Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe

This Chinese Chicken Salad recipe makes a really quick light meal if you use store-bought roasted chicken and pre-fried crispy noodles (found in a bag or canister in the Asian section of supermarket.) I like to get a whole rotisserie chicken, use the breasts for the salad and the remaining meat for paninis the next day. The bones? I throw them in a pot, add water carrots, celery and make a very flavorful soup. Don't waste the bones of a roasted chicken!

You can also throw in a handful of almonds too. The dressing for this Chinese Chicken Salad is one of my husband's favorites - a copycat version of Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad dressing which is a tangy and sweet.

serves 4-6

15 wonton skins, cut into strips (or if you don't want to fry: 1 cup fried crispy chow mein noodles)
oil for frying
1 head lettuce, leaves shredded or torn
2 cooked chicken breasts, meat shredded with your fingers
1 cucumber, sliced
handful snow peas, sliced on diagonal
11 ounce can mandarin oranges, drained

For the dressing
a la Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad Dressing

makes 1 cup (use half for the salad and store the rest in refrigerator)

3 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

To make the salad dressing, whisk together the honey, mayonnaise, mustard until very smooth. Then whisk in the oil and vinegar.

To fry the wonton skin strips, heat 1 inch of oil until 375F. If you don't have a thermometer, just slide one wonton strip into the oil - it should sizzle immediately and turn light golden brown in about 30 seconds. Fry the wonton strips in several batches and drain on a rack or layers of paper towels. Each batch should take about 30 seconds to 1 minute to fry.

Assemble Chinese Chicken Salad with lettuce, chicken, cucumber, snow peas, mandarin oranges. Drizzle on salad dressing and sprinkle with wonton strips.

How to poach chicken breasts

If you have uncooked chicken breasts, you can poach the chicken breasts. In a medium pot, add the chicken breasts and fill with water or broth 1 inch above the chicken. Add 1 teaspoon of kosher or sea salt to the water. Bring the pot to a boil and immediately turn the heat to low, simmering for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and cover. Let sit for 20 minutes. Save the poaching liquid for cooking or for soup. There you go…perfectly poached chicken breasts