Teriyaki Chicken Salad – Chelsea’s Messy Apron

This Teriyaki Chicken Salad is loaded with flavor and texture — tender pasta, fresh baby spinach, dry-roasted nuts, juicy mandarin oranges, crunchy water chestnuts, sweet onion, and seasoned chicken. We toss this salad with an addictive teriyaki dressing that is only 3-ingredients and pulls everything together perfectly!

If you love this salad, you’ll enjoy this Asian Pasta Salad, Asian Cucumber Salad, or Applebee’s Chicken Salad.

Teriyaki Chicken Salad Recipe

I am so excited to bring you this recipe, adapted from my friend’s brand-new cookbook. Lauren, from Tastes Better From Scratch has just released her first cookbook and it’s absolutely stunning!

Lauren’s recently released cookbook quickly became a “top new release” on Amazon and, if you flip through, it’s no surprise why. This book is gorgeous! Lauren shares “The Best of the Best” recipes including her favorites, fan favorites from her website, and new recipes that can only be accessed in the cookbook. With over 116 recipes, images for every recipe, and QR codes linking to video tutorials this book is a must have. (And, also, would make a great gift for the holidays!)

You’ll find recipes for every meal of the day, from various cuisines, and plenty of kid-friendly recipes.  In fact, this Teriyaki Chicken Salad was a major hit with my kids — they couldn’t get enough of it. This salad will give you a taste for just how delicious (and easy) the recipes are in her book!

What is teriyaki salad dressing made of?

As mentioned, the dressing is only 3 ingredients! Pictured above, and broken down below:

• Rice vinegar: This ingredient adds a subtle tang. If you see a label saying rice wine vinegar, it’s the same thing as rice vinegar. 
• Vegetable oil: or use canola oil
• Teriyaki sauce: this sauce is the major player in the dressing — it can make or break it! Lauren recommends Mr. Yoshida’s teriyaki sauce which we also love. Any good quality, thicker-style teriyaki that you love will work great here.

Other Salad Ingredients

Beyond the dressing, this Teriyaki Chicken Salad doesn’t have all that many ingredients either! Below is a quick break-down:

• Mandarin oranges. To keep things easy, we grab mandarin oranges in a can (without added sugar). Alternatively, use fresh clementines in place of the canned mandarins. Peel the clementines, segment them, and add those to this salad!
• Nuts. We’ve tried peanuts and cashews in this salad and enjoy both. Whichever you chose, opt for “dry roasted and lightly salted” — more flavor without any effort on your end!
• Water chestnuts. These add a nice subtle crunch to this teriyaki salad recipe. They are typically found with other Asian products or in the International section of mainstream grocery stores.
• Dried cranberries. These add a lovely sweetness, grab unsweetened for a less sweet option or regular if you prefer the added sugar.
• Sweet onion. These onions don’t pack the same punch that regular onions do — they are less pungent and more gentle making them the perfect addition to add in raw to salads, relishes, or dips (like our fave fry sauce!)
• Chicken. More on this ingredient below!

Adding Chicken

We add chicken to make this Teriyaki Chicken Salad more of a main course meal since it adds protein and staying power. That said, it can be left out for a quicker prep or if the intention of this salad is to be more of a side dish. And, of course, chicken can be left out to make a vegetarian salad. 

We typically use leftover grilled chicken for a grilled Teriyaki Chicken Salad or will grab a rotisserie chicken to dice up. And since both are nicely seasoned, it lends more flavor to this salad.

How To Make Teriyaki Chicken Salad (Tips)

• Salt the pasta well as it cooks, since salting is the only chance you have to season the actual pasta. As a rule of thumb, I add 1 teaspoon salt to 4 cups of water
• Use a textured pasta. Choose pasta that has plenty of nooks and crannies to hold the delicious teriyaki dressing. Miniature Farfalle/Bowties are fun, but regular-sized works great as well. Other options: rotini, medium shells, fusili, or penne.
• Cook the pasta to al dente. Since the pasta sits in dressing, it can easily get soggy if it has been over-boiled. And, on the flip side, pasta becomes a little firmer when served cold, so don’t under-boil it! I cook it right to the package directions of what al dente is.
• Toss the pasta in dressing. Once the pasta has been drained, toss it with about half of the dressing and pop it in the fridge. This will infuse the pasta with a lovely flavor and help it cool down quicker.

More Amazing Pasta Salad Recipes:

Teriyaki Chicken Salad

This Teriyaki Chicken Salad is loaded with flavor and texture — tender pasta, fresh baby spinach, dry-roasted nuts, juicy mandarin oranges, crunchy water chestnuts, sweet onion, and seasoned chicken. We toss this salad with an addictive teriyaki dressing that is only 3-ingredients and pulls everything together perfectly!

Teriyaki Chicken Salad

This Teriyaki Chicken Salad is loaded with flavor and texture — tender pasta, fresh baby spinach, dry-roasted nuts, juicy mandarin oranges, crunchy water chestnuts, sweet onion, and seasoned chicken. We toss this salad with an addictive teriyaki dressing that is only 3-ingredients and pulls everything together perfectly!

Instructions

• DRESSING: Combine the dressing ingredients into a mason jar. Seal with lid then shake to combine. Store in the fridge, shaking again before using.

• PASTA: In generously salted water, cook pasta according to package directions to “al dente” (the minimum time indicated on package). Drain pasta and add to a *very* large bowl, toss with half the prepared dressing and then place in the fridge, covered, until fully cooled.

• ASSEMBLE: Once pasta is fully cooled, toss with the coarsely chopped spinach. Add diced cooked chicken, peanuts or cashews, cranberries, diced water chestnuts, drained mandarin oranges, and finely diced sweet onion. Drizzle on as much dressing as you’d like (you may not want it all) and gently toss salad to combine. Taste and add salt/pepper if needed or more dressing. Enjoy immediately!

Recipe Notes

Note 1: Teriyaki Sauce: this sauce is the major player in the dressing — it can make or break it! We recommend Mr. Yoshida’s teriyaki sauce, but any good quality, thicker-style teriyaki (that you know you love) will work great here.

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 369kcal | Carbohydrates: 57.5g | Protein: 12.7g | Fat: 11.1g | Cholesterol: 9.1mg | Sodium: 282.5mg | Fiber: 4.9g | Sugar: 18.8g

We do our best to provide accurate nutritional analysis for our recipes. Our nutritional data is calculated using a third-party algorithm and may vary, based on individual cooking styles, measurements, and ingredient sizes. Please use this information for comparison purposes and consult a health professional for nutrition guidance as needed.