Asian Salad Recipe with Sesame Ginger Dressing

This super easy to make Asian Salad Recipe is packed full of healthy veggies and tossed in a tasty sesame ginger salad dressing. It's fresh and crunchy and a crazy delicious side dish.

Today we're heading back to September 2012 for this 20th edition of Throw Back Thursday. These #tbt posts are the once a month when I dig through the archives to find a recipe that I love and want to reshare with you. Most of the time, the original pictures are terrible and would never convince you to make the recipe.

The original Asian Salad Recipe pictures are a bit blurry and out of focus, but definitely not the worst I've taken. It's still worth popping down to check them out. I've hidden them a few images below here.

When I'm choosing which recipes to revamp it's like I become that over-eager kid that wants to share everything. Choosing which one can be hard! This recipe's been on my radar for a while now because it's been my favorite easy to make salad for years now.

Why this is my favorite easy Asian salad recipe:

1. It's full of crunch, but not too much. There are lots of crunchy carrots in this recipe, but they're grated. Grating the carrots gives them crunch but takes away the crunchiness extreme of chopped carrots.
2. The dressing is simple and aaaaamzing. It has just the right amount of sweet and tart deliciousness and goes perfectly with the carrots.
3. Cashews because salted cashews are everything.
4. It's ridiculously easy to make. Love easy recipes!

♡♡♡

I recently got together with my girlfriend Kristy of She Eats, who recently published my newest fav cookbook: Cooking With Cocktails. She brought a food blogger friend along and somewhere between Old Fashioneds and shop talk her friend mentioned that he had a beef to pick about someone calling a recipe ‘Asian salad'. ?

You guys, I started to question my hip/ coolness (no one who uses the term hip coolness is either of those things.) I had no idea that Asian Salad Recipe is a taboo term. Did you know? Apparently, it's too whitewashed or generic or something like that. Who knew! Not me.

What do you think? Are you bothered by it? Does it make you boil up inside? Please say it doesn't so we can be on the same team. ?

Anyway, this Asian Salad Recipe (or carrot salad with sesame oil and ginger and cashews. whatev.) has long been a mainstay here. It's so easy to whip up, and the flavors are bright and fresh. I love the crispy veggies, crunchy nuts, and tangy sesame dressing. Enjoy, my friends!

Original post: September 2nd, 2012

Who loves crispy, crunchy veggies, roasted peanuts or cashews, and a sweet Asian sesame salad dressing? I thought you might. (I do too!) I also love that this Asian salad recipe is not only one of the tastiest salads ever, it's also super healthy. Like super crazy healthy.

I have a confession to make: I'm on a D I E T. I can barely say the words out loud, never mind type those four letters together. Over the past year (can you believe it has almost been a whole year!) I've been stuffing my face full of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream, Bacon, Bourbon, Peanut Butter Cookies and Crispy (read: cooked in a pound of butter) Sweet Potato Fritters. My jeans have, much slower than I deserve, been fitting a little more snug.

That's where this crunchy Asian salad recipe comes in. It's come to my rescue. I've been eating huge bowls of this salad with a few slices of herb marinated steak or a piece of grilled fish on the side. Or sometimes I've eaten every last crunchy delicious bit of this salad all by itself. It's that tasty.

The original photo of this Asian Salad Recipe:

If you’re interested in learning a few tricks that I did to improve my food photography, check out the posts 10 Food Photography Tips for New Food Bloggers and The 10 Best Food Photography Props to Improve Your Food Photography and The Food Photography Equipment I Use.

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Easy Salad Recipes:

• Easy Asian Coleslaw with Orange Sesame Dressing
• Avocado Cucumber Salad
• Arugula and Wild Rice Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
• Crispy Kale Salad with Roasted Beets and Spicy Candied Pecans
• Lifesaving Lemony Salad Dressing
• Carrot Ginger Salad Dressing

Asian Salad Recipe

• Author: Kristen Stevens | The Endless Meal
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Total Time: 15 mins
• Yield: 2-4 servings 1x
• Category: Salad
• Cuisine: Asian

★★★★★

4.9 from 14 reviews

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Description

This super easy to make Asian Salad Recipe is packed full of healthy veggies and tossed in a tasty sesame ginger salad dressing. It's fresh and crunchy and a crazy delicious side dish.

| vegan + paleo + gluten-free + Whole30 compliant |

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 2 carrots, grated
• 1 red pepper, finely diced
• 2 celery stalks, finely diced
• 1/4 medium red onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup cilantro or parsley, chopped
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• Optional: 1/4 cup roasted peanuts, almonds, or cashews (no peanuts for paleo or Whole30!)

For the dressing:

• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon honey (omit for Whole30, use maple syrup for vegan)
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce (gluten-free if needed, coco aminos for paleo + Whole30)
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1 small clove of garlic, grated (preferably with a Microplane)
• Sea salt to taste

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Instructions

1. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
2. Toss all the remaining ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl. Pour over the dressing and toss to coat.
3. That's it, enjoy!