Shredded Crispy Chicken Salad

This shredded crispy chicken salad is one of the easiest salads you can meal prep – rotisserie chicken, an option for store bought dressing, and greens. Make your own quinoa rice and pickled red onions, and you’ll have a CRAZY good salad for the week!

Whenever I’m short on time and still want a healthy meal prep option for the week, I’ll consider what I can make with a rotisserie chicken. To be honest, I am NOT rotisserie chicken’s biggest fan. Most of the time, the ones I get are slightly dry, bland, and just needs some love.

Of course if I had the time, I would love to roast my own chicken, but let’s be honest – that’s just not something I want to make brain space for on a weeknight.

So when the time comes – you’re browsing the grocery store and rotisserie chicken is the only thing that seems do-able, you can grab a couple more ingredients and whip together this bowl.

The best parts about this recipe

• Rotisserie chicken recipe + minimal chopping for a salad recipe
• Crispy chicken, ginger sambal dressing, pickled red onions, and crunchy vegetables
• There are several store-bought hacks you can opt in to have for a under 30 min salad meal prep

Table of Contents

• Ingredient Notes
• How to make Sweet Potato and Ground Beef Taco Salad Step by Step
• Recipe and Cooking Tips
• Storage and Reheating
• Additions and Substitutions
• FAQ
• Video Tutorial
• The Recipe
• Looking for more similar recipes?

Ingredient Notes: 

Shredded Chicken – I call for using a rotisserie chicken, and specifically use the chicken breast for the crispy shredded chicken. As you’re picking through the chicken and shredding it with your fingers, feel free to omit the dry parts and use them along with the bones to make stock.

If you’re cooking to save even more time, there are some grocery stores that sell pre-shredded rotisserie chicken meat. It’s typically near the deli section, and this can save you another step & save you time.

Ginger Sambal dressing – This is just a combination of several ingredients in the food processor and blended until smooth. If you want to save time, feel free to get a store bought dressing, like the Girard’s brand ginger sesame dressing.

Pickled Red Onions – if you’ve made my recipes before, it’s likely that you probably already have some pickled red onions in your fridge. It’s great to just make a big batch of these when you have 5 minutes, and have them ready whenever you want them.

Something I discovered a few weeks ago when I was in a pinch was how I could save time by just reboiling my previous pickling liquid and pour it over freshly sliced red onions. Maybe I’m late to this hack, but not needing get out and measure my sugar, vinegar, and salt kinda feels like a huge win.

There’s a part of me that thinks you should only do this once, but I’ll do some more research and report back on how many times this works before it’s time to use new pickling liquid.

How to make the Shredded Crispy Chicken Salad – Step by Step Instructions:

For the garlic sesame quinoa rice:

Step 1: Add the sesame oil, rice, quinoa, and salt to a small 2 qt pot. Toast for 30 seconds, then add the minced garlic. Toast with the garlic for 30 seconds and the 1.25 cups of water (I don’t rinse my rice in this case – the toasting will help with the starch). Bring up to boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes on low heat. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

For the remaining components:

Step 1: Prep the vegetables – cut the red cabbage and cilantro.

Step 2: Shred the rotisserie chicken. Add this to a bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, and a big pinch of salt and pepper.

Step 3: Heat a skillet on medium high heat and add 3 tablespoons of neutral oil. Once hot, add ⅓ of the chicken and cook for 3-4 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Repeat with the remaining chicken.

Step 4: Make the dressing by combining all the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth, taste and adjust for seasoning as desired, and set aside.

Step 5: Assemble the bowl by adding a bed of arugula to a bowl. Add some of the red cabbage, the quinoa rice, cilantro, and pickled red onions. Top with the crispy chicken and toss with a couple tablespoons of dressing, and serve!

Recipe & Cooking tips:

Tip 1 – When adding the cornstarch, make sure the chicken is coated, then shake off any excess starch. You can use a dry colander to give everything a shake and allow the starch to release from the chicken.

Tip 2 – Instead of washing your rice (which please by means, do so if you want), you can toast it with the quinoa for a minute before adding the salt, garlic, and liquid. This releases some of the starches and I find does not need me to wash the rice. One less step for the win!

Tip 3 – Get the Girard’s Toasted sesame ginger dressing if you want another shortcut. I’ve gotten this before at Safeway and it’s pretty good.

Storage and Reheating

Storage: Store the chopped ingredients separate from the dressing in an airtight container for up for 3 days in the refrigerator. Store the dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can keep the crispy chicken and the quinoa rice in the same Tupperware, but I recommend storing the red cabbage in its own Tupperware, and the pickled red onions in it’s own jar. Feel free to read an example on how best to store salad ingredients for the week here.

Reheating: When making this salad after the first day, I like to gently reheat the quinoa rice and crispy chicken before adding it to the salad. You can give this a quick blitz in the microwave (30 seconds), or warm it up in a pan with a tablespoon of water for ~5 minutes.

Substitutions

Substitutions:

• Cornstarch – cornstarch is needed to make a crispy coating on the chicken, but you can use arrowroot starch or tapioca starch instead.
• Quinoa rice – feel free to use wild rice or quinoa rice if you prefer.
• Shredded Chicken – If you’re vegetarian and would like to try this with a vegetarian option, try making this recipe with maitake mushrooms. They have a similar meaty texture, and will be able to shred easily.

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