Asian Slaw

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This crunchy Asian Slaw Recipe is tossed with colorful veggies, toasted cashew nuts, sesame seeds, and a tangy Asian dressing.

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• Ingredients
• Visual Step-by-Step Instructions
• Variations
• Make-Ahead & Storage Instructions
• More Asian Salad Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

I love this Asian cabbage salad especially in the summer because it’s so fresh and crunchy, perfect for a light, healthy, and low calorie meal on hot summer days. Sure, you can serve it all year round, especially as an appetizer or side dish to Asian dishes.

White cabbage, red cabbage, and carrot are tossed with a tangy Asian salad dressing. The slightly sour note of the lime as well as the nutty aroma of toasted sesame oil is fully revealed. 

This colorful Asian coleslaw looks especially great at a summer barbecue or potluck. If you don’t grab it quickly, you could go empty-handed – yes, this crowd-pleaser tastes that great!

All in all, a very simple Asian salad recipe! I always prepare a big bowl of it. What doesn’t go right away gets stored in the fridge and snacked on the next few days with some vegan protein (fried tofu or a vegan chicken alternative), or happily taken to the lake as a picnic.

Plus, the  Asian Cabbage Slaw as well as the dressing recipe are very adjustable to your taste. Further below, you will find a few suggestions on how you can customize it even better to your liking.

Ingredients

You can find the quantities in the recipe.

• White Cabbage & Red Cabbage → Makes for a crunchy salad! It’s easiest to cut the cabbage head in half first and then slice the halves into long, fine strips using a sharp knife. You can use leftover white cabbage for this Yaki Udon Recipe.
• Carrot, Scallion (Green Onion), Chili → Makes the salad a little more colorful and flavorful.
• Toasted Cashews & Sesame Seeds→ Provide a great crunch and nutty flavor! 
• Cilantro → Simply belongs in an Asian salad! Please omit if you don’t like it. 
• Ginger, Olive Oil, Lime Juice, Soy Sauce (or Tamari), Maple Syrup, Miso Paste → These ingredients make the Asian dressing. It is very light! You can add some grated/minced garlic if you like. Lime juice can also be substituted with rice vinegar or lemon juice. Omit miso paste if you don’t have any at home (you don’t have to buy a pack of miso paste just for this recipe – use some sea salt instead and you’re good to go). 😉

Visual Step-by-Step Instructions

This visual step-by-step instruction will help you along the way – definitely recommended if you’re a cooking beginner! 😉

• Roughly chop cashew nuts and toast them for 5 minutes in a skillet without oil until golden brown.
• Finely slice white and red cabbage using a knife. Add the sliced cabbage together with the carrot, cilantro, scallion, chili, cashew nuts, and sesame seeds in a large bowl.

• Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a glass jar and shake well or whisk them together in a small bowl.

• Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to combine! Serve immediately or let it set for a little.

Variations

• Creamy Dressing – stir 2 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter, tahini, nut butter, or mayo into the dressing.
• Spicy – drizzle the salad with chili oil or stir some chili paste into the dressing.
• Nuts – replace cashew nuts with toasted peanuts.
• Vegetables – depending on your mood, feel free to mix some red bell pepper, cucumber, or radishes into the salad.
• Fresh Herbs – can be spiced up with fresh parsley or mint.

Make-Ahead & Storage Instructions

This Asian cabbage salad recipe can be made up to a day in advance and stored in the fridge until needed. Doing this will set the flavors together a little longer but not cause the salad to wilt at all. 😉

Store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge. It will stay fresh for up to 2 days.

More Asian Salad Recipes

• Thai Glass Noodle Salad
• Thai Cucumber Salad
• Thai Papaya Salad
• Asian Wheat Noodle Salad
• Vermicelli Noodle Salad

📖 Recipe