adding a lovely nutty crunch, sliced or slivered almonds create a beautiful textural element.
They can easily be replaced with sunflower seeds, chopped pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, or pistachios.
Blueberries: Do you love fruit in salads too? I love the juicy sweetness fresh berries bring to a salad, so I typically toss blueberries into all of my homemade salad recipes. You can omit them or exchange them for chopped strawberries, apples, or raspberries.
Dried Cranberries: Along the same lines as fresh fruit, I also enjoy adding dried fruit to salad recipes. For me, dried cranberries provide the ultimate sweet tang and fun texture. Omit them or replace them with a different dried fruit.
Cooked Chicken: We’re going for a high protein salad here by adding plenty of chopped chicken breasts.
You have all sorts of options when it comes to your chicken selection. You can use leftover grilled chicken thighs, Asian Baked Chicken Breasts, or any kind of store-bought pre-cooked chicken such as rotisserie chicken or oven roasted chicken.
Peanut Dressing Ingredients:
Peanut Butter: The main ingredient that ties everything together in this delicious salad recipe!
Creamy peanut butter provides that unmistakable flavor that when combined with some other ingredients results in the most amazing dressing.
If you’ve tried Chinese Chicken Salad or Spring Rolls, you’ve likely had the deliciousness of peanut dressing.
You can replace the peanut butter with almond butter if you’d prefer.
Coconut Aminos (or Soy Sauce or Liquid Aminos): Added for sweetness and umami flavor, coconut aminos creates a sweet backbone to support the other tangy, zingy ingredients.
If you don’t keep coconut aminos on hand, replace it with low-sodium soy sauce, tamari or liquid aminos. If you go this route, you will also need to add a sweet ingredient like pure maple syrup or brown sugar.
Rice Vinegar: Bringing tang to the peanut vinaigrette, we need rice vinegar. Other types of vinegar work here to, as does fresh lime juice; however, I think rice vinegar tastes best.
Sesame Oil and Avocado Oil: We use both sesame oil and avocado oil for rich texture and just the right amount of sesame flavor.
Sriracha: Providing a lovely kick to the dressing, we need some red chili sauce, known as sriracha. Increase or decrease the amount according to your heat tolerance.
Fresh Garlic and Fresh Ginger: Providing a boost of fresh flavors, a little ginger and garlic goes a long way in boosting the fresh flavor profile of the dressing.
Water (for consistency): If the dressing seems overly thick to you, add 2 to 4 tablespoons of water, or until it thins out to your desired consistency. I don’t add water, but I’m fine with thick dressings.
Now that we’ve covered the basic ingredients, let’s make this amazing salad recipe!
How to Make Crunchy Cabbage Salad:
Prepare the dressing:
Add all of the ingredients for the dressing to a small bowl and whisk well to combine. Add more water to thin the dressing out if necessary, or do as I do and leave it thick.
Note: If you have a small blender such as a magic bullet, you can use it to blend up the dressing.
Make the Salad:
Thinly slice and chop the green cabbage, red cabbage, bell pepper, and cucumber and grate the carrots. Transfer all of the salad ingredients to a large bowl.
Add your desired amount of dressing and use salad tongs or two large wooden spoons to toss everything together.
Serve salad immediately, and enjoy!
How to Store Cabbage Salad:
Because this salad is fairly hearty, the leftovers should stay fresh for about 24 hours. Store leftover salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 day following preparation.
Store any extra dressing in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
And that’s it! The next time you’re craving a big, healthy salad, whip up this quick and delicious crunchy cabbage salad recipe!
If you love a little extra crunch in your salad, you’ll get a kick out of this cabbage crunch salad! In addition to acting as a main dish, it is also a great side dish.
Looking to do some customization? For my fellow noodle lovers, add ramen noodles or chow mein noodles, fresh cilantro, Thai basil, fresh mint, or wonton strips to change up the whole scene.
If you enjoy entree salads like this one, also try out these high protein salads.
More Filling Salad Recipes:
- Thai Chicken Chopped Salad
- Crispy Chicken Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
- Grilled Salmon Salad with Strawberry Salsa
- Crispy Mediterranean Chicken Salad with Lemon Herb Tahini Dressing
- Greek Salmon Salad
May all your salads be fresh, crunchy, and wildly delicious!
Crunchy Cabbage Salad with Peanut Dressing
Ingredients
Cabbage Salad:
- 4 cups green cabbage thinly sliced
- 2 cups purple cabbage thinly sliced
- 2 cups grated carrots
- 1 red bell pepper cut into matchsticks
- ½ to ⅔ cup red onion finely chopped
- 3 cups cooked chicken chopped into cubes
- 1 pint blueberries
- 2 ripe avocados diced
- ½ cucumber cut into thin slices and halved
- ⅔ cup dried cranberries
- ⅔ cup sliced almonds
Peanut Dressing:
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup liquid aminos coconut aminos or low-sodium soy sauce*
- ⅓ cup rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil
- 3 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 Tbsp sriracha
- 1 small clove garlic
- 2 tsp fresh ginger peeled and minced
- 2 to 4 Tbsp water for thinner consistency
Instructions
Prepare the dressing:
- Add all of the ingredients for the dressing to a small bowl and whisk well to combine. Add more water to thin the dressing out if necessary, or do as I do and leave it thick. Note: If you have a small blender such as a magic bullet, you can use it to blend up the dressing.
Make the Salad
- Thinly slice and chop the green cabbage, red cabbage, bell pepper, and cucumber and grate the carrots. Transfer all of the salad ingredients to a large bowl.
- Add your desired amount of dressing and use salad tongs or two large wooden spoons to toss everything together.
- Serve salad immediately, and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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