Last month, I discovered the Panera Bread Asian Sesame Chicken Salad. It was love at first bite. The ingredients are so simple, but they just sing in your mouth. I could use this sweet and tangy dressing on just about anything.
I did a lot of searching for attempts to copycat this recipe. The best guess came from someone claiming to be a Panera manager.
He said it is just rice vinegar and sugar heated together, then drizzled with non-toasted sesame oil. Since I didn’t have non-toasted sesame oil, I tweaked the recipe a bit, using canola oil and sesame oil.
Also, their version has fried wontons in it. I had left over wonton wrappers that needed to be used, so I fried my own.
Honestly, it isn’t worth it. Next time I am just going to use those little crispy chow mein noodles you can find in the Asian food aisle of the grocery store.
A quick note: I highly recommend using organic lettuce. I am a bird owner. All the experts tell bird owners to never feed your bird conventionally grown lettuce because it sucks in pesticides and keeps it in the water in their leaves. It can easily kill your bird…do you really want to put that in your body? I know I don’t.
But, if you buy organic lettuce, wash it at least twice in a water bath. Organic means natural, natural means bugs. You get my drift.
Asian Sesame Chicken Salad
makes 3 main dish salads
Dressing:
1/2 cup rice vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons canola or other mild flavored oil
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
A few grinds of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
Wontons:
1/2 cup oil for frying
10 wonton wrappers, cut into 1/2″ slices
salt
-OR-
1 cup crispy chow mein noodles
Salad fixings:
1 large head green leaf lettuce, washed
1 bunch cilantro, washed, stems removed
1 1/2 cup cooked chicken, sliced
Directions
To make the dressing: In a small sauce pan, heat the vinegar and sugar until the sugar dissolves, stirring often. Let it cool completely. Mix the oils together. Whisking constantly, very slowly pour in the oil mix to make an emulsion. Add salt, pepper, and sesame seeds. Set aside.
If using the wonton wrappers: heat oil in a skillet to 350 degrees. Working in small batches, lay the wonton strips in the hot oil. Fry for 20-30 seconds on each side (until light golden brown), then quickly remove to a paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle with salt.
To assemble the salad: Mix the lettuce and cilantro together. Divide into 3 large bowls. Add chicken strips and wontons or chow mein noodles. When ready to serve, drizzle with dressing and toss to coat. If you want, you could add shredded cabbage, carrots, sliced almonds, or slices of mandarin oranges.
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13 comments
Kim at Quit Eating Out {RecipesToRunOn.com coming soon} says:
April 29, 2011 at 8:07 pm (UTC -5)
I LOVE this salad. I get it every time at Panera with a cup of black bean soup. So anxious to make it at home. Thanks for sharing with Saturday Swap. Have a super weekend.
Erin @ Art + Food + Life says:
April 29, 2011 at 8:10 pm (UTC -5)
Kim, it is a very close copy of the Panera version, but it is hard for me to tell without a side by side test. let me know what you think!
L. Starkey says:
April 30, 2011 at 6:42 am (UTC -5)
Just hopping around the other blogs that were featured yesterday on La Bella Vita. Like you, I love the Asian Chicken Salad at Panera, so I was happy to see your copycat recipe. I’ll be sure to give it a try. Thanks for sharing it, and have a nice weekend!
Erin @ Art + Food + Life says:
May 1, 2011 at 11:20 am (UTC -5)
Thanks for stopping in. Please come back and let me know what you think of the recipe. I am totally open to tweaking it to make it more like the original
Miz Helen says:
April 30, 2011 at 2:16 pm (UTC -5)
I just love an Asian Salad. I really like your addition of fried Won Ton, Yum! Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope to see you next week!
Candi says:
May 3, 2011 at 7:10 am (UTC -5)
Thanks for linking up to Figure Friendly Friday!
Miz Helen says:
May 5, 2011 at 9:40 am (UTC -5)
Congratulations,
You are featured on Full Plate Thursday this week, enjoy!
Miz Helen
Neg says:
January 22, 2012 at 4:17 pm (UTC -5)
I made this today and I still feel like something is missing. Ginger maybe?!? It is soo close but so etching is off.
Erin @ Art + Food + Life says:
January 22, 2012 at 4:39 pm (UTC -5)
From everything that I have read on the internet, there is no ginger in the Panera dressing. However, it would be DELICIOUS with ginger! Many internet asian salad lovers suggested that the amount of cilantro you use could have a difference on the flavor. Theirs is pretty heavy handed with the cilantro. Also, their chicken has an almost citrusy taste to it. If I could figure out their chicken recipe it would be closer.
Keep me posted if you try something different. I am always up for altering recipes
Kristin @ Iowa Girl Eats says:
February 1, 2012 at 1:41 pm (UTC -5)
This seriously looks exactly like the real thing – thank you so much for passing this recipe on!!
Lisa says:
February 6, 2012 at 7:44 pm (UTC -5)
I meant to comment here last week when I found this recipe, made it, and devoured it – it is basically identical to the real salad!
My slight adjustments were: I marinated the chicken in some lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a pinch of dried basil for like 10 minutes, while I waited for a small pot of water to get to a boil, then wrapped the chicken in plastic wrap tightly and simmered the pouches for about 10 minutes. Then I refrigerated it for a couple hours so it was nice and cold. I made the dressing at the same time and refrigerated it so all my salad fixins’ were nice and cold!
I also used Romaine hearts that I chopped sideways into 2-3 inch strips (if that makes sense). I liked the chicken poached in this way – it gave it a citrusy kick and I love poached chicken. AND I found packaged wontons at my local supermarket – they are with the salad toppings. I wonder if tortilla strips, if you could find those prepackaged, could stand in for having to fry up wonton strips? Just a thought!
Thanks so much for figuring out this recipe. I think I will make this every week. It was awesome!
Erin @ Art + Food + Life says:
February 6, 2012 at 8:28 pm (UTC -5)
Citrus poached chicken sounds perfect! I always wondered how they got that texture. Poaching fits the bill.
I have actually given up on the wontons all together. For the sake of time I buy those fried chow mien noodles you can get in the grocery store
I am glad you like the recipe. And thanks a bunch for sharing it!!
Julea says:
January 27, 2013 at 8:13 pm (UTC -5)
Oh how happy I am to have found your recipe! I don’t use the chicken since I’m vegetarian, but the dressing was perfect! Thank you so much