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. It's also naturally vegan + paleo + gluten-free + Whole30 compliant. Win win!
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 below the recipe.
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, but I hesitated to share it this month.
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.
If you make Asian Salad make sure to snap a pic and tag @theendlessmeal on Instagram so I can like and comment on your photos. I love seeing TEM recipes you create.
- 2 carrots, grated
- 1 red pepper, finely diced
- 2 celery stalks, finely diced
- ¼ medium red onion, finely diced
- ¼ cup cilantro or parsley, chopped
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- Optional: ¼ cup roasted peanuts, almonds, or cashews (no peanuts for paleo or Whole30!)
- 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
- Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
- Toss all the remaining ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl. Pour over the dressing and toss to coat.
- That's it, enjoy!
The original photos 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.
More healthy and delicious salad recipes:
Grilled Smashed Potato Salad with Chive Lemon Yogurt
Creamy Kale Salad with Maple Tahini Dressing
Autumn Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Pecans
Summer Tomato and Grilled Corn Salad
Healthy Asian Noodle Salad
Roasted Beet and Kale Salad with Maple Candied Walnuts
Grilled Peach and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Sweet Honey Balsamic Dressing
Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad with Bacon Walnuts and Apricots
The Best Kale Salad
Kristen Stevens
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Kristen is the person working behind the scenes at The Endless Meal. She takes all the pics, creates all the recipes and eats all the leftovers. 
Wow what a great recipe! I made it for BBQ & everyone love it. I added chilies & cucumber and still taste amazing.
Made this with grilled chicken and rice noodles for dinner – it was soooo good, and so easy. Bursting with flavour. Thanks for a great recipe!
just had the salad and really liked it. Thank you.
This was absolutely delicious and so easy to make. Added a few salad leaves to bulk it out a little and served it with baked salmon and new potatoes, everyone loved it! Will definately be making again, thanks for the recipie!
Just had this Asian salad for our evening meal with a griddled piece of tuna. I added white cabbage and chopped mango and bean sprouts. It went down a treat and I will definitely make it again, it’s so easy and the vegetables can always be tweaked depending on what you feel like. I would love to know roughly how many calories are in your original salad and dressing.
many thanks Par
Hi Pat,
I really have no idea how many calories are in the dressing but there are lots of calorie/nutrition calculators available online. So happy you liked the recipe!
I’m making this for the second time this week! It’s amazing, I added red cabbage just so there would be more of it to have throughout the week. Thanks for the great recipe!
I just made this with your Bang bang shrimp…..oh my goodness, sooooo good. thank-you!!
This salad is absolutely amazing. I ate it nonstop for 2 days (made a double batch) and today I am going to make more. It gets even better when it sits in the fridge. Thank you so much for this healthy and lovely dish.
This was absolutely delicious, was a bit lazy and used pre-roasted(and salted) cashews as I didn’t have raw peanuts to hand but they were a nice substitute. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
I was searching for a simple, Asian-style chopped salad and found your recipe. It looked colorful and since the ingredients were all on hand, I made it immediately … and again the next day! Your recipe is such a keeper. Pinned it to both my Salad board and Healthy Me! board on Pinterest. Thank you.
The salad looks so yummy! Do you think it would taste good with some red cabbage, napa cabbage and edameme? I’m allergic to carrots so I’m trying to sub in other foods for the ones in the recipe.
Thanks, Lanna!
I definitely think there is a lot of room to experiment with this salad. Use it as a starting point and then add other veggies that you love (and aren’t allergic to!) I think different cabbages and edamame would be delicious 🙂
Thank you so much for this great salad! I’m not a huge fan of sesame oil but I loved the flavors in this recipe. I’m serving it tonight with grilled salmon and broccoli. I will definitely be putting this recipe into my regular rotation. Thanks again!
Thank you so much, Jayme!
Just saw this recipe today, I have had Asian inspired recipes in the past but they were made with noodles. I was going to the green grocer today and picked up a few of the ingredients that I was missing. All I can say is this is delicious 🙂 easy 🙂
Enjoy, Annie!!
Just made this for dinner tonight. Woah. SO good.
That’s so great to hear! Thank you for the feedback 🙂
I want to make it, but will one of you fuckers make it and tell me what the fuck it is like?????????????
How about you make it and tell us what you think of it? I promise you it’s damn delicious
I have become addicted to this salad! Its so good and dare I say….healthy? Perfect!
I know, right! It’s so easy and tasty and healthy too 🙂
Such gorgeous colors! And it sounds delicious too 🙂
Thanks, Terry!
Well, this might be diet food, but it looks incredible – I love the different colors and textures! It’s so inviting… I’m featuring this post in today’s Food Fetish Friday (with a link-back and attribution as always). Thank you so much for keeping me inspired with such delicious creations…
You are so welcome! And thank you so much for featuring one of my posts on your Food Fetish Friday!
Some people get irresistible ice cream cravings, some go crazy for Cocoa Puffs, but my Achilles’ tendon (fortunate or not) is any sesame-based Asian salad. I’m so glad I came across this–it looks absolutely delectable, and I can’t wait to give it a try. Thanks for sharing, and good luck on the D-you-know-what!
I wish I craved healthy salads! I do love them but I also really love pork belly and cream and other rich and delicious food 🙂
Seems like an ideal dish for a picnic. I love getting everyone together for such occasions. This year we decided to go for a picnic to our favorite High Park in Toronto and have a little fun with our children. But now that I’ve read your post I am looking forward to our next picnic in our garden with this Asian salad on the table.
Hey Sarah,
I love picnics too. Always such a great way to spend the afternoon 🙂
What do you use to chop up all those veggies? I would like to try it, especially with Asian dressing.
Hey Vita,
Just a wooden cutting board and a chef’s knife. Oh, and a grater for the carrot. Since the carrot is the biggest player in the salad it really doesn’t take much to chop the other few veggies 🙂
great photo, and the recipe looks terrific. Can’t wait to give it a try!
Thanks, Jenny!
I’m going to make this next week for my wild Rose cleanse. Only a few simple substitutions needed! I can’t wait looks delicious!
You’re brave for doing the Wild Rose. It’s so tough!!
Looks delicious! I like your masthead by the way!
Thanks, Johanna!
This looks very yummy! I’ll try it out this week!