Asian Pasta Salad

This Asian Pasta Salad Recipe is fresh, crunchy, and utterly irresistible. Filled with juicy chicken, fried wontons, crunchy greens, sweet mandarins, and the very best Asian sesame vinaigrette, it’s easy to enjoy this Asian Pasta Salad as a satisfying lunch or light dinner and perfect for picnics, potlucks, and summer BBQs. 

The Best Asian Pasta Salad Recipe

If you’re thinking, hmm, this looks a lot like your Chinese Chicken Salad, I’d probably tell you you’re right.

Filled with crunchy cabbage, cilantro, loads of green onion and fried wontons, veggies, sweet Mandarin oranges, and a crazy yummy sesame vinaigrette, this Asian pasta salad is definitely quite similar. Except where it’s not…

You see, this amazing potluck, bbq side dish, meal prep miracle, or maybe just…easy dinner? comes filled with pasta – rotini pasta. In fact, the noodles play a pretty big role in trapping the delicious homemade vinaigrette in their little nooks and crannies, giving this BEST-EVER pasta salad a huge flavor advantage.

But, it’s not just about the swirly rotini.

This Asian pasta salad is crunchy, sweet, crisp, savory, and filled with all the major food groups.

Asian Pasta Salad Ingredients

• Cabbage, green onions (scallions), and carrots: For this recipe, you’ll need shredded green and red cabbage, chopped green onions, and carrots. I do not recommend swapping or leaving out any of these ingredients. Feel free to add lettuce (Romaine is your best bet), but the cabbage and carrots hold up against the dressing, while the green onions and fantastic flavor.
• Cilantro: Unless you hate fresh cilantro, don’t skip it.
• Fried wontons AND fried chow mein noodles: I love the addition of both, but if I had to choose one, I’d go with fried wontons. They’re slightly sweet, savory, and the perfect complement to the salty vinaigrette.
• Shredded chicken: Poached chicken, baked chicken, grilled chicken, roast chicken, any kind of chicken, as long as it’s chopped or shredded. You may also use leftover rotisserie chicken to save on total cooking time.
• Mandarin oranges: Juicy little bursts of sweetness.
• Noodles: I love rotini because they’re easy to scoop with a fork or spoon and help collect the vinaigrette in all of its little swirly nooks. You can totally use a different noodle if you prefer.

Optional additions:

• Red bell pepper
• Edamame
• Cucumber
• Fresh lime juice
• Sugar snap peas
• Avocado
• Snow peas
• Sriracha
• Peanuts or Cashews

Asian Sesame Vinaigrette Ingredients

No fancy ingredients are needed. However, for the best flavor, I strongly recommend using fresh ginger and fresh garlic.

• Toasted sesame oil
• Rice wine vinegar
• Soy sauce 
• Grapeseed oil
• Fresh ginger
• Fresh garlic
• Sugar
• Sesame oil

How to Make Asian Pasta Salad

1. Combine all of the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a medium-sized jar or container and secure it with a tight-fitting lid. I highly recommend doubling the recipe for the dressing. Season to taste.

2. Poach the chicken or shred leftover cooked chicken or store-bought rotisserie chicken.

3. Cook the pasta according to package instructions, checking doneness often to prevent overcooking. It is better to have noodles that are slightly undercooked than overcooked and soggy. Drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water.

4. Rinse and drain the cooked noodles with cold water, then return the noodles and chicken to the pot. Give the vinaigrette another few shakes and pour approximately half of the dressing over the noodles. Mix well to combine.

5. Combine all of the fresh ingredients for the salad in a large mixing bowl (the cabbage, cilantro, green onions, carrots, Mandarin oranges, chow mein noodles, and fried wonton noodles).

6. If you know that you will be eating all (or most) of the pasta salad immediately, simply add the chicken and noodles to the salad ingredients, drizzle with the remaining Asian vinaigrette, and mix well to combine. If you think you will only be eating part of the pasta salad, keep the pasta and chicken separate from the fresh salad ingredients, and combine only what you plan to enjoy at that time. This will help keep leftovers fresh.

7. Garnish with additional cilantro, green onions, or sesame seeds, if desired.

Make-Ahead and Leftovers

You can absolutely cook the pasta and prepare the dressing the day before.

After the pasta has been cooked, rinse it with cool water and allow it to drain completely. Toss the pasta with half of the vinaigrette, transfer it to an airtight container, and store it in the refrigerator until ready to use. Transfer the remaining dressing to a sealed jar or container and store it in the refrigerator. You may find that the pasta has absorbed all of the dressing as it chilled in the refrigerator overnight. Easily remedy this and double the dressing recipe (it will last in the refrigerator for up to one week).

Leftover pasta salad already tossed in the dressing will last for one day stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The fried wonton noodles and chow mein noodles will turn soggy, but the cabbage should still have some crunch.

Recipes to Serve with Asian Noodle Salad

This cold pasta salad is a meal in itself, but if you’re looking for a little something “more,” try serving it with roasted vegetables, including Brussels sprouts or cauliflower. Sometimes I’ll swap (or add) cooked shrimp or baked salmon. Usually, however, I’ll just make a big fruit salad and save leftovers (if there is any) for lunch the next day.

More Salad Recipes,

• Easy Bean Salad Recipe
• Broccoli Salad Recipe with Bacon
• Taco Salad Recipe
• Egg Salad Recipe
• Easy Three-Bean Salad Recipe
• German Potato Salad
• Italian Pasta Salad

If you try making this Asian Pasta Salad Recipe, please leave me a comment and let me know! I always love to hear your thoughts.