Name: Chinese chicken salad (home recipe)
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: 2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded by hand; 1 head romaine lettuce, sliced into ribbons; 1 small carrot, julienned; 1 cup sliced red cabbage; 2 spring onions, sliced on the bias; Small handful of toasted slivered almonds; Small handful of toasted sesame seeds; 12 wonton skins, cut into 1cm strips, fried in 1cm of oil until golden; For the dressing: 3 tbsp rice vinegar, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 small garlic clove grated, 4 tbsp neutral oil

History

The salad's modern shape came together at Trader Vic's, Madame Wu's in Santa Monica and Cecilia Chiang's The Mandarin in San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square through the 1960s and 1970s. Chiang opened The Mandarin in 1968 and introduced San Franciscans to the regional cooking beyond Cantonese (Sichuan, Shanghai, Hunan); the salad as a composed plate of cool chicken with crisp aromatics was on her menu. It moved into chain kitchens (Wolfgang Puck's at LAX, P.F. Chang's nationally) by the 1990s, then back to the chef-driven rooms (Mister Jiu's serves a refined take). The dish is now closer to the city's Cal-Chinese vocabulary than to any single mainland origin.

Common allergens: Gluten, Soy, Sesame, Egg

Make it at home

Yield Serves 2Hands-on 20 minTotal 25 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded by hand
1 head romaine lettuce, sliced into ribbons
1 small carrot, julienned
1 cup sliced red cabbage
2 spring onions, sliced on the bias
Small handful of toasted slivered almonds
Small handful of toasted sesame seeds
12 wonton skins, cut into 1cm strips, fried in 1cm of oil until golden
For the dressing: 3 tbsp rice vinegar, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 small garlic clove grated, 4 tbsp neutral oil

Method

Whisk all the dressing ingredients in a small jar until emulsified. Taste and adjust salt with another splash of soy if needed.
Toss the romaine, carrot, cabbage and spring onions with two thirds of the dressing in a large bowl.
Pile the shredded chicken on top. Drizzle the remaining dressing.
Scatter the almonds, sesame seeds and crispy wonton strips. Serve immediately, before the strips lose their crunch.

Tip from the editors. Fry the wonton strips the morning of serving and store in a sealed tin; they go limp in the fridge.

This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.

Where to eat chinese chicken salad

Chinese chicken salad in San Francisco

Mister Jiu's 1 ★ ★ 4.7

Chef Brandon Jew$185 chef's selectionBook 3 weeks ahead

Mister Jiu's in San Francisco is Brandon Jew's one-Michelin-star Cal-Chinese flagship in Chinatown, with whole-duck dinners and an upstairs cocktail room.

Tip: Book the whole roast duck 48 hours ahead by phone; it does not appear on the website ordering form.

28 Waverly Place, San Francisco, CA 94108 Book →

Z & Y Bistro ★ 4.2

Chinese (contemporary)$$chinatown

Z & Y Bistro in San Francisco is the contemporary sister to Chinatown's Z & Y on the same Jackson Street block, with yakitori, Lanzhou ramen and Sichuan classics.

Signature: Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles, Yakitori skewers, Hot pot

Order: Lanzhou hand-pulled beef noodle soup and a plate of cold sesame noodles.

Tip: Closed Tuesdays; the bistro books up earlier than the main Z & Y on weekends.

606 Jackson Street, San Francisco CA 94133 Book →

More cities are in research. Want chinese chicken salad covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.

Browse all dishes →