Teriyaki Chicken Pasta Salad is filled with cubed teriyaki chicken, marinated farfalle pasta, Asian pickled vegetables, plus mandarin oranges, lightly sweetened cashews and fried won ton strips. Every bite of this salad has a unique flavor or texture that stands out ensuring each bite is the “best bite.”
Teriyaki Chicken Pasta Salad
Teriyaki chicken is the new comfort food. It’s typically easy to buy at a restaurant. It’s easy to find at the grocery store. It’s served with rice. And it always tastes good! Just a little salty, just a little sweet—just right!
This teriyaki chicken and teriyaki pasta needs a little marinating time to be at its best. It only takes a few minutes to put together the marinade in the morning, let it work magic during the day, then put on the finishing touches for dinner. The actual prep time is minimal!
I love the tangy flavor and crunchy texture that Asian pickled vegetables bring to this salad. It’s so easy to pickle the vegetables in your own kitchen. It just takes a few ingredients you bring to a boil and then pour over a few chopped vegetables. Let them sit for the day while you are marinating the chicken and the pasta. It’s so fast and so delicious!
The salad is full of a variety of vegetables. It can be served in a “salad bar” style, where everyone can add what they want. Or all the salad ingredients can be mixed with the dressing just before serving. Since the salad includes spinach, it’s important to note that the dressing makes spinach wilt within a half hour. However, if the salad ingredients are kept separate from the dressing and served separately, it keeps for several days!
Ingredients for the Teriyaki Chicken Pasta Salad:
Farfelle pasta: Another name is bowtie pasta. In Italian, “farfalle” actually means butterfly. Isn’t that a better name—butterfly pasta?? For this salad, you could also use any other pasta of your choosing, including alternative ingredient, gluten-free pastas.
Avocado oil: You could substitute for any neutral-flavored oil, like canola or grapeseed.
Soy Vay’s Veri Veri Teriyaki Sauce and Marinade: This is a gluten-free and kosher product and my favorite teriyaki sauce. This teriyaki sauce is used for the teriyaki marinated pasta, the teriyaki dressing, and also the teriyaki marinated chicken.
Rice vinegar: This vinegar really gives an Asian flavor, more than any other kind of vinegar. You could substitute white wine vinegar if you desire.
Honey: I prefer using honey, instead of granulated sugar, because it is more healthy and keeps the integrity of the Teriyaki Dressing perfectly.
Boneless, skinless chicken: I prefer breasts, but thighs also work well. You can choose. Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces before marinating.
Lightly candied cashews: You can make these on your stove in less than 2 minutes. You just need coconut oil or butter, coconut sugar or brown sugar, and salted cashews.
Won Ton wrappers: You can find these in the specialty refrigerated section of the grocery store. I fried the won ton strips with coconut oil and it was not only healthy, but tasted so good.
Quick Pickled Vegetables:
White wine vinegar and Rice vinegar:
Granulated sugar and Salt:
Vegetables: purple cabbage, green cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, daikon (turnip)
The Rest of the Salad:
Jicama: This ingredient adds a crunch and a fresh, mild taste to counter-balance with the teriyaki flavors.
Sweet peppers (yellow, red or orange): Pick your color and cut them thin.
Savoy cabbage: I love adding a little of this soft-textured cabbage to the spinach mixture.
Baby spinach
Green onions
Mandarin Oranges
Craisins
Toasted sesame seeds
How to Make the Teriyaki Chicken Pasta Salad:
Marinating the pasta:
- Cook pasta according to directions with 2 Tablespoons sea salt. While pasta is cooking, add all dressing ingredients into a container. Whisk until mixed.
- When pasta is al dente (still chewy—not crunchy), drain but not rinse. Dump hot pasta into a covered container and pour half the dressing on the pasta. Cover and let marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours, or overnight. This step should not be missed, it’s one of the highlights of this salad. The pasta really absorbs the flavor of the Teriyaki Dressing.
Marinating the chicken:
- Marinate chicken (whole or cubed) in 1 cup teriyaki sauce for at least 2 hours, or overnight, in refrigerator.
Pickling the vegetables:
- Pickle vegetables by combining all pickling ingredients, except vegetables, in small saucepan. Stir and let come to a boil on a medium-heat stove. While heating sauce, slice very thin the cabbages, use a potato peeler to slice thin (across the top, not lengthwise) the unpeeled cucumber and the peeled carrots to create small, thin circles. Put carrots and cucumbers a quart glass jar and the cabbages in two separate pint jars (so purple cabbage doesn’t stain the other veggies). Pour hot sugar mixture into the jar with the vegetables. Cover with lid and let sit to cool and pickle while the pasta and chicken marinate. Can refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.
Candying the cashews:
- Add cashews, coconut oil and coconut sugar to a small fry pan. Lightly candy the cashews on a medium-hot stovetop for 1-2 minutes until the cashews are coated. Let cool on parchment paper.
Frying the won ton strips:
- Cut won ton wrappers into ½ inch strips with a pizza cutter. Heat coconut oil in small fry pan to about 325-360° F. When hot, drop won ton wrapper strips into hot oil one at a time so they don’t stick to each other. Flip over as needed to brown and fry for about 1-2 minutes. Remove with tongs or a slotted spoon. Let drain and cool on a paper towel. Store in airtight container for 2 weeks if necessary.
Preparing the salad vegetables:
- Slice and dice other vegetables: peel and cube jicama; slice thinly colored peppers, savoy cabbage and green onions; slightly chop spinach.
Here’s how to build the Teriyaki Chicken Pasta Salad:
- Spinach
- Savoy cabbage
- Jicama
- Colored peppers
- Pickled cabbages, carrots, and cucumbers
- Teriyaki chicken
- Teriyaki marinated pasta
- Candied cashews
- Green onions
- Mandarin oranges
- Craisins
- Won ton strips
- Toasted sesame seeds
Enjoy this very flavorful summer salad!
–Kim
Teriyaki Chicken Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Teriyaki Marinated Pasta:
- 8-10 ounces farfalle pasta (bowtie pasta) al dente and drained
- 2 Tablespoons sea salt
Teriyaki Dressing (half for pasta/half for salad):
- 1 cup avocado oil or neutral-flavored oil
- 1 cup teriyaki sauce (Soy Vay's Veri Veri Teriyaki)
- 1 cup rice vinegar
- 1/3 cup honey or to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
Teriyaki Marinated Chicken:
- 1-2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut to bite-sized
- 1 cup teriyaki sauce (Soy Vay's Veri Veri Teriyaki)
Quick Pickled Vegetables:
- ½ cup white wine vinegar
- ½ cup rice vinegar
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ head purple cabbage
- ¼ head green cabbage
- 1 thin English cucumber
- 3 small carrots
- 1 diakon turnip
Lightly Candied Cashews:
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil or butter
- 2 Tablespoons coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1 cup salted cashews
Fried Won Ton Strips:
- 1 package won ton wrappers (you will only use a few)
- Coconut oil —enough for about a ½ inch of oil in pan
The Rest of the Salad:
- 1 small jicama peeled and diced
- 1-2 red, yellow or red sweet peppers, sliced thin
- ½ head Savoy cabbage sliced thin
- 1 bunch green onions sliced thin
- 4-5 cups baby spinach lightly chopped
- 1 can (15 oz) mandarin oranges
- 1-2 cups craisins
- toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to directions with 2 Tablespoons sea salt.
- While pasta is cooking, add all dressing ingredients into a container. Whisk until mixed.
- When pasta is al dente, drain but not rinse. Dump hot pasta into a covered container and pour half the dressing on the pasta. Cover and let marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours, or overnight.
- Marinate chicken (whole or cubed) in 1 cup teriyaki sauce for at least 2 hours, or overnight, in refrigerator.
- Pickle vegetables by combining all ingredients, except vegetables, in small saucepan. Stir and let come to a boil on a medium-heat stove. While heating sauce, slice very thin the cabbages, use a potato peeler to slice thin (across the top, not lengthwise) the unpeeled cucumber and the peeled carrots to create small, thin circles. Put carrots and cucumbers a quart glass jar and the cabbages in two separate pint jars (so purple cabbage doesn’t stain the other veggies). Pour hot sugar mixture into the jar with the vegetables. Cover with lid and let sit to cool and pickle while the pasta and chicken marinate. Can refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.
- Add cashews, coconut oil and coconut sugar to a small fry pan. Lightly candy the cashews on a medium-hot stovetop for 1-2 minutes until the cashews are coated. Let cool on parchment paper.
- Fry won ton strips by cutting won ton wrappers into ½ inch strips with a pizza cutter. Heat coconut oil in small fry pan to about 325-360° F. When hot, drop won ton wrapper strips into hot oil one at a time so they don’t stick to each other. Flip over as needed to brown and fry for about 1-2 minutes. Remove with tongs or a slotted spoon. Let drain and cool on a paper towel. Store in airtight container for 2 weeks if necessary.
- Slice and dice other vegetables: peel and cube jicama; slice thinly colored peppers, savoy cabbage and green onions; slightly chop spinach.
- To serve salad bar style so each individual can pick and choose their favorite items. Or mix the salad all together with the dressing and serve immediately as the spinach wilts quickly.
Here’s the salad items:
- Spinach
- Savoy cabbage
- Jicama
- Colored sweet peppers
- Pickled cabbages, carrots, and cucumbers
- Teriyaki chicken
- Teriyaki marinated pasta
- Candied cashews
- Green onions
- Mandarin oranges
- Craisins
- Won ton strips
- Toasted sesame seeds
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