Chinese Ramen Chicken Salad

This Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe with ramen noodles, Napa cabbage, coleslaw mix and Mandarin oranges is an easy main dish salad perfect for summer. With its tangy homemade dressing, this easy meal is a family favorite and perfect for potluck dinners!

Easy Ramen Noodle Salad

Chinese ramen chicken salad is a delicious blend of cabbages, chicken breasts and crunchy ramen noodles. This Asian ramen noodle salad gets extra flavor from sesame seeds, almond slices and mandarin oranges and is perfect when you want something different from the usual chicken salad recipe.

You can make this easy dinner salad ahead of time, pop into the fridge and serve when you’re ready to eat. It makes a lot of food, so you can enjoy leftovers the next day — perfect for meal prep!

I got this Asian ramen salad recipe years ago from a friend of mine — It’s sometimes called Napa cabbage salad, and it is very popular at potlucks. I misplaced the original recipe when I first wrote this post, and just updated it since I very luckily found the original when we moved.

Love ramen noodles? Try my soy sauce ramen noodles recipe. And my tips to cook ramen noodles in the microwave!

Ramen Salad Ingredients

You can find ingredients for ramen salad recipe in your grocery store or online. Full amounts are in the printable recipe card below.

• Butter or oil — for toasting the noodles
•  Dry ramen noodles — Top Ramen or your favorite brand — discard the flavor packet
•  Sesame seeds — for flavor and crunch
•  Blanched slivered almonds — or almond slices for flavor
• Napa cabbage — chopped
• Coleslaw mix — with carrots and purple cabbage for added color. I like to add more cabbage and carrots for extra color, but it’s not necessary.
•  Cooked chicken — diced
• Canned Mandarin oranges — drained
•  Green onions — chopped

Dressing — You will also need soy sauce, vegetable oil, sesame oil, rice vinegar, salt, pepper and ground ginger for the homemade salad dressing.

How to Make Chinese Chicken Salad with Ramen

You’ll need cooked chicken to make the salad. You can use rotisserie chicken from the store or cook chicken breasts in the oven, in the Instant Pot or Crock-Pot.

Make the Dressing

Start off by whisking the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Pop the dressing in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the salad — This gives the flavors time to blend.

Toast the Ramen

Toasting the ramen noodles makes them crunchy so they won’t get too soggy in the salad. So, don’t skip this step.

Break up a couple of packages of ramen noodles. I find it easiest to open them, remove the flavor packets and put the dried noodles into a large plastic freezer bag while breaking them into smaller pieces.

Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a large skillet, and toast the ramen noodles, sesame seeds and almonds until just golden brown.

I like to make salads that are as colorful as possible, so I use a blend of napa cabbage and bag of coleslaw that has purple cabbage and shredded carrots in it. You can chop up your own veggies, but it’s a lot easier to use a mix.

Assemble the Salad

To assemble the salad, use a large mixing bowl — the largest mixing bowl you have. Then, start adding some of the cooked chicken, cabbage, coleslaw mix and ramen to the large bowl.

I like to reserve some of the ramen and add it right before serving. It gets soft in the salad, so those that like it crunchy are satisfied!

Pour in the tangy Asian dressing as you add the ingredients so that you get it on each layer. Add the rest of the ingredients, and mix it all up!

Add Mandarin oranges and chopped green onions to the top for an extra pop of color and crunch. You can also add more sesame seeds and sliced almonds for presentation.

Isn’t this one of the prettiest, most colorful salads on the planet? Only problem is my kids eat the oranges first, so there’s none left by the second day!

Variations

I think this is one of those recipes that you can easily customize and make your own. There’s really no right or wrong way to prepare it, and I’ve seen tons of different variations over the years.

Feel free to leave out the almonds to make the salad nut free. You can also vary the fresh ingredients to suit your own tastes. Leave out the Napa cabbage and just use the coleslaw mix if you like! Sunflower seeds, red cabbage, snow peas, and red bell pepper are also great additions.

I’ve never been a fan of the seasoning packets that come with Top Ramen noodles–it’s just so easy to add your own spices and sauces! But, feel free to use the ramen seasoning packet if you want.

How to Store

Store ramen salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The leftover salad lasts for up to 3 days before getting a little too soggy. The flavors get better the longer it sits, so it still tastes good, though!

Recipe published in 2016 and updated in May 2024

Cold salads are some of my favorite recipes for warmer months, and the bright color, great crunch, and sesame flavors of this ramen salad make it the perfect salad for this time of year!

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