Quick Meal-Prep: Chicken Cabbage Noodle Salad

This noodle salad is healthy, yummy, tangy, & crunchy.

Best of all its highly customizable- use this as a template for whatever veggies, protein, or add-ins you desire.

When I'm busy, low on motivation and trying to eat healthier, recipes like these make my life so much easier. With minimal effort, you will have a satisfying lunch for the next few days. Make it in under 10 minutes?! Use pre-cooked chicken & shredded coleslaw

What's in it?

Asian noodles, shredded cabbage, carrots & chicken breast, mandarins all tossed with a tangy dressing. It's simple, cheap, and macro-friendly.

• Cabbage & carrots: stays crunchy for days.

  • Buy pre-shredded cabbage & carrots to save time.

• Shredded chicken breast: with almost no fat, I can add oil & almonds to my salad without adding too many calories

  • boil chicken for 10-15 mins until able to shred

  • OR use a rotisserie chicken or any store-bought shredded chicken

    • Ralphs & Trader Joe's sell packages of pre-shredded chicken breast

• Noodles: I used dried Lo-Mein noodles, but you can literally use any noodle (even linguini works great)

  • Low/No-carb version: use less noodles & more cabbage or eliminate the noodles entirely for a no-carb version

    • (My partner and I are very active- we need the carbs when we train!)

• Dressing: I made a simple dressing with what I had on hand

  • neutral oil, vinegar (I used red wine vinegar, but rice vinegar is tasty too), sugar, soy sauce, peanut butter

Ingredients

(Makes about 6 large portions- saves well for 3-4 days)

• shredded chicken breast: 1-1.5 pounds cooked chicken

• Lo-mein (or any dried noodle): 10 ounces

• 1 small cabbage or 1/2 large cabbage

• 4 whole carrots

  OR

  • 1-2 bags pre-shredded coleslaw

    • ~16oz if using noodles

    • ~24-32oz if not using noodles

• 2 ounces sliced almonds

• 1 ounce sesame seeds

• 2 15-oz cans mandarin oranges (regular or sugar-free), drained

• 1 bunch green onions, chopped

• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar

• 1/4 cup soy sauce (I used lite version)

• 1/3 cup neutral vegetable

• 1 TBSP sugar

• 1.5 TBSP peanut or almond butter

• 1/2 cup fresh, chopped herbs

  • ~2 TBSP each cilantro & mint

• salt & pepper, to taste

• optional:

  • 1 tbsp grated garlic

  • 1 tbsp grated ginger

  • 1 tbsp sesame oil

  • spicy: minced green or red chilis, to taste

Preparation Steps

• Cook your chicken in boiling water for 12-15 mins until able to shred easily.

  OR

• if using pre-cooked chicken, place it in a large bowl

• If using noodles, boil a pot of water while you gather your ingredients

  • cook noodles according to pacakge directions

  • once drained, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process

  • add to the bowl with the chicken

• heat up a small sautee pan over medium heat & toast almonds & sesame seeds, stirring constantly until lightly toasted (do not let them brown deeply- they should just start to get some light color)

• in a small bowl, make the dressing:

  • whisk vinegar, soy sauce, peanut butter, sugar, chopped herbs

    • if using, add: sesame oil, ginger, garlic, & chilies

  • while whisking with one hand, slowly pour in oil until well incorporated

  • taste: try it, and adjust with more vinegar, peanut butter, or sugar

    • should be tangy, slightly sweet, and flavorful (this is the only thing giving your salad flavor- it should taste delicious)

• (if using pre-shredded coleslaw, skip this step) use a box grater to shred the carrots & cabbage, finish shredding any large pieces of cabbage by thinly slicing with a knife

• add cabbage & carrots to the bowl with cooked chicken & noodles

• add drained mandarin oranges & toasted almonds & sesame seeds

• add 1/2 of dressing & toss everything well with your hands or tongs

  • taste: add more/all of the dressing (I used all of mine because I had a lot of chicken & cabbage

This makes a large batch- about 5-6 generous portions or 8 small portions.

Save it in the fridge in air-tight containers or a ziplock bag for 3-4 days.

Substitutions & Variations

• I used to eat this with just chicken & cabbage, but I added noodles because I need carbs in my meals.

  • use 1/2 of the noodles and 2x the cabbage for less carbs

  • use just cabbage & carrots, no noddles, for no carbs

• Not into chicken breast? make the noodle & cabbage salad & serve with:

  • chicken thighs

  • sliced steak

  • grilled salmon

  • Vegan: skip the chicken and eat as is, or add your favorite vegetarian protein like tempeh or tofu

• More veggies: try sliced cucumber, bell peppers, or edamame

• Use a store-bought dressing to save time

• use any herbs you want- but i highly reccomend using herbs of some kind. I made this first without any fresh herbs, and while its still delicious, some cilantro & mint brighten the dish.

I hope you enjoy this simple recipe! I've been eating it for the past two days- it's a perfect meal to keep you on track when you have a busy schedule.

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